82nd German Catholic Day

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20 Pfennig postage stamp of the Deutsche Bundespost , issued on the occasion of the 82nd German Catholic Day

The 82nd German Catholic Day was a Catholic day that took place from September 4th to 8th, 1968 in Essen . It was under the motto "In the middle of this world". For the first time in Germany, open resistance against the official church arose during a Catholic Day . The 82nd Catholic Day can therefore be regarded as an important turning point in the history of Catholicism in the Federal Republic. It was the second Katholikentag in Essen after 1932. The organizer was the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

history

Before Catholic Day

The 82nd German Catholic Day was shaped by the expectations of the laity towards the Roman Catholic Church to implement the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council . He was also influenced by disappointment in the encyclical Humanae Vitae published in July 1968 by Pope Paul VI. as well as the 1968 movement and the violent suppression of the Prague Spring in August 1968.

Franz Hengsbach , Bishop of the Diocese of Essen , was considered progressive up to the Catholic Day, but it turned around. Even before the start of the program, he stated in the program that they did not want any resolutions during Catholic Day . Protests against this arose during the assembly of delegates of the Catholic associations, in particular from the delegates of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ). However, the majority agreed. The “Catholic extra-parliamentary opposition” (Kapo) formed in the Ruhr area. The “ Critical Catholicism ” action committee was formed from students from Münster , Frankfurt , Munich and West Berlin . Friedrich Kronenberg, managing director of the ZdK, stated that the aim of the event in Essen was to be a “Catholic day of inquiry”. For this purpose, 500 experts formulated a catalog with 1170 questions at a working conference of the ZdK, which should serve as the basis for the discussion. They were published under the title 1170 Forum Questions . The Action Committee “Critical Catholicism” described the catalog of questions as an attempt at manipulation and the 27 forums planned for Catholic Day as an attempt to distract from the necessary democratization of the church.

September 4th to 8th

The Catholic Day opened on September 4th, 1968 in the Grugahalle . The President of the Katholikentag was Bernhard Vogel , the President of the ZdK at that time was Albrecht Beckel . The opening speech was given by the theology professor Klaus Hemmerle , later Bishop of Aachen, at that time spiritual director of the ZdK. He called for the Church to be brought into the world . Franz Hengsbach responded to choirs during the opening event "Hengsbach, we are coming, we are the left pious" with the words "If you are not only left-wing but really pious, then you are very welcome!"

The “Catholic extra-parliamentary opposition” moved into the event halls with banners labeled “Bend and Witness” or “Obedient and Neurotic” and on the opening day demanded the voluntary resignation of Pope Paul VI.

The 27 prepared forums mostly had few visitors, and some halls were almost empty. The “Marriage and Family” forum was the most popular with 5,000 participants. The speakers were Georg Scherer and the marriage counselor Gusti Gebhardt from Frankfurt. They pleaded for Catholic couples to decide on contraception themselves . When it became known that Pope Paul VI. For the final rally he had recorded a speech on tape in which he demanded consent and obedience to the ban on birth control pills , the approximately 5,000 participants in the “Marriage and Family” forum - with 90 votes against and 58 abstentions - passed a resolution that they would not accept the request Obedience and called for a revision of church teaching on this point.

The Political Night Prayers , which took place in Cologne from October 1968 , were held for the first time on the Catholic Day.

Julius Cardinal Döpfner read a message of greeting from Paul VI during the final rally in front of 80,000 participants. According to the will of the Kirchentag leadership committee, it should first be read out in the closing service, but Bernhard Vogel managed to get a larger audience at the closing rally. In the message of greeting, the Pope defended the encyclical "Humanae Vitae". It was accepted by the vast majority of the Church with consent and obedience. It went on to say, "But today, quite a few claim the freedom to express their purely personal views with that authority which they obviously dispute with those who have this charism from God ".

Consequences of the Catholic Day

The events of the Catholic Day put pressure on the official Church to reform. The Joint Synod of the Dioceses in the Federal Republic of Germany (1971 to 1975) to enforce the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council resulted from the Catholic Day.

From a newspaper that was available during the Kirchentag, the monthly newspaper Kritischer Katholizismus was created , which was founded in 1968 and appeared until 1974.

Renouncement of the 97th German Catholic Day

The 97th German Catholic Day in 2008 was to take place again in Essen. In 2005, however, the diocese of Essen decided not to host the Catholic Day for financial and organizational reasons. The 97th German Catholic Day took place in May 2008 in Osnabrück .

literature

Web links

Commons : 82nd Deutscher Katholikentag  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Benjamin Ziemann : Between social movement and service to the individual. Catholics and the Catholic Church in the therapeutic decade. In: Archives for Social History . Vol. 44, 2004, pp. 357-393, here p. 365 f. ( library.fes.de [PDF; 10.7 MB]).
  2. ↑ Peter Hertel : "Buddy Franz" wanted to be close to people. Cardinal Franz Hengsbach was born 100 years ago. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur . September 10, 2010, accessed May 8, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d Bend and procreate . In: Der Spiegel . No. 37 , 1968 ( online - Sept. 9, 1968 ).
  4. ↑ Benjamin Ziemann: Catholic Church and Social Sciences 1945–1975 (= Critical Studies in History . Volume 175). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35156-7 , p. 160 ( preview in the Google book search).
  5. ^ Ferdinand Oertel: uprising of the lay people. Criticism shaped the Katholikentag 1968 in Essen. In: Konrad Adenauer Foundation (ed.): The political opinion . No. 378, May 2001, pp. 39–44, here p. 43 ( kas.de ( Memento from September 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 130 kB]).
  6. ↑ epd : Dorothee Sölle was born 80 years ago. In: evangelisch.de. September 24, 2009, accessed June 7, 2015.
  7. ^ Dietrich Strothmann : The Count Palatine of the Rhine. Bernhard Vogel - Minister of Culture, President of the Catholic Congress and Benjamin. In: The time . September 13, 1968, updated November 21, 2012, accessed September 4, 2018.
  8. ↑ Church on the move. In: The time . No. 37, September 13, 1968, updated November 21, 2012, accessed on September 4, 2018 (access via registration).
  9. ^ Catholic Church 1968. In: dbk.de. German Bishops' Conference , accessed on September 4, 2018 .
  10. ^ Critical Catholicism in the journal database under ZDB -ID 214468-2 .
  11. ↑ Stefan Vesper : 97th German Catholic Day 2008 - General Assembly of the ZdK on 18./19. November 2005 in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. Speech manuscript. In: zdk.de. Central Committee of German Catholics, November 18, 2005, accessed on September 4, 2018.
  12. ↑ Essen waived the Catholic Day in 2008. (No longer available online.) In: nwzonline.de. November 2, 2005, formerly in the original ; accessed on September 4, 2018 (no mementos).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nwzonline.de
  13. ↑ Katholikentag 2008 Osnabrück. About us - committees. (No longer available online.) In: osnabrueck.katholikentag.de. 97th German Katholikentag Osnabrück 2008 e. V., archived from the original on August 23, 2011 ; accessed on September 4, 2018 .