The CEU auditorium was the venue for the presentation of the Catholics and Public Life Congress This year's event will have a strong testimonial character, key in the transmission of the Faith, as the president of the Congress, Rafael Sanchez Saus, wanted to emphasize.
"It is not a matter of looking at the past with nostalgia but of interpreting a living heritage that becomes a conscious mission of the greatness we have received". This statement by Lydia Jiménez could summarize the core of the Catholics and Public Life Congress which this year celebrates its twenty-fourth edition.
In her presentation, the director general of the Santa Maria Crusades alluded to the need for Christians to be creative minorities, as defined by Joseph Ratzinger, who must be aware that the "inheritance we have received calls for responsibility: we are the continuators of a previous history that must be carried forward. To the full: turned to the future. It is not to repeat as a dead letter but to draw all the richness in the face of new challenges".
The future belongs to creative minorities
Jimenez focused much of this presentation at the 24th Catholics and Public Life Congress on the challenge for Catholics to become a creative minority.
"A creative minority can be small but not sectarian. What distinguishes it is its capacity to generate culture", said Lydia Jiménez, who did not hesitate to affirm that "a holy creative minority will be able to change Europe".
The creative minorities, Jiménez defended, "do not destroy the present but renew it. It is about being leaven, not dynamite. A leaven that is translated "in the credible testimony of the transforming truth of the Gospel".
Faith recovers the best of Europe
In this line of being a witness, Lydia Jiménez pointed out the need to be coherent Catholics in the public space, the basis of this congress: "A faith that remains locked up in intimacy is incapable of really directing life".
Lydia Jiménez advocated recovering the truth of Europe through this witness and experience of faith: "Europe is, above all, a spiritual and cultural concept, a civilization, and culture needs a religious dimension. The Christian faith can help Europe to recover the best of its heritage and continue to be a place of welcome and growth, not only in material terms, but above all, in humanity".
Catholics and Public Life Congress
The XXIV Catholics and Public Life Congress will take place November 18-20 in Madrid with the theme: "We propose faith. We pass on a legacy.". Speakers at the Congress will include the president of the Political Network for Values and former presidential candidate of Chile, José Antonio Kast; the director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies of the Heritage Foundation, Richard Reinsch; the president of European Fraternity, and Archduke Imre of Habsburg-Lorraine.
The Nuncio of His Holiness in Spain, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, will be in charge of inaugurating this congress in which the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Archbishop Carlos Osoro, will preside the Mass on Sunday morning.
In addition to the conferences of the congress, several workshops will be held on topics such as family, science, economics, law and art.
At the same time, a youth congress will be held under the title "Youth, God's Now", which will include testimonies, conferences and a workshop on the proposals of the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit.
