The Peace-making Potential of Religious Communities and Ecumenical Organizations
As you may expect from a Jesuit, I will talk about three points: resilience, empathy, and hope. Before that, I have two preliminary remarks.
My personal background. Why am I here?
- I am a Catholic priest from Austria and I belong to the Society of Jesus.
- I currently work as Superior of 40 Jesuits in Innsbruck – and as prison chaplain.
- I use my network as a Jesuit to draw attention to the plight of the people in Ukraine.
- Part of this network is the Jesuit Refugee Service where I am new to the Administrative Board in Rome.
- Since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, I have been there three times: in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and in Kyiv (May 2024).
- Currently, there are 12 Jesuits in Ukraine – in Lviv, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv.
- Before joining the Jesuits, I worked for the Austrian Red Cross HQ, from 1991 to 1999. One of my tasks was to organize relief programmes for the victims of war in former Yugoslavia.
- This involved quite some travelling in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia – during and after the war.
The peace-building potential of faith communities.
- Speaking about the peace-building potential of faith communities, we need to consider this in the right proportions.
- We can contribute to peace, but we cannot „make peace“.
- We should not overestimate the potential of faith communities.
- There is now a lot of historical literature about the role of the Vatican and the International Committee of the Red Cross during World War II.
- There is a lot of justified criticism, but there are also illusions about the potentials for action.
- The idea that these institutions could have stopped Hitler is unrealistic.
- Similarly, we must not overestimate the possibilities of Churches and NGOs today.
- There is now a lot of historical literature about the role of the Vatican and the International Committee of the Red Cross during World War II.
- But we also should not underestimate the potential of faith communities.
- We do have potential to contribute to peace.
- I see three main areas:
- Strengthening resilience through humanitarian aid
- Strengthening empathy through international contacts
- Strengthening hope through pastoral care, psychotherapy and positive messaging.
I. Strengthening resilience through humanitarian aid
- Humanitarian aid strengthens people and their resilience because they realize: We are not forgotten.
- Even many years after a war, humanitarian aid is remembered.
- The humanitarian aid of Churches reaches people in the smallest villages.
- Faith communities have a network with capillaries in small communities. Who else has such a network?
- Caritas and Caritas-Spes are very well organized in Ukraine.
- Faith communities work „during wars and weekends“.
- The German Catholic and Protestant Churches are doing a lot in Ukraine, especially through Renovabis, Caritas, Aid to the Church in Need and a number of dioceses.
- [As a side note from an Austrian: I would recommend to be more vocal about this in the discourse within the Churches in Germany 😊.]
- As faith communities, we must prepare ourselves better operationally in Europe. I hope to be wrong, but my assessment is that the war will expand.
- We can now learn from the situation in Ukraine.
- We were surprised when Russia invaded Ukraine.
- We couldn’t imagine it. Neither could many Ukrainians.
- Today, we need to increase significantly the organisational capabilities of humanitarian aid, especially in the Baltic States.
- Leaders of faith communities need to establish contact with secular NGOs, e.g. with the Red Cross.
- In particular, helping prisoners of war, searching for missing persons and supporting their relatives requires competence, contacts and special attention by humanitarian leaders.
- Humanitarian aid also strengthens the resilience of the donors. There is a deliberate attempt to make people think that they cannot do anything about the war in Ukraine. The antidote to that is every small act of humanitarian action. It shows that we kept our agency (Handlungsmacht). We can do something.
II. Strengthening empathy through international contacts
- We need to strengthen empathy for the victims of war.
- The long duration of the war has left many people numb.
- They get used to the news about bombings of hospitals, cities, and power plants.
- Faith communities should use their international networks to enhance empathy for the victims of the war.
- Before the beginning of the Second World War, the Austrian bishops had hardly any international contacts. Although Hitler had ruled Germany since 1933 and the Churches had massive difficulties, most Austrian bishops welcomed the annexation to Hitler’s Germany. They had too few international contacts. They were unable to imagine reality under Hitler.
- In Northern Europe and the Baltic States, people are now aware of the current situation.
- This is less the case in Western and Southern Europe.
- Many people there cannot imagine that there could be war in Europe, beyond Ukraine.
- How to strengthen empathy with the victims of the war?
- Trips to Ukraine, the Baltic States, to Poland and the Republic of Moldova help to achieve this.
- Ukrainian communities abroad are very helpful in this regard (examples: Vienna, Linz, Innsbruck).
- The demand for an end to violence, for legal persecution of perpetrators, for remorse and reparation also helps to focus on the victims of war.
- As Christians, we must strengthen empathy for all victims of war.
- To make it clear: I don’t expect this from the attacked people in Ukraine, but I often miss the reference to the suffering of many people in Russia and Belarus.
- It is also important to involve the bishops and all available contacts in Rome.
- The topic must always be actively put on the agenda, otherwise it will be overshadowed by other topics.
- Strengthening empathy with the victims of the war: that is our task.
- Klaus Schwertner, director of Caritas Vienna, does an excellent job. He travels to Ukraine and communicates via social media and interviews.
III. Strengthening hope through pastoral care, psychotherapy and good news
- I am impressed by the people in Ukraine, e.g. in Kyiv or in Lviv, who are trying to lead a normal life. They have an idea of what a peaceful life looks like.
- This idea is not just individual imagination. It is realised collectively. They do their best to lead a „normal life“ together – in a family, in a village, in a company.
- War is the extreme form of violence and nihilism.
- It produces hatred and poisons people’s souls for generations.
- War does this not only to the aggressor, but to all those affected by the war – including the victims.
- It is important to strengthen hope as an antidote to hate and nihilism: through pastoral care, psychotherapy and positive messaging.
- Pastoral care through individual conversations, through liturgy, through joint celebration and mourning, is the immediate task of faith communities. Pastoral care is often „soul detox“ at first.
- Psychotherapy as individual treatment (especially in the context of trauma) is essential for members of the military and for victims of violence. It helps to live on and to contribute to society after the war.
- In Chernivtsi, the Jesuits have opened a „Space of Hope“ – a house where people are strengthened after traumatic experiences through spiritual offers and psychotherapy.
- We need to focus deliberately on good news. The flood of terrible news harms the soul.
- Representatives of faith communities need to collaborate visibly for a just peace: this creates hope on a symbolic level.
- As a cruel war is now being waged by Russia against Ukraine, nobody should expect the victims to speak about forgiveness and reconciliation. Now the focus must be on the defense against such vile, malicious aggression.
- However, the time will come when resources will be needed to talk about the „rebuilding of souls“. Faith communities should prepare for this.
- This is an important task of theological faculties that requires empirical research, theological reflection and deep historical grounding.
- Alfred Delp SJ and Helmut James Graf von Moltke are examples in this regard. They worked together, ecumenically, during Hitlers war in the „Kreisauer Kreis“ – developing a perspective for Germany after the war. Both were killed by the Nazis, but their work lives on.
- Let us pray for an end of the war against Ukraine, for a just and lasting peace, and for all the dead.
Summary: The Peace-making Potential of Religious Communities and Ecumenical Organizations
- Strengthening resilience through humanitarian aid
- Strengthening empathy through international contacts
- Strengthening hope through pastoral care, psychotherapy and positive messaging.