Reflection on ecclesial and theological contaminations

 

 

Paolo Cugini

What are the aspects and sectors of theology and ecclesial reality that have become spaces of contamination, and what are the most significant contaminations? In other words, what is contaminating the Church—what themes, issues, and cultural processes are forcing the ecclesial fabric to open itself to confrontation, to allow itself to be contaminated? These are the questions that seek to lead us to daily life, to reality, so as not to always remain on the theoretical level, but to show how what we have analysed not only has consequences in people's lives, but is already underway. The culture of the "after", which visibly bears the prefix "post-", has broken barriers that seemed indestructible and, in this way, has opened and is opening new breaches in thought, new existential and spiritual possibilities. In my view, it is impossible to remain immune to this increasingly overwhelming process at every level of culture. The Church, therefore, cannot afford, and above all cannot risk, closing itself off, continuing to fight alone against windmills, because the world it was fighting against no longer exists; and if it does not realise this, someone must tell it—no offence, but out of love.

First of all, it is worth clarifying straight away, as Thomas Kuhn argued when developing the epistemological concept of paradigm, that despite paradigm shifts, the subjects involved do not change their stance overnight. In other words, we cannot expect an institution like the Church, which has defended its dogmatic truths tooth and nail for centuries, to become immediately available for contamination: that would be to demand the absurd. I believe that, at this initial stage, it is important to open cultural breaches upon which it is possible to establish open and sincere dialogue. What emerges in this new context is that it is no longer possible to remain entrenched in one’s own positions. The Church has an immense spiritual, cultural and artistic heritage, which at any moment it can place on the dialogue table, with an open, available style, condemning no one, but showing the ability to value every cultural contribution. There is so much beauty outside ecclesial grounds, there is immense spirituality worth knowing and recognising, there are cultural paths that deserve all our attention, even if they come from afar and, at first glance, seem to have nothing to do with us. Everything is connected to everything else and nothing falls outside this intuition.

There is another important point to underline. If it is true that at the hierarchical level it will take a long time before this becomes sensitive to contaminations and allows itself to be contaminated, at the grassroots level this process of contamination has been underway for a long time. Those who live the Gospel in the daily life of the local community rarely worry about the orthodoxy of their choices and statements. Those who live in the world of work, school, the market, the streets or the squares breathe new air every day, come into contact with different worlds, which influence thought, choices, behaviour. At the grassroots level, orthopraxy matters more than orthodoxy. Furthermore, it is worth recalling the flow of contaminations that happen every hour on the many internet platforms. If it is impossible to defend oneself, also because it makes no sense, the effort that must be made is to offer instruments both for access to these new cultural and spiritual worlds and for their interpretation. Not everything we find in the squares is good and deserves to be assimilated. How should we proceed and what path should we follow to be able to capture the beauty in the world and help others along the same path? What are those contaminations that already positively affect us, even without us realising it?