Free religious community Offenbach
The free religious community Offenbach is a religious community that is constituted as a corporation under public law . As a corporation under public law, it may levy church tax. She is part of the free religious movement . The contrast-sensitive free religious place as usual free religious is chosen deliberately by the community.
The independent, independent congregation is a member of the Federation of Free Religious Congregations in Germany and, through this, the International Humanistic and Ethical Union . As an associated member, it is represented worldwide in the World Federation for Religious Freedom .
organization
The care area mainly includes the city of Offenbach am Main and the district , but goes far beyond that. The tasks and activities of the congregation include - Sunday celebrations, lectures, discussions and celebrations - Group activities for youth, adult education and senior citizens - Teaching and cult activities such as baptism , confirmation , marriage and funeral - Pastoral care, individual advice and social welfare - Publication of Publications and public relations work taking into account the fundamental beliefs of a dogma-free religion, such as - religion without hierarchy - complete freedom of belief and conscience - self-determination of the members in all religious matters - co-determination in administrative and cultic matters of the community - social justice, equal rights and educational opportunities for all Circles of the population - respect for the natural sources of life - solidarity of all people in a spirit of humanity.
Contact with the members is established through a separate, quarterly magazine, “MORGENRÖTE” (founded in 1877), which has been published since 1999 as a supplement to the monthly “SCHILLERPLATZ PREVIEW”.
The community center is located in the city center and comprises three buildings, the consecration hall, the youth home and the community administration.
As the only free religious community in Germany, it has been running a day-care center with 75 places since September 2006.
history
The free religious communities emerged around 1845 from circles that broke away from Roman Catholicism and from state-loyal and orthodox Protestantism. The occasion was an open letter from the Catholic chaplain Johannes Ronge from 1844, who opposed the exhibition of the so-called " Holy Skirt " in Trier . These communities strived for a reform beyond the confessional boundaries in the sense of an early Christian faith . The exclusion from the respective churches and her own religious development soon led her on her own path.
The free religious community in Offenbach was one of the first free religious communities in Germany. Today it is one of the largest still existing in the Federal Republic of Germany. On March 9, 1845, at a meeting under the leadership of Joseph Pirazzi, several hundred people confessed to "the Catholic-Christian congregation", who were still in the founding month , like others, by signing the founding deed of free, independent decision Parishes, called " German-Catholic ". As early as September 1845, the community was granted the right to give religious instruction. Until their own house of worship was built, the Catholic-Christian community was allowed to rent the Lutheran Evangelical City Church . In June 1859 the Offenbach community took part in the founding of the “Association of Free Religious Congregations in Germany” in Gotha . At their request, the “German-Catholic (free religious) community in Offenbach a. M. ”on June 24, 1863, was granted the corporate rights by the Darmstadt Grand Ducal Ministry of the Interior. Together with the Protestant and Catholic Churches, the community received the right to tax in 1875.
literature
- Eckhart Pilick: Lexicon of Free Religious Persons , Rohrbach / Pfalz: Peter Guhl, 1997
- The foundation of the German Catholic community in Offenbach am Main. A commemorative publication by Emil Pirazzi for the first half-century of its existence. 1895
- Max Gehrmann: History of the free religious community in Offenbach am Main Offenbach a. M.: Offenbacher Geschichtsverein, 1968. - 80 p.: With ill.; 8 (Offenbacher Geschichtsblätter; No. 18)
- Ferdinand Kampe: History of the Religious Movement of Modern Times. 4 volumes. Leipzig 1852-1860.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 8 ″ N , 8 ° 45 ′ 26 ″ E