Joseph Albert Otto

Joseph Albert Otto (born April 15, 1901 in Celle ; † May 24, 1981 in Münster ) was a German Roman Catholic clergyman, theologian, Jesuit , missionary scholar , editor and narrator.

life and work

Origin. Entry into the Jesuit order

Joseph (also: Josef) Albert Otto came from a family of teachers in Celle. Since his father wanted to send him to a Catholic high school, the family moved to Hildesheim . The Jesuit ban, which had been in force in Germany since 1873, was lifted three years before Otto's Abitur . Otto obtained information about the order from the Jesuit Hermann Muckermann and joined the Society of Jesus in April 1920 .

From natural science to missiology

He made the two-year novitiate in s'Heerenberg , Holland , in a branch of the German Jesuit Province, which originated from the time of the Jesuit ban in Germany. He completed his philosophical (1922–1925) and theological (1928–1932) training at the Ignatius College in Valkenburg aan de Geul , also in the Netherlands. There he was ordained a priest in 1931.

During his philosophy studies Otto Famulus became the famous zoologist and ant researcher Erich Wasmann SJ, who was researching in Valkenburg at the same time and taking part in the public discussion of Darwin 's theory of evolution . This contact with Wasmann's work aroused a strong interest in the natural sciences in the young philosophy student. At the same time he studied the papal circular Maximum illud , which appeared shortly before his entry into the order , which called for a renewed commitment to Christian world mission. Otto was also fascinated by the order's great missionary tradition. Interest in science cooled off. After completing his philosophy degree, he took the opportunity to campaign for the worldwide mission of the church.

Collaboration with the magazine Die Catholic Missionen

When the editors of the Jesuit magazine Die Catholic Missions (KM), who had returned to Germany from BENELUX, were looking for young Jesuits to work in Bonn, Otto got in touch and did an internship there from 1925–1928 between studying philosophy and theology. Theologically trained and experienced in journalism, he returned to the magazine in Bonn 1932–1934 and became a permanent member of the editorial team. He also studied religious studies and Chinese at the University of Bonn .

Study of missiology in Rome

1934–1935 he completed his religious education with a tertiary degree in Münster and went to study missiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1935–1937 . There the Belgian Jesuit Pierre Charles (1883-1954) was his most important teacher. He completed his studies in Rome with the work of founding the new Jesuit mission by General Father Johann Philipp Roothaan (Herder, Freiburg 1939). It was a comprehensive history of the Jesuit mission since the reestablishment of the dissolved order in 1814. Its nostrification as a doctoral thesis at the University of Münster (with Joseph Schmidlin ) failed when the war broke out.

The Nazi regime banned the magazine

At the end of 1937 Otto returned to the KM editorial team in Bonn. Here he saw the downfall of the magazine. In the first half of 1938 the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda complained in three letters to the editor Adolf Heinen about the anti- National Socialist course of the magazine and banned it in August 1938 as a threat to the state "forever". The editorial team broke up. After a short interlude in Rome in 1939, Otto worked as a hospital chaplain in the Herz-Jesu-Hospital in Bonn from 1940, where he also lived after the Bonn Jesuit House was closed by the Gestapo in 1941. After the hospital was destroyed by bombs, he moved to Olpe with the sisters from 1944 to 1945 .

Editor of the KM and reconstruction of the editorial office

After the war, Otto was appointed editor-in-chief of the KM by the order's administration with the task of re-establishing the magazine. With the support of his predecessor Adolf Heinen SJ, in 1945 he set up a makeshift editorial office next to the destroyed Jesuit house in Bonn, recruited new employees from the order, brought back the valuable mission library that had been saved by outsourcing, and through clever negotiations achieved that the Herder publishing house took over the magazine again and the Pontifical Mission Societies in Aachen and Munich offered it to their members as an alternative to their own magazine. In autumn 1947, the first issue of the new KM appeared with a print run of 20,000 copies, which Otto was able to increase to 86,000 copies by the end of his editorial work in 1968.

Content, the editors had to deal with completely new issues and challenges under the direction of Otto, the word "Germany Mission Land" by Ivo pointer SJ, the emergence of independent local churches and religious provinces in the so-called mission countries, the relationship between mission and interreligious dialogue , of Mission and development to one another as well as the understanding of mission of the Second Vatican Council . For Otto, the Catholic world mission did not consist in the "conversion" of as many "pagans" as possible in the shortest possible time, but in the founding and the help to build up independent local churches, which had to be "indigenous material-real and Christian form-real" to continue the mission in their own countries.

Formative influence on world church awareness

In addition to this editorial activity, Otto began extensive lecturing and consulting activities, especially for priests and theology students. As an advisor to a council bishop, he influenced the Second Vatican Council. He was significantly involved in the organization of the missionary Catholic Day 1954 in Fulda , which was under the motto "You should be witnesses to me". He was a member of the allocation committee of the Catholic Mission Council. He was a member of the Scientific Commission of the International Institute for Mission Studies and from 1952 to 1972 he was also co-editor of the Journal for Mission Studies and Religious Studies . At the Theological University Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt, he gave lectures on mission history.

Advice to young people

Above all, Otto cared about the commitment of young people in the worldwide mission of the Church. He advised and accompanied young people who thought of such a mission. He felt particularly close to the Dominican Missionary Sisters of Salisbury in Zimbabwe , who, thanks to his suggestions and help, were able to take in over 150 girls and train them to be missionary sisters. On the other hand, he strongly opposed the "import" of Asian girls into German monasteries, who should be better trained and deployed at home in their countries.

The last few years

In 1969 Otto handed over the editorial business to Ludwig Wiedenmann SJ and only retained the basic responsibility as editor and care for the mission library. On his 70th birthday in 1971, he received the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class, for his significant contribution to broadening horizons and strengthening international solidarity in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1973 he was able to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the magazine with the editorial team and the publishing house. Due to illness, he had to move to the Jesuit retirement and nursing home in Haus Sentmaring in Münster in February 1981, where he died after a stroke in May 1981 at the age of 80. He was buried in the order cemetery near Haus Sentmaring.

Honors

Otto had been the recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class , since 1971 .

Publications

• The fisherman from Karange. A story from the time of the East African slave hunts . Herder, Freiburg 1926.
  • (Dutch) De visscher von Karange Een verhaal uit den tijd of slooven yachts in East Africa. Averbode Drukk. d. Abdij 1934
  • (French) La Caravane de la mort. Les Editions du Clocher, Toulouse 1942.
  • (Spanish) La caravana de la muerte. Narración del tiempo de las cacerías de esclavos en el África oriental. Herder, Barcelona 1956.
• Young longing . Aachen 1927.
• The escape from the lama monastery. Based on a true story from Mongolia . Herder, Freiburg 1929.
  • (Czech) Útěk z kláštera lámů. Podle skutečné události. Prague 1935.
  • (Spanish) El misterio de Wu-Tai-Shan. Relato de la Huida de un monasterio de lamas. Herder, Barcelona 1955.
  • (Dutch) Hetkret van Wu-tai-shan Geschiedenis van een vlucht uit een Lamaklooster. Averbode Altiora 1958.
  • (French) L´évasion du monastère Lama. Notre-Dame de Verdelais, Verdelais 2018.
• Foundation of the new Jesuit mission by General Father Johann Philipp Roothaan . Herder, Freiburg 1939.
• Church growing. Four Hundred Years of the Jesuit Order in the Service of World Mission (1940) . Herder, Freiburg 1940.
• A thousand years of German missionaries all over the world . Alsatia, Colmar 1940.
• Pioneers of the Kingdom of God . Hansa, Hamburg 1947.
• The sacred adventure. On the 400th anniversary of the death of Franz Xaver at the gates of China 1552–1952 . 1952.
• Why Mission? World mission today. World church tomorrow . Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1957, 1961.
  • (Italian) Perchè salpiamo. Il problema missionario oggi. Ed. Missioni, Venice 1958.
  • (Spanish) Razón de ser de las misiones. Misión mundial hoy equivale a Iglesia mundial mañana. Edic. Paulinas, Madrid 1966.

literature

• Ludwig Wiedenmann: Father Josef Albert Otto SJ 1901–1981. A life in the service of world mission. In: The Catholic Missions 100, 1981, pp. 154–157.