Catholic Church in the Canton of Bern
The Roman Catholic Church in the canton of Bern has 134,680 members (15.6% of the canton's population), around a third of whom are foreigners. The 1147 Christ Catholics can also be counted to the Catholic Church . The majority of the canton's residents are Protestant Reformed (50.25%). The canton of Bern, together with the cantons of Solothurn and Jura, belongs to the diocese region of St. Verena of the diocese of Basel and comprises seven pastoral rooms, which include a total of 46 Roman Catholic parishes . At the state church law level recognized by the cantonal constitution , 33 parishes form the Roman Catholic regional church of the canton of Bern.
history
From tolerance to recognition
1799: Since the canton of Bern was reformed in 1528 , Catholic acts of worship have been banned. At the request of the Catholic members of the authorities of the Helvetic Republic , a mass will be celebrated again for the first time on June 9 - after an interruption of 271 years - in the Bern Minster . Fr Gregor Girard was one of the first diaspora pastors in Switzerland to work there. About 1000 Catholics live in the city of Bern .
1803: After the Swiss government resigned, only the Reformed Church was recognized again in the canton of Bern . The Catholics are only tolerated. The conversion of Reformed people is regarded as a disruption of religious peace and is punishable by law. In the city of Bern, the number of Catholics drops to around 300.
1804: The Bern Minor Council allows Catholic worship to continue "in the capital alone" under the supervision of the Church Council, which is composed of Reformed clergy and members of the government. Catholics have hospitality rights in the preacher's church for 60 years .
1815: The Congress of Vienna connects the Jura as part of the former Principality of Basel with the Canton of Bern. The deed of unification of November 23rd allows the practice of the Roman Catholic religion in the Catholic communities of the Jura. The parishes of the Jura are recognized by the state, the parish of the city of Bern is still only tolerated. The canton of Bern, with the predominantly Catholic Jura, has a total of 50,000 Catholics, of which only around 2,000 to 3,000 live in the old part of the canton.
1828: The diocese of Basel is restored and rewritten based on a concordat between the Holy See and the cantons of Lucerne , Bern, Solothurn and Zug . Not the entire canton of Bern is attached to the diocese of Basel, but only the part of the area that was assigned to it in the Congress of Vienna .
1831: The liberal constitution of the canton of Bern guarantees freedom of belief , but also "the rights of the existing Evangelical Reformed regional church and the Roman Catholic church in the communities that profess them".
1846: The new state constitution of the canton of Bern repeats the approvals of its predecessor and grants a church commission composed of Catholics the right to propose and give preliminary advice in Roman Catholic church matters, insofar as these fall within the scope of the state authorities. Such a commission had existed since 1832.
1850: The number of Catholics in the city of Bern rises to around 1,500, in the canton of Bern (excluding the Bernese Jura and Biel ) to around 3,700, which corresponds to a Catholic share of 1.0% of the total population.
1864: The first Catholic church of the post-Reformation period, St. Peter and Paul, is inaugurated next to Bern's town hall . In the same year, the old part of the canton (Bernese Jura and Biel) is also assigned to the diocese of Basel through an agreement between the Holy See and the canton of Bern.
The Kulturkampf and its overcoming
1873: In the course of the French Revolution (1789), especially following the dogmatization of papal infallibility in the First Vatican Council (1870), the so-called Kulturkampf , the dispute with the Catholic Church, rages particularly fiercely in the canton of Bern. The diocese cantons depose Bishop Lachat , the Bernese government removes the Jurassic pastors who hold Lachat and expels them from the canton.
1874: Catholics loyal to Rome lose state recognition as well as their churches in Bern and Biel to the Christ Catholics . The law on the organization of church affairs provides for the same organization for the regional Catholic church as for the Reformed church. By decree of December 2nd, the Grand Council organizes a Catholic synod , which is described as the embodiment of the Catholic Church Commission provided for in the 1846 constitution .
1878: Rome allows Catholics to vote in parish council elections. The Catholics in the Jura make use of this and obtain a majority in most parishes. They bring back the deposed pastors, who have since been amnestied by the state.
1880: The Catholic Synod, in which the Christian Catholics have meanwhile also been placed in the minority, repeals various resolutions passed between 1875 and 1877 that contradict the Roman Catholic doctrine. The synod will not be convened afterwards.
1893: According to Article 84 of the State Constitution , the Evangelical Reformed, Roman Catholic and Christian Catholic Churches are the recognized regional churches in the communities that profess them. After this 'peace treaty', the parishes of Biel and St. Imier (1898), Tramelan (1905) and Tavannes (1922) are recognized as parishes by decree of the Grand Council. In the old part of the canton, the fear of a repetition of the losses suffered in the Kulturkampf has an effect even longer, so that the relevant circles cling to the organization under private law.
1895: The Great Council regulates the organization of the Roman Catholic Commission by decree of November 27th.
1898: On February 23, the Grand Council passed a decree on the elimination of the Catholic parishes of the canton of Bern according to their membership of the Roman Catholic or Christian Catholic regional church.
1899: After 30 years of reconstruction work, the Roman Catholic population of the city of Bern and Pastor Jakobus Stammler move into the new Trinity Church .
1900: In connection with the immigration of foreigners, the number of Catholics in the city of Bern rose from around 4,100 in 1888 to over 7,000, which corresponds to around 9 percent of the resident population. Of these, around two thirds profess the Roman Catholic and one third the Christian Catholic Church.
1910: The first correspondence sheet for the Roman Catholic parish of Bern appears on November 5th . In 1964 the collaboration with the Langenthaler Pfarrblatt started. In 1974 all parishes in the old part of the canton came together to publish a common parish gazette.
1921: The canton of Bern resumes relations with the diocese of Basel that had been interrupted since the Kulturkampf.
1925: On October 3, the first issue of the Neue Berner Nachrichten , the daily newspaper of the Bernese Catholics, appears. Although the newspaper appears in small editions (max. 1000) and it had to be discontinued in 1971 due to economic difficulties, it played an important role as the mouthpiece of the Catholic minority and as an observer and creator of a piece of Catholic Bern.
1927: The Catholic bookshop in Bern opens. Two years later it is taken over by Paul Voirol under his name, and from 1994 it becomes the Voirol Ecumenical Bookstore . In the course of the Italian immigration, the Missione Cattolica Italiana di Berna is founded. With the acquisition of the prairie by the Holy Trinity Parish in Bern, important pastoral companies were launched. Thanks to the help of volunteers, the open house still offers hospitality for the socially disadvantaged.
1935: With the decree of May 13th, which regulates the definition and organization of the Roman Catholic parishes in the canton of Bern, an additional 15 parishes are established in the Jura. With this, all of the 1874 repealed are restored and their number increases to 81.
Departure to a progressive church
1939: In the canton of Bern (excluding the Bernese Jura and Biel), eight Roman Catholic parishes are established and recognized with the decree of March 8th of the Grand Council : Bern Trinity, Bern St. Marien, Bern St. Antonius, which are part of the Roman Catholic the entire Catholic parish of Bern, as well as Burgdorf, Langenthal, Interlaken, Spiez and Thun. With the state recognition the official equal treatment of the three regional churches from now on takes place.
1942: Since the turn of the century, women and mothers' communities have been established in all parishes in the canton of Bern. They networked and founded the umbrella organization for Catholic Women’s Association in Bern (KFB) on February 8th .
1945: On May 6th, the new law on the organization of ecclesiastical affairs, which is still in force today (since July 1st, 1996 has been called: Law on regional churches in Bern), is passed. Article 71 also provides for a Roman Catholic commission consisting of eleven members. Four of them must be spiritual and seven worldly; they are elected for a term of four years by the citizens of the Roman Catholic denomination entitled to vote.
1947: The Jesuits , who have been taking care of the pastoral care of students since 1927, obtain the aki (abbreviation for 'Academic House') in Bern .
1952: The Roman Catholic parishes found the Association of Roman Catholic Parishes in the old part of the canton . This association enables nationwide voluntary self-help.
1963: With the same intention, the parishes in the French-speaking part of the canton merge to form the Caisse de compensation des paroisses catholiques romaines du Jura et de Bienne .
1969: The ecumenical movement is supported with the establishment of the Working Group of Christian Churches in the Canton of Bern (AKB). In 1972 the Working Group of Christian Churches in the City of Bern (AKiB) was founded.
1970: In a time of change, the regional youth pastoral care is established. The Catholic population in the canton of Bern has experienced the greatest growth rate since 1941, as many federal officials have immigrated from Catholic cantons as well as migrants from Italy and Spain . In the canton of Bern, the number of Catholics rose from 19,000 to 65,500, the relative proportion rose from 9 to 21 percent.
1971: The delegates of all parishes give the Roman Catholic Commission the task of creating a synod . In the Bern region, the traditional popular mission takes place in a completely new form as part of Progressio 71 . Looking back at the 2nd Vatican Council and with a view to Synod 72, the people of God should become a progressive church. A group service characterized by lay people and Stephan Pfürtner's theses on morality - what is still true today? lead to polarization and headlines.
1974: All parishes in the canton of Bern (excluding the Bernese Jura and Biel) join forces to publish a common parish gazette. The Bern parish gazette is still published weekly. The Deanery Bern-Stadt is established. Although it extends far into the Bern area, it is shaped by modern, urban culture. The territorial parish has had its day and is being replaced by a city pastoral.
1976: After the first French-speaking vicars and priests had been working in Bern since 1899, the Paroisse de langue française was founded.
1978: The Roman Catholic parishes in the area of the new canton of Jura change their citizenship from the canton of Bern to the canton of Jura. The Roman Catholic Church is also recognized as a public body in the new canton. It is organized in accordance with the constitution and church law as a collectivité ecclésiastique cantonale catholique romaine .
1979: The revised Article 84 of the State Constitution of the Canton of Bern, which no longer mentions the Roman Catholic Commission, enables the creation of a Roman Catholic Synod.
1981: The majority of the Roman Catholic parishes approve the church constitution drawn up by the Roman Catholic Commission; three parishes reject it. The church constitution comes into effect on August 1st.
1982: The Synod meets on June 12th in the presence of Bishop Anton Hänggi for the constituent session in Bern and forms the Roman Catholic Church of the Canton of Bern ( French Église nationale catholique romaine du canton de Berne ).
1983: The churches are part of the start of the local radio stations in Bern with the ecumenical program chrüz u quer right from the start.
1984: On his pastoral visit to Switzerland from June 12th to 17th, Pope John Paul II also stops in Bern and in the ecumenical center Kehrsatz , where he shows his support for the ecumenical movement and calls on the bishops to imitate it themselves to seek responsible ecumenical solutions that correspond to the special situation in Switzerland.
1985: The Caritas regional office in Bern begins its work as the office of the regional church in Bern.
1987: The Synod in Gwatt holds a two-day closed meeting for the first time to deal with fundamental questions in more depth . Further retreats follow in Gwatt in 1992 and in Rüttihubelbad in 1996 .
The latest developments
1993: At the end of the year, the district of Laufen joins the canton of Basel-Landschaft , whereby the Landeskirche Bern loses one of its five regions.
1994: The Synod of the Regional Church of Bern adopts a proposal to revise the church constitution on November 19. The most important changes are: The right to vote for foreigners is introduced, as the new cantonal constitution allows. The preoccupation of the regional church with pastoral, i.e. internal church issues, has a clearer legal basis than before. The number of synod representatives is no longer fixed at 90, but variable (1–5 depending on the size of the parish). Instead of regionally, the synodals are now elected directly by the parishes. The ten deanery representatives in the synod, as well as the regional deans and deans who belong to the synodal council, receive full voting rights. The legal position of the regional commissions is adapted to actual developments.
1995: The constitutional revision is adopted by the Catholics entitled to vote. Caritas Bern becomes independent as an association that is subsidized by the regional church.
1996: A working group delivers a report to the Synodal Council of the Regional Church of Bern on the subject of the journey to a synodal church . On June 21, 1997 and March 21, 1998, two meetings convened by the working group create a forum for the Catholic Church of the Canton of Bern . This open “discussion and networking platform” will meet for the first time on November 7, 1998 in Ostermundigen . The culture of debate in the church and the ecumenical consultation are the main themes.
1998: After the majority of the Bernese electorate still voted in 1973 to keep the Jesuit ban, two Jesuits are elected as priests in Bern.
1999: 1999 is a triple jubilee year for the Catholic Church in the canton of Bern: 1000 years of donation to the Moutier-Grandval Abbey (999 donation of the Jura and part of the Central Plateau from Burgundy King Rudolf III. , Which led to the historical restoration of the Principality of Basel ), 200 Years of the Catholic Church in Bern (1799 first Catholic service in Bern Minster after the Reformation ) and 100 years of the Trinity Church in Bern .
2000: At the request of the Bern Regional Commission, a statement is passed on the Dominus Jesus announcement in which the Regional Church of Bern is committed to ecumenism . The bilingual website of the Roman Catholic Church in the canton of Bern goes online - with the aim of using common forces, having a uniform online presence as a church and creating a platform for the many points of view of the Roman Catholic denomination.
2001: The concept of larger-scale regionalization of the diocese of Basel is presented. The Landeskirche Bern takes a position on the church occupation of the sans-papiers .
2003: Bishop Kurt Koch appoints the members of the leadership of the Bern-Jura-Solothurn diocese region.
2004: On June 5th and 6th the National Youth Meeting takes place in Bern , which becomes a media event due to the visit of Pope John Paul II. In Biel, Christ-König, the people responsible for the newly established Episcopal Vicariate St. Verena are installed by the bishop. The declaration of the Synod of Lucerne on urgent pastoral issues leads to the formation of a working group that is to create its own declaration on the topic.
2005: Bernese pastors and the regional church of Bern campaign for Sunday as a day of rest before the referendum on Sunday work on November 27th.
2006: Various Catholic institutions in the canton of Bern fight against the new, stricter asylum and foreigners law , which is passed by the Swiss electorate on September 24th. The Family Allowance Act is supported by the Catholic deaneries in the Bern and Bern-Oberland region and adopted by the voters on November 26th. On November 26th, with the handing over of the core documents by Bishop Kurt Koch, the implementation process of the pastoral development plan in the diocese of Basel begins , which is also intended to provide orientation for pastoral action in the canton of Bern.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federal Population Census, Structural Survey 2017 , www.bfs.admin.ch/ accessed June 1, 2019
- ↑ Pastoral rooms in the canton of Bern accessed June 1, 2019
literature
- Gabriella Hanke Knaus et al. (Ed.): Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999. A stopover . Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area and Dean's Office for the Bern region 1999.
- Rudolf Dellsperger, Johannes Georg Fuchs, Peter Gilg, Felix Hafner, Walter Stähelin, State, Church and Politics in the Canton of Bern from the Reformation to the middle of the 20th century , Bern 1991
See also
Web links
- Roman Catholic Church in the Canton of Bern
- pfarrblatt - weekly newspaper of the Roman Catholic parishes in the canton of Bern (excluding Bernese Jura and Biel)
- Angelus - bi-weekly newspaper of the Roman Catholic parishes in the Biel-Bienne region