Catholic university community

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A Catholic University Community ( KHG for short ) is the pastoral institution of the Roman Catholic Church at the universities with the purpose of providing pastoral care to students who have been removed from their home communities due to their studies. As a rule, university congregations are not considered normal congregations according to church law. In the new federal states , on the other hand, the traditional designation - which was also common in the Federal Republic until the end of the 1960s - is still used predominantly - Catholic student community ( KSG for short ). In Germany there are around 125 Catholic university communities of different sizes, some of which are networked with the more than 100 Catholic student dormitories nationwide.

structure

External structure

As a rule, the responsible diocesan bishop sets up a university community at every university , technical college or comparable educational institution . The leadership is held by a pastor or pastoral officer .

Smaller or closely related university communities are generally combined to form a single university community - for example the communities in Landau - Germersheim - or are also supported by the larger location, such as in Kaiserslautern and Zweibrücken .

Berlin is an exception , as there is a central university community for 16 public universities (including five universities) and universities of applied sciences with over 150,000 students. This is located in the Prenzlauer Berg district.

University communities are aimed at a special group of people ( students and employees at universities ). Like the military pastoral care, they fall under the category of pastoral care and are not a territorial parish .

Legally, they are usually directly subordinate to the bishop or the episcopal ordinariate .

The Catholic university parishes in Germany are organized in the Working Group of Catholic University Parishes. Their pastors and full-time workers are organized in the Conference for Catholic University Pastoral Care in Germany .

In Austria, the Catholic University Community is supported by the Catholic University Youth (KHJ) (exception: Vienna). The KHJ elects two chairpersons annually. There is a KHG at all university locations, i.e. in

  • Linz (KHG and KHJ)
  • Leoben (KHG and KHJ)
  • Graz (KHG and KHJ)
  • Innsbruck (KHG and KHJ)
  • Klagenfurt (KHG and KHJ)
  • Salzburg (KHG and KHJ Wiener Philharmonikergasse)

The Catholic University Community in Vienna is divided into three parts. The KHG Karlskirche (responsible for the Vienna University of Technology , the University of Veterinary Medicine and Vienna's art universities) is supported by Opus Dei .

In Innsbruck, the KHG has maintained the Bishop Paulus Home since 2008 .

In Switzerland, several Catholic university congregations (in particular the Catholic University Community of Basel, aki Bern, Hochschulseelsorge Luzern, aki Zürich) were founded by Jesuits . The Catholic university communities of Basel, Lucerne and Zurich are still supported by the Swiss Jesuits. The Catholic University Community of Zurich, whose house (Akademikerhaus or “Aki” for short) was opened a century ago, will celebrate its 100th birthday in autumn 2018.

Internal structure

Most university parishes, like local parishes, have some kind of parish council. This council is usually elected once a year or once a semester from among the active members of the university community. Often the council also includes the responsible pastor.

Many large university communities also subdivide themselves into different groups. These groups are either dependent on interests (e.g. cooking, sport, languages, etc.) or, as in the KSG Dresden, in the various fields of study.

In each university parish there is a weekly parish evening as well as spiritual events such as devotions , church services and pilgrimages , and further education events. The program of the university communities also includes non-partisan political events, social and socio-political events, and above all social events.

See also

Web links