Neither Winners nor Losers
The following article was written soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The author is a priest who had discovered the spirituality of the Focolare many years previous to the collapse of the Communist regime in the former East Germany. In many ways his story echoes the evangelical novelty experienced by the first Christian communities
Paul Christian
«The poorest of the poor are those who do not know God. Therefore we must recognise and love Jesus Forsaken above all in them». With this statement Chiara Lubich opened up for us a way to dialogue with non-Christians in our country. For years before the dramatic events of 1989, we lived in the light of this comment and our secret was simply «we do not fear you because we love you».
One could not say that there was an open persecution of the Church in the former East Germany even though there was little doubt as to the opposition facing us. Both the schooling system and the state organisations attempted to make religion completely disappear. There was great pressure on children, for instance, right from the first day they came into contact with state institutions. In businesses, generally speaking, Christian workers were not given positions of repsonsibility. While, on the one hand, there was a clear doctrine of separation of Church and State, the reality was that the world of politics interfered quite readily in the life of the Church. More and more, the Church was marginalised and confined to a kind of sacristy-ghetto. As this went on the split between the Church and society grew deeper and deeper. At the same time, Socialism itself gave rise to a chaos which became more evident by the day. Those who were against it, like practising Christians, denounced its failure. Faced with the hardness and superiority of both the political representatives and police agents, many reacted aggressively. In circumstances such as these, it was difficult for believers to distinguish between the system and the individiuals who represented it.
One year before the construction of the Wall, the first group of Focolarini had arrived in East Germany. Already during the first weeks that they were there, some of them came under pressure from the secret police and other state agents. These Focolarini taught us to see Jesus in our neighbours and that included the police agents who were continually checking up on us. This was a particularly important lesson of life and it was a marvellous discovery of the truth of the Gospel.
Before the collapse of the regime: the courage of truth and charity
On account of their position priests were always able to move about more freely. Any attack on a priest might easily end up hitting the headlines in Western newspapers and that would have aroused public controversy. So priests were generally given a free hand. But precisely because of this freedom of activity, priests ran the risk of stirring up an opposition which lacked charity. The contact with the Focolare was a great help to us as was the witness of the many priests who were living the spirituality of unity. Even though many of these had been imprisoned and continuously hindered by state agents they gave great example in the charity they showed everyone.
One of them, for example, had the experience of trying continously to love the secret agent who was shadowing him. Eventually this agent or, «Church secretary» as he was called, retired and one day he said to the priest he had shadowed and hassled for years: «You are only person who still comes to visit me. None of my former colleagues come to see me any more». Likewise, at a Mariapolis, one of the agents came along to take part. He had become genuinely interested and wanted to experience for himself what it was like.
Some priests managed to establish good relations with people in their work place who were convined Communists. Often they were able to enter into a «pact» with them in which they promised each other that they would have reciprocal esteem one for the other and that they would commit themselves to working together for the good of society, each in his or her own way.
Another event which struck me very much was the funeral of a teacher who was very highly esteemed in the city of Altenburg. Although he used to go reasonably often to church together with his Catholic wife on Sundays, and joined her at the summer Mariapolis meetings, he had never left the Communist party. Some weeks before his death, he decided to become fully part of the Church, even though he decided to remain a member of the part. As his last wish he said that he did not want any party emblem on his coffin, nor any speech to be delivered by the school authorities. At the funeral itself, as well as his nephew, a fully committed official of the army of Volksarmee, the school principal, and many of the teaching staff were also present. The parish priest of Altenburg had the daunting task of dealing with this situation, on the one hand, without a lack of charity and yet, on the other hand, without betraying the truth. In the light of the Focolare spirituality which he was trying to live, he spoke about the inevitable tension found in the co-existence of two systems which are like fire and water, a co-existence which, in the case of the relationship between husband and wife, cannot but be oppressive, but which, nevertheless, was possible because in this case the deceased had made the effort to preserve charity. Undoubtedly it was a particular gift of the Holy Spirit that the funeral did not end up in major conflict but instead, everyone went home deeply moved.
Building Bridges.
Another priest organised a festival together with the community of a small remote village which was rather abandoned. Among those organising the festival the Christians were in the minority. Together with these Christians the priest promised to live in unity and then he prepared the festival together with the secretary of the party and others belonging to the party. It was amazing that in their various plans, all accepted the priest as if he were their parish priest. Eight weeks before the fall of the Wall one of the party secretaries, slightly tipsy, said to him: «Mr. Priest, I feel I have backed the wrong horse again!». The first deception in his life had been Nazism.
The risk of falling into triumphalism after the Fall.
When the turning point came with the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a great temptation to celebrate our freedom after years of «imprisonment»by lording it over our former «masters». But in the midst of our exhilaration in «victory» Chiara Lubich invited us not to want to see the world divided into winners and losers but rather to want to see that all are won over to the love of God and so winners with Him. As time has moved on we have come to realise the wisdom of her advice.
An example of this can be seen in the case of a priest who was asked to speak about Christianity at an in-service course for teachers who had previously taught political science. There was a temptation to wallow in victory over them in the sense that previously they had been against the Church. It would have been easy to fall into the trap of making them suffer their defeat, especially now since priests were allowed to go and speak in places which previously had been completely out of bounds. But in remembering Chiara Lubich's advice, the priest said more or less the following to them: «When we think of the events of the past few weeks, and the discovery of the many mistakes and crimes committed by the governments and those in leadership in East Germany, the Soviet Union, Romania, and many other Socialist countries, we might rightly ask, 'But how could they have deceived us? Have I been completely wrong? Did I not really have the best of intentions?' Many who now have seen the collapse of their ideals, had appreciated in Socialism the commitment towards the marginalised of society, the effort to abolish abuse and the defence of the least. They had believed in the victory of the good in men and women, convinced that each person is able to take the step from the «I» to the «we» and so to commit oneself with all one's heart to the good of society. It seemed marvellous to work for the promotion and guarantee in society of the rights of the Proletariat, the workers, the citizens, but now...?» The priest then tried to show how there were positive values in their convictions and he continued: «These great ideals do not have to die. They must be safeguarded and spread today in a new way. After his talk one of the teachers came up to the priest and asked to have a chat with him. Later he was asked to talk to all her class. She had been a secretary of the partty and second in command in her branch. After the lessons given by the priest to the non-Christian students (only 5% of all children are baptised) she thanked him because - as she said - she herself had learned much.
Making it possible for others to discover God's love
Now many priests can easily go into the schools and so they come into contact with the teachers, many of whom, still adhere to the Socialist ideals. One has to be very careful not to wound any of them and yet one cannot hide the truth. With our compass pointing to this motto of «making the losers winners as well» we try to avoid constructing new walls. Likewise we try to avoid scandalizing people who are still searching for their ideals after the fall of the Wall. It is possible to help them come to a first experience of the love of God.
The rector of the seminary gives lessons in the technical college of Magdeburg. Attendance is optional. 62 students have enrolled for the course and some of them are the Gen, the young people who, like the priest, adhere to the Focolare Movement. They promise each other to always keep the presence of Jesus alive among them. Then they go out to meet the other young people who, for the most part, have no knowledge of Christianity. It is great to see how, after the lessons, the students come up to talk about some of their deepest and personal questions. These questions reveal their anguish but also the seeds of the new life which is beginning to grow.
Many walls have yet to fall.
In his telegram dated 9 November 1989 to the Bishop of Berlin, Georg Sterzinsky, the Pope recommended to the Catholics of the former East Germany: «Do everything together with the Evangelical Lutheran Christians!». Many other initiatives have been run together by both Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran Christians: the round table discussions, the religious celebrations of the re-unification held on 3 October 1990, the handling of questions concerning the schooling system, and the erection of social centres. The common action helps to ovecome the walls which still exist between the confessions and it represents a great hope for the future.
Another wall, however, which risks dividing us has to do with the Russian soldiers. Resentment towards them could easily rise up. At the early stages, food even ran short in their barracks. Under the old regime these barracks were completely inaccessible not only to priests but to all citizens of the East Germany. The soldiers, in turn, were forbidden to establish contacts with the people. One of the priests who lives in front of a Russian barracks told us of the experience of one of his parishioners who works in the city council. This parishioner was originally from West Germany and because of his work he had to travel there every week. One day he returned with a whole trailor-load of bread given to him by his brother who was a baker. Together with the parish priest they brought this to the Russian barracks. The commandant said: «I do not understand... Our enemies are bringing us bread so that we might have something to eat». The same parish priest also organised an organ concert for the Russian soldiers. On the seventh of November, the anniversary of the October Revolution, he was invited to the barracks and was asked to sit in the front row alongside the officials.
In another city there has been a project going on in favour of small children in Moscow. This project was written about in an article published in a magazine which heretofore was inaccessible to the Church. The following was written: «I am sure that many are asking themselves how they can express their gratitude for all that has happened in this year. With this project we can come to the aid of children who certainly are not to blame for what happened during the last decades. So with this project we are taking a step towards reconciliation among peoples and in this way we are reacting positively towards the increasing intollerance of foreigners, especially citizens of the Soviet Union». Three days after this article was published our storehouses were completely full. Many non-Christians too brought money, sweets for the children and clothes. And so this project contributed, with the participation of people of good will, to the collapse of other walls...
On the seventh of January last, the Orthodox Christmas, two hundred Soviet soldiers were invited to an ancient monastery. The monks who live there sang Orthodox hymns for them in their Roman church. Afterwards they had refreshments while the children of the former Socialist school sang Russian carols. One had the impression that a new way forward had begun.