Budapest conference explores lived Catholicism 'from the Balkans to the Baltics'

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Catholics & Cultures and Pázmány Péter Catholic University, 1088 Budapest, Mikszáth Kálmán tér 1. Sophianum, Hungary, presented a two-day conference on "Lived Catholicism from the Balkans to the Baltics," March 9-10, 2018. 

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Europe’s history is permeated with the rich array of rituals and world views of Catholicism. On a local level, this history continues to inform the ways individual Catholics experience and understand the diverse practices and values that define Catholicism in various communities. This is no less true in the region of Europe stretching from the Balkans to the Baltics, where Catholicism both as lived practice and as institutionally-supported cultural heritage are becoming increasingly visible to the public. The conference, “Lived Catholicism from the Balkans to the Baltics,” responds to this reality by offering scholars and observers an opportunity to attend to and study the diversity of Catholic practices as well as the meaning of Catholicism in its various relationships with cultures.

"Lived Catholicism" is an approach to Catholicism and culture that seeks to describe practices and beliefs as they are understood by those who live them and in the context of the cultures they variously reflect, shape, define, challenge, and oppose.