Catalonian Government promotes the Catalan language in the religious field through an agreement with the different denominations.
ACN/TET – Barcelona – The Government signed an agreement on Tuesday with the main religious denominations in Catalonia to promote Catalan. The Catholic and Orthodox Church and the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Scientology and Sikh communities of Catalonia, as well as other religious groups, have committed themselves to promoting the social use of Catalan in the liturgical field, to introduce it to those communities, where it is almost not yet present, to increase it where it is incipient, and to strengthen it in its daily activities.
To formalize the agreement and talk about its implementation, the President of the Generalitat (the Catalonian Government), Pere Aragonès, and the Minister of Justice, Lourdes Ciuró, met this afternoon with representatives of the 17 main denominations in Catalonia.
The initiative is part of the Plan for the promotion of the Catalan language in the field of religious communities, promoted by the General Directorate of Religious Affairs, which depends on the Department of Justice. The agreement reached with the religious denominations and which has been reflected in a document signed by its main representatives has been called ‘Religions for the language’ [Religions per la llengua].
The document, signed by Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Scientologists, Sikhs, Protestants, Buddhists and others, claims that most of the world’s religious traditions are present in Catalonia and that Catalan culture has never been detached from the spiritual dimension of its citizens.
“Throughout history, various religious groups have shown what it is like to live in the Catalan language from any belief, practice or position,” says the text.
Making Catalan a “language of prayer“
At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Justice, Lourdes Ciuró, asked the representatives to make an effort to include Catalan in their liturgical practices: “Some of you have stated that in your communities there are people of different nationalities and which is why they use Spanish as a meeting language. It would be good if this also happened with the Catalan language because in this way we make the language of the country also a language of prayer, a language that is used in the world of the interior. ”
“In the same way that we must be able to express ourselves in Catalan before a judge to obtain the best possible sentence, we must also be able to pray in Catalan, we profess the religion we profess,” added Ciuró. “We will put as many resources as we can,” the head of justice concluded. Among the different projects, the Church of Scientology for example, has committed itself to translate into Catalan all their different ceremonies, from weddings to funerals, ordinations of ministers, naming ceremonies, and sermons, to add to the already translated Creed of the Church and the Prayer for Total Freedom, these laters having been presented in an event last February that was attended by the Catalan Director of Religious Affairs.
Aragonès, for his part, thanked the religious representatives for their commitment and claimed that the diversity of Catalonia is an asset that must contribute to progress. “This country has historically been plural. And that value, today, should help us move forward. “
“In Catalonia we have had to fight hard for the language. If we followed the parameters of the history books, surely Catalan would have disappeared. And if he hasn’t he has been because of the perseverance of his people. That is why today I thank them for joining this commitment “, said the President of the Generalitat.
Aragonès closed the event by telling those present to consider the Generalitat as his home and invited them to meet with him once a year.
