Catholic Refugee Council

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The Catholic Refugee Council was founded in 1948 in order to be able to “independently advise and support the refugee problem in all its relationships and in its entire spatial extent”.

prehistory

The real story began as early as 1947, when, after the death of the German refugee bishop Maximilian Kaller , Bishop Ferdinand Dirichs from Limburg was appointed his successor that same year and invited to a meeting in March 1948 about questions of Catholic refugee aid. It was decided to set up a Catholic Refugee Council “to which the majority should include well-known refugees from all tribes and regions”.

founding

The first meeting of the Refugee Council took place on August 23, 1948 in Frankfurt am Main. Another followed on December 7, 1948 in Cologne-Hohenlind, in which Cardinal Josef Frings as papal protector for refugees and his auxiliary bishop Joseph Ferche (formerly active in Breslau) took part. Hans Lukaschek was elected as chairman on this date.

The Refugee Council referred to the principles of burden sharing and considered a burden compensation office like a Federal Ministry for the refugee system necessary. After it was established, Lukaschek became the first Federal Minister of Displacement .

In 1949, the urgent tasks were brought closer to the public with the publication “Proposals and figures for the economic integration of expellees in West Germany” . When Prelate Franz Hartz became the special representative for pastoral care for refugees and displaced persons, the Refugee Council pointed out the need for pastoral care for displaced persons in the “circular to all pastors” .

After Hartz's death in 1953, Bishop Julius Döpfner from Würzburg became the representative of pastoral care for expellees (see also: Pastoral care for expellees and emigrants ). After his call to Berlin, Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen from Hildesheim became bishop of expellees for a quarter of a century.

The refugee council at that time had 34 members, seven of whom were priests. The members, in turn, came from different country teams: 15 Silesians , six Northeast Germans ( Warmia , Danzig , etc.), five Sudeten Germans, three Southeast Germans, two Central Germans and three West Germans who had not been expelled.

Among the members were the capitular vicars Paul Hoppe of the Diocese of Warmia and Wilhelm Volkmann of the Free Prelature Schneidemühl , as well as the Apostolic Visitator of the Danzig Catholics Anton Behrendt . The institutions represented were the Heimatwerk of the Silesian Catholics, the Hedwigswerk , the Bischof-Kaller-Stiftung, the Ackermanngemeinde and the St. Gerhard-Werk.

In 1977 Richard Hackenberg became chairman of the refugee council, followed in 1984 by ministerial director Günter Fuchs.

His successor as bishop of expellees from Janssen was Auxiliary Bishop Gerhard Pieschl in 1983 .

Due to significant funding cuts by government and church bodies, the chairman Gerhard Mattern , appointed by Pieschl in 1998, also had to cut the number of members of the committee.

Today's tasks

The Catholic Refugee Council advocates pilgrimages to the displacement areas with meetings of the local believers. He also takes care of the ecclesiastical home of the repatriates.

literature

  • Janssen, H. M: Bishop HM Janssen, bishop of displaced persons for 25 years . Ed .: Catholic Refugee Council u. Albertus Magnus College. Koenigstein 1982.

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