Bernhard Eichkorn
Bernhard Eichkorn (born March 22, 1934 in Bettmaringen ) is a German Roman Catholic priest . He became known beyond the borders of his homeland through his work for the Christian Esperanto movement .
Life
Bernhard Eichkorn was born in the southern Black Forest in the small Alemannic village of Bettmaringen , Waldshut district, which today belongs to Stühlingen . From 1948 to 1955 he attended the Heinrich-Suso-Gymnasium Konstanz . He then studied philosophy and Catholic theology (also history and psychology ) from 1955 to 1960 , mainly in Freiburg , 1957/1958 also for two semesters in Munich and the last year in the seminary in St. Peter in the Black Forest . He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Freiburg on June 19, 1960 in Constance by Archbishop Hermann Schäufele .
After a short activity as vicar in Weil am Rhein , parish of St. Peter and Paul, he was chaplain in the parish of St. Martin in Karlsruhe from 1961 to 1964 and then until 1967 in St. Konrad in Villingen . On April 2, 1968, he became pastor in St. Jakobus in Unterkirnach . In addition, he also worked as a youth pastor of the Villingen dean's office and district chaplain of the CAJ Schwarzwald-Mitte (Christian workers' youth ), until he became regional dean for the Schwarzwald-Baar area and voluntary district youth welfare officer in 1972. In 1980 he became pastor of St. Martin in Meßkirch and dean of the deanery in Meßkirch. He was appointed to the clergy ad honorem on December 10, 1984.
On June 15, 1988 he returned to Villingen (it was now called Villingen-Schwenningen ) and succeeded pastor Karl-Johannes Heypeter in St. Fidelis and St. Konrad Rietheim, who was retiring. Eichkorn was soon co-administering the Holy Trinity communities in Pfaffenweiler and St. Gallus in Tannheim. At times he also worked as a deanery chaplain and as President of the Kolping Family in Villingen. On January 1, 2004, he retired.
On June 20, 2010 he celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest with a solemn service in the St. Fidelis Church in Villingen.
Activity for Esperanto
Bernhard Eichkorn learned the international language Esperanto in 1975 . For him it became the gateway to the world beyond the German language borders. He works in the International Catholic Esperanto Association ( IKUE ), especially in the field of ecumenism . Together with the now deceased Lutheran pastor Adolf Burkhardt , he ensured a revival of the Ecumenical Commission, which arose in the wake of the first ecumenical Esperanto Congress in 1968. He is a co-founder of the Catholic Esperanto working group in the Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau. He also co-founded the Baden-Württemberg Esperanto League (BAVELO), the regional association of the German Esperanto Association (GEA or DEB in German). He was managing director on the board of BAVELO until 2016. From 1989 to 2016 Eichkorn was "episcopal commissioned pastor" by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Freiburg / Breisgau for the Catholic Esperantists in the Archdiocese of Freiburg and beyond.
He has celebrated church services in Esperanto at countless events at home and abroad, promoted international youth encounters and partnerships, organized weekend encounters and Bible seminars and played a decisive role in the planning of Catholic and ecumenical congresses.
Act
Bernhard Eichkorn has repeatedly created brochures with prayers, songs or working texts for church services, especially for the hourly prayer, as well as for study conferences.
He was responsible for the quarterly Ecumenical Esperanto Forum , edited by Adolf Burkhardt, technically and financially until Adolf Burkhardt's death. In 1999 he was responsible for the publication and distribution of the book Esperanto - the new Latin of the Church by Ulrich Matthias , which has since been published in an expanded and adapted form in English, Russian, Portuguese, Lithuanian, French and Hungarian.
With the Swabian pastor Adolf Burkhardt mentioned above and Albrecht Kronenberger , senior student councilor from the Palatinate , he designed the ecumenical service book ADORU , which appeared in 2001 and contains a plethora of international songs in addition to church service models from various denominations. The trio, which as a working group named itself Kirchberg Monastery (they usually met in Kirchberg Monastery near Sulz / Neckar), was awarded the FAME Culture Prize of the city of Aalen for this hymn book in 2002 . Most recently, Bernhard Eichkorn was significantly involved in the new edition of the Bible in Esperanto, which was published by Kava-Pech in Prague in October 2006 . He currently works a. a. in the long-term planned creation of a Christian glossary, which can be viewed at "www.bernhardeichkorn.de, Esperanto-Seiten, Kristana Fakvortaro" on the Internet in its current state of development.
On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Gmeiner-Verlag published his autobiography My Village, My City and God's Mercy in March 2014 (3rd edition in 2017) . From the life of a child of God .
Federal Cross of Merit
In May 2008, the Mayor of Villingen-Schwenningen , Rupert Kubon , presented him with the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon, awarded by Federal President Horst Köhler for his social and Esperantist activities .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Esperanto priest celebrates anniversary . In: Südkurier of June 8, 2010
- ↑ In the service of God and man. In: Südkurier from June 23, 2010
Web links
- bernhardeichkorn.de - the website of Bernhard Eichkorn, partly in Esperanto
- Südkurier: Great pastor celebrates anniversary
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Eichkorn, Bernhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Catholic clergyman and Esperantist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 22, 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bettmaringen |