Prague (Czech Republic), 5 June 2015 – “If, on the one hand current families are disintegrating, on the other hand it is almost impossible now to form new families. The modern era has overcome all problems of distance without actually creating any closeness”, are the words with which Deacon Jaroslav Max Kašparů, psychiatrist and well-known lecturer, today opened the meeting of the Greek Eastern Catholic bishops in Europe being held in Prague (Czech Republic) until Sunday 7 June.
Speaking about the situation in the Czech Republic, the Czech deacon-psychiatrist said that the current crisis of the institution of the family is attributable to a series of phenomena which, paraphrasing Chesterton, have extinguished the lamp-posts of mental well-being; of sound traditions, of sound faith and healthy interpersonal relations.
Loss of mental well-being: “In a country where everyone has to take a high school diploma and has some degree of university education, there is a strong belief in the end of the world as described by the Maya civilisation, in the transition of our planet, through a galactic zone without energy, in the power of healing power of some stones. Thanks to channeling we can be connected to the beings of light, to cosmic guides, archetypal divinities, able to penetrate absolute reality and reach the primordial nucleus of our conscience. The gap in the relationship between irrationality and logical reason is extensively opened and the “para” or “pseudo” have free rein in people’s heads”.
Loss of sound traditions: “We boast about things we should be ashamed of and we are ashamed of things of which we should be proud. Sadly, today inalienable human rights and civil liberties, uncontrolled and unrestrained, do not allow for any distinction. We live in a country where shame no longer exists”.
Loss of sound faith: “We are in a country which on the one hand is one of the most atheist in the world, where Christian churches are continually emptying, but on the other hand where shrines of fortune-tellers, oracles, interpreters of dreams, horoscopes, and therapists suggesting retreating into past lives are mushrooming. The miracle workers, the teachers of tantra and consulters of tachyons have replaced priests, psychologists and doctors ... for all this, however, one does not have to be atheist, but have a weak Christian faith”.
Loss of healthy interpersonal relations: “If, on the one hand current families are disintegrating, on the other hand it is almost impossible now to form new families. The modern era has overcome all problems of distance without actually creating any closeness”.
“And European families live in the darkness of these extinguished lamp-posts”, said Deacon Kašparů. The “European Babylon” traced by the Catholic psychiatrist is characterised today not just by the loss of traditional values and an increase in youth crime, but also and above all by the incapacity to define the family. “It is not difficult to find a definition of the family in the Czech Republic on Google. From this, however, one also understands that the concept of family is actually difficult to define”. Finally, according to Kašparů, the rash increase in the “functions-expectations” attributed to the family (from the reproductive, cultural, emotive and socio-economic spheres) in the end leads “to the conclusion that it is better not to get married”.
In opening the session, chaired by His Lordship Mgr Ladislav Hučko, Apostolic Exarch for Byzantine Rite Catholics resident in the Czech Republic which is hosting the meeting, there was an address from His Grace Mgr Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio to the Czech Republic, who invited the more than forty participants “to look towards the future – a future which at times does not seem to be so easy for the Church which must face numerous challenges from modern society – with the Christian gaze of faith and hope”. http://news.ugcc.ua/