Berlin Bishops' Conference
The Berlin Bishops' Conference was the gathering of the Roman Catholic bishops of the GDR . It existed from 1976 to 1990.
When the division of Germany solidified after the construction of the Wall in 1961 and the participation of the bishops of the GDR in the German Bishops' Conference was prevented, the pastoral requirements led to a separate meeting of the East German bishops, initially the Berlin Ordinarienkonferenz.
In the following period the pressure of the government of the GDR on the Apostolic See increased to set up its own bishops' conference as " auctoritas territorialis "; On July 10, 1974, the GDR ambassador to Italy submitted the GDR government's formal proposal to the Apostolic See to hold talks at foreign ministerial level. Although the (West) German Bishops' Conference did not consider this procedure to be beneficial, the Berlin Bishops' Conference was established on July 26, 1976 as an independent, but not as a national, Bishops' Conference of the GDR.
Great importance was attached to the formulation in the statute of the German Bishops' Conference, which was confirmed by the Apostolic See on September 25, 1976. Article 1 names the German Bishops' Conference as the “union of the bishops of the German dioceses”. According to this formulation, the bishops in the territory of the GDR continued to belong to the German Bishops' Conference. The Bishop of Berlin was officially a member of the German Bishops' Conference and was represented by his West Berlin Vicar General .
In 1990, after the reunification of Germany , the German and Berlin Bishops 'Conference were united to form the German Bishops' Conference .
Chairperson
- Alfred Cardinal Bengsch , Bishop of Berlin (1976–1979)
- Gerhard Schaffran , Bishop of Dresden-Meißen (1980–1982)
- Joachim Meisner , Bishop of Berlin (1982–1989)
- Joachim Wanke , Apostolic Administrator of the Episcopal Office Erfurt-Meiningen (1989, provisional)
- Georg Sterzinsky , Bishop of Berlin (1989–1990)
structure
The canonical regulation in the area of the GDR was complicated. Only the diocese of Meissen was completely in the territory of the GDR. The Berlin diocese also included West Berlin. Görlitz , formerly part of the Archdiocese of Breslau , became the Archbishop's Office, later Apostolic Administration .
The other areas belonged canonically to dioceses with seat in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. These became episcopal offices . An upgrade to apostolic administrations did not take place against the will of the GDR government. In detail there was
- the Episcopal Office Erfurt (to Fulda )
- the Episcopal Office of Magdeburg (to Paderborn )
- the Episcopal Office Meiningen (to Würzburg )
- the Episcopal Commissariat , later the Schwerin office (to Osnabrück ).
Erfurt and Meiningen were run in Realunion as the Episcopal Office of Erfurt-Meiningen .
literature
- Thomas Raabe: SED State and Catholic Church 1949 to 1989. In: Clemens Vollnhals (Hrsg.): The Church Policy of SED and State Security. An interim balance sheet (= analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner. Volume 7). 2nd Edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86153-122-4 , pp. 353-370.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Knauft: The Catholic Church in the GDR 1945-1976. In: Voices of the Time . 195. Vol. 102. Vol. 2, February 1977, p. 86.
- ↑ a b Katharina Grünwald: The State Church Law of the GDR in the light of the meeting of the Catholic Church and Marxism. Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-8305-2791-6 , p. 199.
- ^ Gabriele-Maria Ehrlich: The contract of the Apostolic See with the state of Saxony-Anhalt. (= Tübingen Canon Law Studies Volume 10). LIT Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10402-1 , p. 59.