Joan Botam

Joan Botam i Casals

Joan Botam i Casals (born September 21, 1926 in Les Borges Blanques , Spain ) is a Catalan priest and Capuchin . His religious name is Fra Salvador de les Borges .

biography

After graduating, Joan Botam worked in the property register and as a controller in the town hall of Les Borges Blanques.

In 1944 he joined the Capuchins in Arenys de Mar as a novice . In 1952 he was ordained a priest. In 1955 he received his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Salamanca . In 1957 he was appointed vice director (and later director) of the Capuchin Academy of Philosophy and Theology .

His great interest in Catalan culture was shown, among other things, in his work Arnau de Vilanova , moralista (The Moralist Arnau de Vilanova, 1956), for which the Institute of Catalan Studies awarded him the Jaume Serra i Húnter Prize.

In 1963 he became Provincial Vicar of the Capuchins of Catalonia . At the same time he was chaplain of the ecumenical institution Pax Christi . During this time he took part in many initiatives related to pacifism or ecumenism . He was one of the founders of the Víctor Seix Institute for Polemology , as well as a member of the jury of the Johannes XXIII memorandum. He worked intensively with the anti-Francoist Cultural Resistance and had an essential role in the Caputxinada , which took place in 1966. The state governor of Barcelona, ​​Antonio Ibáñez Freire, therefore tried to drive him out of Spain, but this was averted by the intervention of the religious authorities and the Holy See .

In 1984 he founded the Ecumenical Center of Catalonia to promote dialogue between Orthodox, Anglicans, Catholics and Protestants. During the Summer Olympics in 1992 he founded the intercultural platform of Barcelona : to promote dialogue between religions and to offer athletes from different religions a common place for their prayers. This also resulted in the Abraham Center in Poblenou, Barcelona. At the same time he was appointed President of the Union of Members of Religious Orders of Catalonia (URC). As such, he also sponsored the first Congress on Religious Life in Catalonia.

In 1997 he was President of the Design Commission for the Interreligious Center, a municipal service for the respect of religious people and religious orders in Barcelona. In 2000 he was together with Enric Capó Representant of Barcelona at the Millennium Summit for spiritual and religious leaders at the United Nations .

In 2010 he was awarded the Creu-de-Sant-Jordi Prize by the regional Catalan government for his contribution to the dialogue between religions and his promotion of peace, coexistence and understanding between cultures. He is also a laureate for coexistence and interreligious dialogue from the Grup de Treball Estable de Religions (Group of Consistent Work of Religions, GTER).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview by Joan Botam ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 26, 1999  

Web links

• Article about Joan Botam i Casals in the great Catalan encyclopedia (Catalan)
• Excursions from a priest by Joan Cervera i Batariu p. 97 (Catalan)