Catholic action

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The Katholische Aktion (short KA ) sees itself as a lay movement of the Catholic Church , which wants to help shape society and the Church by proclaiming the Gospel in the lay apostolate in the sense of Catholic social teaching .

History and goals

The origins of the Catholic Action lie in the Italian lay Catholicism of the 19th century. Pius X , Pope from August 1903 to August 1914, was a great promoter of Catholic Action. In his encyclical Il fermo proposito of June 11, 1905 and in his apostolic letter Notre Charge Apostolique of August 25, 1910, he laid down the principles and goals and condemned political and social modernism (see anti-modernism and anti-modernism oath ).

The Catholic Action experienced a very great appreciation with the inaugural encyclical Ubi arcano Dei by Pope Pius XI. on December 23, 1922. This Pope gave her canonical status and promoted the establishment of Catholic Actions in many countries. It became politically particularly influential in Brazil, where it was founded on July 4, 1937 and was strongly promoted by the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro , Cardinal Sebastião Leme da Silveira Cintra . The intention of Pope Pius XI. was to activate the Catholic laity in public life. It arose from the insight that the clergy in modern times is no longer strong enough to carry out the ecclesiastical apostolate. Pius XI. wanted to bring together all Catholic lay movements under one roof and under the leadership of the Catholic Action and thus make the Catholic Action the ultimate Catholic lay movement. This made it a mass movement. Pius XI. wanted to turn the Catholic Action into a counter-movement to the then very large secular movements (trade unions ( labor movement ), socialists, etc.).

In France, Catholic Action has taken over the tasks of Caritas in many areas , especially in caring for the poorest and the homeless.

In Germany, the development of the Catholic Action was always small, since a strong association Catholicism ( Piusvereine , Adolph Kolping etc.) had already developed in the course of industrialization . The Kulturkampf led to the formation of a strong political interest group for the Catholic population in northern Germany through the German Center Party .

From today's perspective, the Pius XI. Although it already represents an appreciation of the Christian layman, it was not until Vatican II that the Catholic side recognized that the (confirmed) baptized person has a share in the general priesthood of Christ (= mediation between God and man) and therefore has his own tasks that are not are subject to the authority of the clergy.

Today, important concerns are the promotion of cooperation between Christian churches , the support of the family and the Gospel as the good news for every single Christian to be personally experienced. Politically, the Central Committee of the German Catholics took over tasks in the Federal Republic of the Catholic Action in other countries.

A far more intensive apostolate was practiced in the post-conciliar decades, however, by new spiritual communities, the largest of which became known internationally as movements, in particular the Schoenstatt Movement (Germany), the Legion of Mary (Ireland), the Focolare Movement (Italy), and Comunione e Liberazione (Italy) , Community of Sant'Egidio (Italy) and the Neocatechumenate (Spain). The Italian founding noticeably reduced the formerly very strong influence of the Azione cattolica , especially on the younger generation of the Catholic population in Italy. The Azione cattolica in Italy was closely linked to the Christian Democracy there from 1943 to 1994 , even more so than the Central Committee of German Catholics in Germany.

One of the most important German representatives was Erich Klausener , head of the Catholic Action in Berlin from 1928 to 1934, who organized rallies against anti-church groups and against National Socialism . Klausener was murdered in the so-called Röhm Putsch , in the course of which Hitler eliminated many of his opponents.

Well-known representatives

Birgit Bolognese-Leuchtenmüller , Christa Buzzi , Luitgard Derschmidt , Christa Ellbogen , Christian Friesl , Gabriele Frittum , Walter Greinert , Peter Grubits , Margit Hauft , Erich Klausener , Nicolò Marini , Josef Mayr-Nusser , Gerhard Marschütz

National

Germany

The Catholic Action has become particularly important in countries in which the Catholic association system had not yet developed. Where there were already numerous Catholic associations, such as in Germany, the Catholic Action only acquired the meaning of a collective umbrella term that is almost no longer used today.

Austria

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The Catholic Action Austria designates the Catholic lay organizations on the basis of associations, which are in a direct relationship to the church, the management is assigned a cleric as clergyman assistant and a departmental bishop.

As an umbrella organization, the Catholic Action houses organizations in the fields of children, youth, university youth, women, men, employees and academics:

A predecessor organization in Austria was the central office of all non-political associations in Austria.

President
  • 2012–2018 Gerda Schaffelhofer
  • since 2018 Leopold Wimmer
Spiritual assistants
Departmental Bishops

The Catholic Action in the Diocese of St. Pölten

In the diocese of St. Pölten , the Catholic Action was first founded in 1929 by Bishop Michael Memelauer . After the founding of the Catholic youth (August 1946), the Catholic youth group (1947) and the Catholic men's movement and the Catholic women's movement (1948), the constituent meeting of the diocesan committee of the KA took place on September 20, 1950. On this occasion, District Court President Dr. Anton Scheithauer elected first president. The Catholic Workers' Movement was founded in 1955, the Catholic Academic Association in 1962 and the Association of Christian Entrepreneurs in 1963. Other KA foundings were "Rainbows - for children in stormy times" in 1994 and the "Solidarity Network - Help with your job search" in 1998.

Armin Haiderer has been President of the St. Pölten Catholic Action since 2008. In 2011, Rev. Alois Brunner was confirmed as spiritual assistant by Diocesan Bishop Klaus Küng . The focus and projects are several events on the topic of responsibility for creation (diocesan environmental prize, theological environmental talks), the diocesan meeting days as well as development and socio-political activities. The organization of the Long Night of the Churches is also part of the Catholic Action.

Saints and blessed

There are at least three saints or blessed who belonged to the Catholic Action:

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Hamm: Lay Apostolate. In: Franz Courth (Hrsg.): Lexikon des Apostolates. Keywords responsible belief. Lahn-Verlag, Limburg 1995, ISBN 3-7840-2020-8 .
  2. ^ The Catholic Action in the Movements online at the KAÖ
  3. Catholic workers' movement in Austria
  4. ^ Leopold Wimmer new President of the Catholic Action Austria, erzdioezese-wien.at, October 22, 2018