'I-am-Catholic.cz'

On the occasion of this year’s general census in the Czech Republic, private initiators have launched the website www.jsemkatolik.cz (www.IamCatholic.cz) with a corresponding Facebook account. Personages of the Czech public life profess their Catholic faith.

'This way, we would like to enhance the self-confidence of believers who quite groundlessly remain anxious about unfavourable reaction of the majority public,' explains the father of the idea, Ďepold Czernin. Leading Czech personages confess their faith on the Internet, explaining their relationship to the Church as well as their journey of faith in short videos or written notices.

The movement is motivated by the laity’s desire to present faith as a natural and reasonable way of life. Among the professors of faith are the musician Jiří Pavlica, the journalist Daniela Drtinová or the pediatric oncologist prof. Josef Koutecký.

Stimulated by this year’s pending general census, the movement should, according to its founders, project further into the future. As they say, it is surprising that one third of the Czech citizens are reportedly Christians (acc. to the 2001 census), yet it is not reflected in the public attitude towards the Catholic Church. This situation is also what had called for action. 'It is not enough to live one’s faith in closed communities. It is our conduct that needs to testify to our faith and we need to sustain our stance in the 21^st century society,' proclaim the organizers.