2023-06-02 18:23:27
Cardinal Schönborn: The potential for hope and the power of faith are important in difficult times – Federal President Van der Bellen: Open church doors as a valuable symbol of openness and cohesion
Vienna (KAP) – This year’s “Long Night of the Churches” began on Friday evening shortly before 6 p.m. with the Austria-wide ringing of the church bells. In around 700 churches and church institutions, up to 3,000 individual events are on the program until around midnight. All 17 churches represented in the Ecumenical Council of Churches take part in the “Long Night” from Lake Neusiedl to Lake Constance.
The motto of this year’s “Long Night” is “Because night follows day, but evil does not triumph over wisdom”. The motto is taken from the biblical Book of Wisdom.
At the beginning of the “Long Night”, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn emphasized the potential for hope and the power of faith in a greeting. In view of current events, it seems more like “our world is sinking into night: Corona, war, energy and climate crises, earthquakes and the very personal worries that move us. We often feel powerless and helpless.” In this situation, however, the “Long Night” is “an invitation to go together in the Christian churches in search of answers”.
According to Schönborn, he is convinced “that trust in the message of Jesus can help us to make worries and some powerlessness more bearable.” The cardinal also quoted the Swiss jungle doctor and theologian Albert Schweitzer: “Prayer doesn’t change the world. But prayer does the people. And the people change the world.”
The Archbishop of Salzburg, Franz Lackner, took the same line in his greeting to the “Long Night”: “The light of God’s wisdom allows us to find a way even on the seemingly dark days. In the Long Night of the Churches we can in the comforting shine of the lights in the houses of worship in the various events and activities at the end also encounter this true light that illuminates our lives and gives us courage.”
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen also praised the “Long Night of the Churches” at the start: “The churches in Austria open doors and gates. In times when there is more and more talk of fences and fortresses, the open door is closed valuable symbol of openness and cohesion.” The churches are thus “ambassadors of openness towards other cultures, other perspectives, other religions, in short:
other people.” The open door is not just an open door, it paves the way to a community “in which one looks out for one another, learns from one another and creates a good future together”.
All events at: https://www.langenachtderkirchen.at
((forts. mgl.)) GPU/PWU
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