Catholic office

Catholic offices are points of contact and liaison between the Catholic Church in Germany and its bishops and political and social actors. According to their own statements, they represent interfaces between the Catholic Church and politics, which represent and represent the views of the Catholic Church externally. In particular, they submit statements on current legislative proposals to the Federal Government and the Bundestag or to the relevant state bodies. The offices are purely internal church institutions and are independent of the state. The office managers traditionally have the rank of minister in terms of protocol.

classification

Entrance area of the Catholic office in Berlin

The Catholic Office in Berlin is - alongside the secretariat of the Bishops 'Conference based in Bonn - one of two offices of the German Bishops' Conference . Its legal entity is the Association of Dioceses of Germany (VDD). While the Secretariat of the Bishops' Conference is primarily responsible for forming opinions within the Church, the tasks of the Catholic Office also include external lobbying . According to its own statements, the Catholic Office feels committed to the common good and claims to represent those social groups that otherwise do not have a strong lobby. Accordingly, it sees its tasks in particular in social and refugee policy. The Catholic dioceses have also set up appropriate offices at state level. This is due to the fact that, according to the competency regulations of the Basic Law, the federal states have legislative competence for numerous topics that are particularly relevant to the Catholic Church.

Catholic office at the federal level

Berlin

Katholische Höfe in Berlin, office building of the Catholic Office Berlin

The Catholic Office in Berlin (officially: Commissariat of the German Bishops - Catholic Office in Berlin ) under the direction of Prelate Karl Jüsten is responsible for representing the German bishops in Berlin and Brussels . In addition, there is close cooperation with the authorized representative of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany for the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union. The office is an agency of the German Bishops' Conference , whose legal entity is the Association of Dioceses of Germany . It is based in Berlin-Mitte on Hannoversche Strasse, where the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the GDR was located until German reunification . The Catholic Academy in Berlin and the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas are also located on the site of the so-called "Catholic Courts" .

On September 22, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI met and Chancellor Angela Merkel in the library of the Catholic Office in Berlin for a conversation.

Bonn

Before the federal government moved from Bonn to Berlin, the commissariat of the German bishops was also located in Bonn. It was founded in 1950 after preparatory work by the Cologne cathedral capitular prelate Wilhelm Johannes Böhler and was initially headed by him. The foundation took place parallel to the corresponding activities of Superintendent Hermann Kunst , who later became the prelate and first authorized representative of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) at the federal government. In 1948/49, Böhler had represented the church's concerns in the drafting of the Basic Law as the representative of the German bishops at the Parliamentary Council and had been the representative of the chairman of the Fulda Bishops' Conference at the federal government since 1949 . For this purpose, the Church Political Committee (KPG) became an important switch and liaison point to the Catholic representatives of the governments, the ministerial bureaucracy and the parliament. In order to gather and bind a larger group of leading Catholics, the Klubhaus Bonn e. V. founded. Böhler's successor as head of the Catholic Office was Prelate Wilhelm Wissing from the diocese of Münster in 1958 . He was followed by the auxiliary bishop and later bishop of Münster Heinrich Tenhumberg , the prelate and later auxiliary bishop Wilhelm Wöste , also diocese of Münster, and - from 1977 to 2000 - the Würzburg prelate Paul Bocklet .

In 2000 the office was relocated to Berlin and renamed accordingly.

Country Offices

Since the late 1950s, the responsible diocesan bishops have also set up liaison offices to the respective state governments at the state level to represent church matters at the level of the German states. In the course of reunification, such offices were also set up by the East German dioceses. The legislative competences of the federal states, which have always covered important policy areas, were again considerably expanded in the course of the [federalism reform] in 2006. For example, because of the cultural sovereignty of the federal states, the entire teaching and education system from kindergarten to university essentially falls within the competence of the federal states. State and church traditionally work together in these areas, which is particularly evident through [Article 7 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany | Art. 7 GG] is also constitutionally secured.

Baden-Württemberg

The commissariat of the bishops in Baden-Württemberg, based in Stuttgart, was established on September 1, 1974. It represents the two Catholic dioceses in the state of Baden-Württemberg, the Archdiocese of Freiburg and the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart towards the state government, parliament and the ministerial administration, in which around 4 million Catholics live. The office maintains connections with other politically and socially relevant groups, associations and organizations such as B. Trade unions and employers' associations or youth and sports associations.

Bavaria

The Bavarian Catholic Office, based in Munich, was established on June 1, 1993. Since January 1, 2012, the Catholic School Commissioner in Bavaria - as an institution of the Freising Bishops' Conference - has been part of the office. It represents the Bavarian (arch) bishops vis-à-vis the Free State of Bavaria in all questions relating to the church in schools and universities. The head of the Catholic School Commissioner in Bavaria is also the head of the Catholic Office in Bavaria. The Religious Education Center in Bavaria (RPZ) and the Religious Education Material Office belong to the Catholic School Commissioner in Bavaria.

Berlin / Brandenburg

The commissariat of the bishops in the state of Berlin and in the state of Brandenburg, based in Berlin, was established on January 1, 1991. It represents the interests of the Archdiocese of Berlin, the Diocese of Görlitz and the Diocese of Magdeburg towards the states of Berlin and Brandenburg. It was headed by Dr. Martina Köppen. Her successor will be the lawyer Gregor Engelbreth on April 1, 2019.

Bremen

The Bremen Catholic Office is the joint representation of the Catholic dioceses of Hildesheim and Osnabrück in the Bremen state government and in the Bremen citizenship . It was erected on June 1, 1996. The head of the Catholic office in Bremen is Provost Bernhard Stecker.

Hamburg

The Catholic Office Hamburg was established on January 1, 2005 as the staff position of the Archbishop of Hamburg. Until then, a department of the Archbishop's General Vicariate had performed the tasks of the office.

Hesse

The Catholic Office in Hesse (officially: Commissariat of the Catholic Bishops in the State of Hesse) was founded on November 10, 1959 by the bishops of the Hessian bishoprics of Fulda, Limburg, Mainz and Paderborn and, according to its statutes, represents the interests of the Hessian dioceses in the state government the state parliament and political parties as well as social groups and associations at state level. The heads of the commissioner's office since 1959 have been Hermann Berg (1959–1978), Franz Josef Kaspar (1979–2003), Guido Amend (2004–2010), Wolfgang Pax (from 2010).

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Office, the Hessian Prime Minister Roland Koch praised the cooperation between the Catholic bishops in the state of Hesse and the Hessian state governments as successful and trusting. The Bishop of Mainz, Karl Cardinal Lehmann , described the founding of the Commissariat 50 years ago as a “ great moment in the relationship between state and church ”. The President of the Hessian State Parliament , Norbert Kartmann , thanked for the good cooperation “ that we want to maintain in the future ”, the churches are an “ essential part of society ” and also serve “ a piece of what we as a democratic state need to control ".

Lower Saxony

The Lower Saxony Catholic Office in Hanover is the joint representation of the Catholic dioceses of Hildesheim and Osnabrück and the Bishop of Münster's official office in Vechta to the Lower Saxony state government and the Lower Saxony state parliament . It also serves the cooperation with the state authorities and with the Protestant churches at the state level.

The Lower Saxony Catholic Office was established on February 3, 1964 in the preparatory phase of the Lower Saxony Concordat, which came into force on February 26, 1965 and forms the legal framework for all questions to be dealt with. The mandate and importance of the office results in particular from the so-called friendship clause in the Concordat. The main subject areas are cultural, school and university policy. The current (2009) leader is Prelate Felix Bernard.

North Rhine-Westphalia

Since it was founded on August 21, 1958, the Catholic Office in Düsseldorf has been the joint contact point for the five North Rhine-Westphalian bishoprics of Aachen , Essen , Cologne , Münster and Paderborn to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ( state parliament , state government and authorities), to North Rhine-Westphalian parties and associations and institutions as well as to the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland (EKIR) and the Evangelical Church of Westphalia . The five dioceses have entrusted the Catholic Office with the coordination of all fundamental questions relating to church, state and politics , particularly those relating to legislation . Above all, this includes questions of cultural , school and university policy . Since September 1, 2014, Dr. iur. Antonius Hamers the Catholic Office in Düsseldorf. The North Rhine-Westphalian dioceses also maintain a Catholic data protection center in Dortmund .

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The commissariat of the archbishops of Berlin and Hamburg, based in Schwerin, was established on February 14, 1995. It performs its functions on the basis of different contracts between state and church. The management of the Catholic Office in Schwerin acts as a permanent representative of the Archbishops of Berlin and Hamburg at the seat of the state government.

Rhineland-Palatinate

The commissariat of the bishops of Rhineland-Palatinate, based in Mainz, was established on December 1, 1968. The Catholic dioceses with Rhineland-Palatinate territories (Trier, Speyer, Mainz, Limburg and Cologne) are involved.

Saarland

The commissariat of the bishops of Speyer and Trier, based in Saarbrücken, was established on February 1, 1971.

Saxony

The Catholic Office of Saxony, based in Dresden, was established on December 10, 1990.

Saxony-Anhalt

The Catholic office in Saxony-Anhalt, based in Magdeburg, was established on July 1, 1990. Stephan Rether is head of the Catholic office.

Schleswig-Holstein

The Catholic Office in Kiel represents the Archbishop of Hamburg at the seat of the government of Schleswig-Holstein. It was erected on February 14, 1995.

Thuringia

The commissariat of the bishops in Thuringia, based in Erfurt, was established on January 1, 1991. It includes the diocese of Erfurt, newly founded in 1994, and the dioceses of Dresden-Meißen and Fulda , whose two territories also include parts of Thuringia.

literature

Kristian Buchna: A clerical decade? Church, denomination and politics in the Federal Republic during the 1950s (= Historical Foundations of Modernism 11), Nomos, Baden-Baden 2014, ISBN 978-3-8487-1230-4 .
Leopold Turowski: § 46. Liaison offices between the state and the churches in the area of the Catholic Church, in: Listl / Pirson (ed.), Handbuch des Staatskirchenrechts der Federal Republic of Germany, Volume II, 2nd edition, Berlin 1995, ISBN 978-3- 428-08032-8 .

References and footnotes

^ Website of the Catholic Office in Berlin, accessed on August 4, 2015

↑ taz: Influence of the churches on the media - nobody dares the conflict. Retrieved March 12, 2017

^ Catholic office in Berlin . German Bishops' Conference. Retrieved November 20, 2013.

↑ http://www.kath-buero.de/index.php/geschichte-des-hauses.html

↑ Kristian Buchna: Establishment and institutionalization of the agent's office ... , p. 276ff in A clerical decade? ... (see under literature)

↑ Kristian Buchna: Influence Paths and Forums of Church Interest Representation, p. 429ff in A clerical decade? ... (see under literature)

↑ Tasks and Development

↑ Website of the Catholic office in Bremen ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
^ 50 Years Commissariat of the Catholic Bishops in the State of Hesse , Mainzer Bistumsnachrichten No. 3, January 27, 2010
↑ https://katholisches-buero-niedersachsen.de/
↑ Information about the Catholic Office in Düsseldorf on the website of the Diocese of Münster, accessed on March 12, 2014
↑ Dr. Antonius Hamer's new head of the Düsseldorf Catholic Office ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Archdiocese of Paderborn, accessed on July 30, 2014@1@ 2