Catholic youth Austria
The Catholic Youth Austria is the official youth organization of the Catholic Church in Austria and one of the lay movements in Catholic Action .
Prehistory of the Catholic Youth up to 1945
The first organized forms of church youth work in the German-speaking area developed in the middle of the 19th century by Adolph Kolping with the Catholic journeyman's associations and Clemens M. Hofbauer with the Catholic youth associations. In addition to these associations, it was above all the Catholic scout movement, the 'Bund Neuland' and youth work during the Nazi era that had a strong influence on the development of Catholic youth.
The 1930 paramilitary, Austro-Fascist defense formation Ostmärkische Sturmscharen , which fought in the Austrian civil war , recruited its members especially from among the Catholic youth.
With the end of Austrian independence , 1938 also saw the dissolution of all church and state youth organizations. Associated with this were the confiscation of the assets of Catholic youth associations, the evacuation of their homes for the benefit of the Hitler Youth and numerous arrests of officials of Catholic youth associations.
Many young Catholics began to work for the Church in the internal resistance. The parish was the center of religious life. Here resistance arose in an impressive way underground. These groups of young people, which arose in numerous parishes, formed the solid starting point for church youth work after 1945.
Official founding of the Catholic Youth and first developments
On October 2, 1946, the Austrian bishops passed the 'Guidelines for the Uniform Organization of Church Youth Work in Austria', in which the nature, task and name of the Catholic youth (KJ for short) were specified. The church thus created an official church youth organization that was responsible for the pastoral care of all young people.
It was already stated in these guidelines that the KJ is a non-party youth organization .
The period until the mid- 1960s was the heyday of Catholic youth. In almost all parishes, numerous youth groups were set up, which were supported by many volunteer workers and chaplains.
In April 1948 it was decided to classify the Catholic youth according to their occupation and living environment as workers youth (KAJ), rural youth (KLJ) - renamed in 1969 to Catholic youth rural (KJL) - and middle school youth (KMJ) - from 1963 Catholic student youth and later Catholic student youth ( KSJ) - to be divided.
Characteristic for this first epoch of the KJ were the strongly religious emphasis and the emphasis on the altar community.
At the same time, however, there were also political topics and objectives in the declarations of principle and annual topics. The aim of the Catholic youth was to contribute to the renewal of society. International work was also increasingly promoted, especially on the part of the KAJ.
1960–1980: upheavals and times of crisis
In the early to mid-1960s, a crisis in church youth work was heralded for the first time, due to the emerging sociocultural change in society and the associated change in awareness among young people. In an increasingly plural society, the church and its associations appeared to many as authoritarian and hierarchical institutions.
In terms of content, the socio-political content and actions, such as B. in the area of development policy , peace work , the question of social defense and community service . Methodologically, it was primarily about self-awareness-oriented work and group dynamic approaches, as well as trying a democratic leadership style.
With the help of new concepts and forms of work, attempts were made to do justice to the claim to provide comprehensive youth work. So z. B. the concept of open youth work. The aim was to also address young people who came from strata and families outside the church.
1980–2000: Emergence of new forms and concepts of youth work
The 1980s were marked by increasing pessimism and disillusionment among many young people. At the same time, church youth work got more and more competition from the commercial leisure industry and from school afternoon offers.
Church developments were also shaped by this pessimistic mood. Approaches to reform have been withdrawn and traditional positions have increasingly come to the fore. The Catholic youth tried to do justice to this with new models and initiatives. Project-oriented forms of work, approaches of feminist youth work and gender-specific work with boys and the concept of subsequent or mobile youth work emerged.
At the same time, the individual structures of the KJ lost more and more weight structurally and were dissolved in almost all dioceses and at the federal level in favor of a unified Catholic youth.
In the 1990s, the focus was on the commitment to peace and the abolition of the civil service commission, the commitment to voluntary service with the establishment of the voluntary ecological year and, due to the fall of the Iron Curtain, the fight against xenophobia KJ.
Catholic youth at the turn of the millennium
In the last ten years the Catholic youth has tried with considerable effort to face the challenges of the time, such as the declining church socialization, the skepticism towards any form of institutions and the oversupply on the leisure and consumer market. Project work (e.g. the very successful '72 hrs without compromise ' social project ) was intensified in order to be more in line with today's spirit. Campaign work (e.g. in the field of apprenticeship work) and political activities (e.g. participation in the civil service and army reform commission) attempted to sharpen the socio-political profile of the KJ and help build a more just society. With new ideas and models, such as B. the youth church in Vienna (until 2017) or the youth church service series find • fight • follow (until 2011), the KJ wants to address young people in the future and make the lively 'young church' tangible for them.
literature
- Fritz Csoklich (ed.): Catholic youth: sour dough for Austria. Graz: Leykam 1997 ISBN 3-7011-7352-4