Johanna Countess von Westphalen

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Johanna Reichsgräfin von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg (born September 24, 1936 in Haus Assen , Lippborg , Westphalia ; born Johanna (d'Arc) Paula Alphonsa Josepha Antonia Huberta Maria de Mercede Cosmas and Damian Countess von Galen ; † January 21, 2016 in Garmisch ) was a German politician and Catholic activist . She was the founder and longtime chairman of the organization Christian Democrats for Life (CDL) and chairman of the 1988 by her established life movement Foundation yes to life .

Life

Johanna von Westphalen came from the Galen count family from Münsterland . She was the daughter of Christoph Bernhard Graf von Galen and Marie-Sophie Countess von Galen, born Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz and Tettau (1909–1992). Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen was her great-uncle. She was married to Clemens August Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg (1927-2014), landowner in the Sauerland, and mother of six children. The family lived at the moated castle Laer in Meschede .

Von Westphalen suggested to her father, who lived alone in the Haus Assen family seat in Lippetal after the death of his wife in 1992, to make the moated castle available to the traditionalist religious order of the Servants of Jesus and Mary .

The committed Catholic von Westphalen was a member of the CDU and was a member of the CDU state executive in North Rhine-Westphalia and several federal committees of the CDU for 18 years from 1978 to 1992. She worked for many years in school politics, Catholic Parenthood in Germany (KED), Catholic Scouting in Europe and church social work such as the Social Service of Catholic Women (SKF) . She was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Forum of German Catholics . She was an honorary member of the CFD Christlicher Freundesdienst eV association , a Christian mission and aid organization that had already been founded in the former GDR, which mainly looks after drug-addicted prostitutes from the Berlin baby line. She was the patron of the Association of Friends of Angels , who are committed to social projects in Burkina Faso .

In 1985 she became the founding chairwoman of the Christian Democrats for Life (CDL), an initiative within the CDU / CSU and a member of the Bundesverband Lebensrecht (BVL) , and expanded her commitment nationwide. Your Mechthild Löhr followed in 2002 . Since 2002 she was honorary chairman of the CDL. She was the initiator of the “Tim Lives!” Campaign by the Yes to Life Foundation , in which Nikolaus Lobkowicz , Elisabeth Motschmann , Roland Rösler and Gloria von Thurn und Taxis took part.

Positions

Von Westphalen was the first signatory of the Stop Link Trend campaign in 2010 , which opposed the abandonment of Christian-conservative and market-economy positions in the form of the Berlin declaration by the CDU party leadership of January 15, 2010 and signed by several active and former members of the federal and state parliament has been.

Von Westphalen distinguished the Catholic Scouting of Europe , supervised by the servants of Jesus and Mary, as "loyal to the Church and pious" from the Catholic Scouting Association of the German Scouting Society Saint George , which they accused of drinking alcohol under the mantle of "Catholic" and taking condoms with them to the camp. The statement that condoms protect against AIDS, she called "propaganda of the homosexual lobby and funny people like Rita Süssmuth ".

She also signed the Marburg Declaration "For Freedom and Self-Determination - Against Totalitarian Efforts by Lesbian and Gay Associations" , in which it was assumed that practiced homosexuality posed "a considerable health and psychological risk" and attacks by the LSVD and other groups against representatives of reparative therapy condemned as curtailing "freedom of assembly, speech, scientific discourse and choice of therapy".

honors and awards

Fonts

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice Johanna Gräfin von Westphalen , FAZ , January 26, 2016
  2. ^ A b "Johanna Countess von Westphalen died" , kath.net, January 22, 2016
  3. ^ Website of the Yes to Life Foundation ( memento of April 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 21, 2016
  4. ^ Obituary notice Clemens August Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg , FAZ , October 22, 2014
  5. ^ "Committed to history for 400 years" , Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , December 17, 2011
  6. ↑ a b c Called by name , Die Tagespost , January 22, 2016
  7. ↑ a b “Countess von Westphalen turns 70. The honorary chairwoman of the Christian Democrats for Life is honored as the founder” ( Memento from January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Bundesverband Lebensrecht (BVL), September 24, 2006
  8. ^ Website CFD Christlicher Freundesdienst eV , accessed on January 22, 2016
  9. ↑ Website Bund der Freunde der Engel eV , accessed on January 22, 2016
  10. ↑ Website Tim is alive! , accessed January 22, 2016
  11. ↑ Simone & Bernhard Guido: Tim lives! -: How a boy who shouldn't exist opened our eyes , adeo Verlag 2015
  12. ↑ Federal Executive of the CDU : Berlin Declaration - Our Perspectives 2010-2013 ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 98 kB), from January 15, 2010.
  13. ↑ Renate Witteler: CDU politician defends the controversial scout group KPE ( Memento from January 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Aalener Zeitung , January 22, 2011
  14. ↑ Medrum: Signatory of the declaration "For Freedom and Self-Determination"
  15. ↑ AAS 95 (2003), n.1, p. 90.
personal data
SURNAME Westphalen, Johanna Countess of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Galen, Johanna (d'Arc) Paula Alphonsa Josepha Antonia Huberta Maria de Mercede Cosmas and Damian Countess von (birth name); Westphalen zu Fürstenberg, Johanna Imperial Countess of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU) and activist
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH House Assen , Lippborg , Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 2016
Place of death Garmisch-Partenkirchen , Germany