Bensberg Circle
The Bensberger Kreis was founded in 1966 by the Catholic publicists Walter Dirks and Eugen Kogon together with friends from the Pax-Christi movement, initially under the name "Friends of Pax Christi" in Bensberg . The circle saw itself as an association of "German Catholics with critical and reformist engagement in church and society".
In 2004 the circle decided to dissolve it, which according to newspaper reports was justified primarily with the aging of the members and the low response from younger Catholic Christians . At last the circle had 110 members.
The Bensberger Kreis primarily dealt with socio-political issues, on which it repeatedly took a public position in memoranda. These questions included peace policy , the development of democracy, understanding with Poland , internal church reforms such as democratization of the church and questions of justice.
The goals are outlined in the statutes of 1968 as follows: “The Bensberger Kreis deals with issues that are of concern for the church and society. It addresses the public with analyzes and statements. The focus of his work is to develop theories and plans for a peace policy, for a further development of democracy and for a renewal of the structures of the church. The district does not claim to speak for the Catholic population or the Catholic Church in Germany. Rather, he intends to draw conclusions from the appeals of the Second Vatican Council on his own responsibility . "
The circle saw the most urgent task initially to contribute to understanding and reconciliation between Poles and Germans. He called for the Germans to refrain from returning to the areas inhabited and administered by Poles after the expulsion of the Germans , as well as a revision of the history books and reparations for the victims of the National Socialist terror. His contributions were considered by many to pave the way for the New Ostpolitik .
In addition, the group addressed various topics such as the relationship between Christians and the war in Vietnam , the necessity and possibilities of reforming church structures, the conception of an open Christian community, conscientious objection , the relationship between Christianity and socialism , peace policy and the problem of armaments, the financing of the churches in the Federal Republic of Germany and the relationship of Christianity to sexuality . The 1970 memorandum “Democratization of the Church” received a lot of attention from the Catholic public. It related basic ideas about democracy and hierarchy to the Catholic Church and brought a biblical foundation for the understanding of church offices as corporate services and called for the necessary steps to achieve democracy in the church. The Bensberger Kreis was something like a “think tank” of left- wing Catholicism in Germany until the 1990s .
literature
- Bensberger Kreis (Hrsg.): Democratization of the Church in the Federal Republic of Germany. A memorandum of German Catholics. Mainz: Grünewald-Verlag 1970.
- Manfred Hermanns : The New Left in Catholicism , Sozialpädagogischer Verlag, Seevetal 1977