Tomás HALIK, English version, interview Lucette Verboven, 'What a witness!'

In these Corona times you hear quite horrible statements like ' Old people are dry wood. Just allow nature to do its work , those people have had their time ...’ On the other hand, the renowned historian, Tom Holland, surprisingly points to the completely new message of Christianity but because we have heard it so many times, we have accepted it as for granted, until now… Tom Holland explains how his own insights changed over time and how he could no longer be an atheist and deny his own roots: ‘I was incorrect to have thought in the past that my own western values derived from the Greece and Rome of antiquity and owed nothing to Christianity. In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian’
Holland, Tom (14 September 2016). "Tom Holland: Why I was wrong about Christianity". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 May2019.
The message of Christianity about caring for the elderly and the weak, is quite revolutionary. ' I was reminded of this statement by Tom Holland when I was adapting the interview with priest and academic Tomàs Halík for my YouTube channel.
I interviewed Halik years ago in Leuven. Last week an interview appeared in 'Trouw' in which he reflects on our empty churches. "We must abandon our old ideas of Christ. The Risen One has been radically changed by the experience of death. As we read in the Gospels, not even his neighbors and loved ones recognized him. He's not here. He has risen!
Watch the gripping story of Tomas Halik, who secretly became a Catholic in Prague to escape the communist regime (Czechoslovakia) that imprisoned nuns and priests en masse and made no problem of executions. Halik was secretly ordained a priest in Erfurt - not even his mother was allowed to know - and worked clandestinely in the underground church for many years, but he was watched over by the communist regime for whom he was 'an enemy of the state' and who banned him from teaching at Charles University in Prague. In his regular job as a psychotherapist, he came into contact with suffering people: drug addicts, alcoholics ... which contrasted strongly with his work as an academic. In his books he reflects on the needs of these people.
When the Wall fell and when former resistance leader Václav Havel became president, Halik became his advisor. Havel asked him to succeed him as president, but Halik refused because he could not combine that assignment with his priesthood. His meeting and friendship with the then Pope John Paul II was very significant.
Halik does not spare his criticism of the media. In our 'modern age', the role of religion has been adopted as 'interpreters of the word'. They also determine what is true and what is not, which way of life and thinking is the right one, they create the great symbols and stories of our times.
Various themes are discussed in Halik's books. Lucette Verboven takes a closer look at some of them: the paradox of the Easter story, the 'koans' in the Bible, the 'hidden' God, the atheist. Faith that needs doubt and vice versa. Faith without a critical sense can degenerate into fundamentalism, but conversely a skeptical attitude to life without fundamental trust or belief can degenerate into cynicism. And indeed, faith is a provocation!
Halik points to the growing number of people who want to come and talk or to confess in the Charles Church: ‘There are thousands!’ he says when referring to his book: Night of the Confessor '
Finally, he sees no essential difference between believers and non-believers, but between the seekers and the people who are "settled" either in their faith or in their atheism.
Being open to miracles means being open to the hidden or silent God!
In 2014 he received the prestigious Templeton Prize.