Church in need

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The international Catholic aid organization Kirche in Not ( formerly: Kirche in Not / Ostiesterhilfe, international name: Aid to the Church in Need ACN ) is a foundation under papal law. Pope Benedict XVI elevated the former work of papal law to a foundation on December 7, 2011 . The relief organization was founded in 1947 in Tongerlo , Belgium.

post war period

P. Werenfried van Straaten OPraem

After the Second World War , the Premonstratensian Father Werenfried van Straaten organized aid for the German neighbors in Belgium and the Netherlands . Fourteen million displaced persons from the former German eastern territories streamed into the four occupation zones , in which there was too little accommodation, too little food and clothing. P. Werenfried called for reconciliation with the former German war opponents. He asked for food and clothing to help the Germans in their need. The fact that in the beginning he mainly collected bacon from Flemish farmers earned him the nickname “Speckpater”.

In 1951 a congress Church in Need took place for the first time in Hilversum in the Netherlands , which was held annually in Königstein im Taunus from 1952 to 1995 . Representatives of the oppressed and persecuted Church - especially behind the Iron Curtain - reported here on the situation of the Church in their countries.

In 1952 aid began for the persecuted church in Eastern Europe . Today the work helps in more than 140 countries where the church is persecuted or does not have enough resources for its pastoral work. Church in Need is a pastoral aid organization. Above all, it helps with the training and further education of seminarians and priests , with the construction and renovation of training centers and churches, with translating and publishing the Bible and Christian literature and with broadcasting Christian radio programs.

Radio station in Moscow during the August coup in 1991

On August 19, 1991, at the beginning of the August coup in Moscow , Boris Yeltsin spoke to citizens from a tank in front of the White House in Moscow. Back in Parliament, he said to the MPs "Now I need a radio". As spokesman and leader of the resistance against the communist putschists, he needed a mouthpiece for the democratic movement in order to reach as many people as possible. To everyone's amazement, MP Viktor Aksiutsjik announced that he owned the equipment for a radio station. The Church in Need had smuggled the necessary equipment to Moscow for the establishment of a joint radio station for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches , even though the Ministry of Communications had refused the license. A truck from Parliament's canteen was used to transport the transmitters from a warehouse, hidden under food, to the parliament building and installed by engineers. Boris Yeltsin was able to use his own radio to ask the Moscow population for help. He thanked him by giving him permission to broadcast the next month.

Current story

In 2017, Kirche in Not received donations of 125 million euros, including around 15 million euros from Germany. In 2011 the Church in Need received 9.2 million euros in donations from Germany. Since the work began, the Church in Need has been able to support the pastoral care of the Church worldwide with more than three billion euros (as of 2007). This makes P. Werenfried's work one of the largest donation organizations in Germany.

The German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) has awarded the Church in Need the donation seal. The Church in Need also sees a pastoral task towards its employees and donors. The newsletter " Echo der Liebe " is now published as an organ of spiritual solidarity and intensive community of prayer with a circulation of more than 600,000 copies in seven languages. The aid organization supports the online magazine kath.net with 10,000 to 20,000 euros per year.

The international headquarters are located in Königstein im Taunus . Aid requests from all over the world are checked there and the donations are allocated. With the conversion, Pope Benedict XVI. the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy , Cardinal Mauro Piacenza , as President of the Foundation. Thomas Heine-Geldern has been Executive President since April 2018, succeeding Johannes Freiherr Heereman von Zuydtwyck. Father Martin Barta is the spiritual assistant. Before that, the Chilean Schoenstatt Father Joaquín Allende Luco was President of the entire organization.

The plant is represented with national sections in currently (as of 2019) 23 countries. They provide information on the situation of the church, where it is in need, and call for help. The German section has its seat in Munich . Florian Ripka has been its managing director since July 2018, succeeding the resigned Karin Maria Fenbert. The chairman of the board was from August 1, 2014 to July 2018, the Eichstatt Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke . His successor is the Munich lawyer and banker Alexander Mettenheimer (elected at the general meeting in September 2018).

In 2007 the Church in Need celebrated its 60th anniversary. The German section celebrated this anniversary with several events, including a festive service in Cologne Cathedral with Cardinal Joachim Meisner and a joint ceremony in the Maternushaus , in which Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos and the Israeli Archbishop Elias Chacour also took part.

Accusation of closeness to legal Christian circles

The publicist and lawyer Liane Bednarz accused the organization Church in Need of “proximity to legal positions” in political, social and media debates . At the congress “Meeting Point World Church” organized by Church in Not 2015 in Würzburg, there was an event with the title “Against the flow of opinion dictatorship and political correctness”. These terms were decidedly taken from the right environment and - as it was then editor in chief of Time -Beilage Christ & World Christiane Florin - a " Pegida -Vokabel" and "defamation". Because of this podium title, she declined to place an advertisement for the Church in Need congress in her publication . As a result, she received hate-filled emails, some of which she made public. Christian Wölfel (editor Bayerischer Rundfunk and KNA ) assessed the event mentioned: “The theses that were put forward on this one-sided podium have little in common with freedom of expression . Your own attitude is set absolutely, contradiction not tolerated. Journalists who questioned the sometimes crude theses and the work of the protagonists are hurled at the word 'persecution of Christians'. [...] Because what runs through the entire event: The call to respond to individual unpopular reports, for example on the NDR , in Spiegel or on the radio station Bayern2 , with organized storms of protest. "

Confessional mobile

Confessional mobile in front of the Marian pilgrimage church Waghäusel

Church in Need Germany has been operating the world's only "confessional" since 2004. Initially, it was a VW bus ( T4 , built in 1996) converted into a confessional , the interior of which was furnished as a room for receiving the sacrament of penance . In 2013 it was replaced by a successor vehicle ( T5 , built in 2012). The mobile is under the patronage of the Bishop of Eichstätt ; it is available free of charge to parishes and spiritual communities and is also used at major events.

The floating churches that are used in Brazil on the Amazon or in Russia on the Don and the Volga are also mobile. The aim is to enable the faithful to receive the sacraments or to speak to a priest and seek pastoral advice.

literature

  • Volker Niggewöhner: In the beginning there was love for one's enemies. For the hundredth birthday of the “Speckpater” Werenfried van Straaten. In: Vatican magazine . 1/2013, pp. 23–34 ( kirche-in-not.de ( memento from August 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 403 kB]).
  • Volker Niggewöhner: Church in Need - a “powerhouse of faith”. In: Church Today. 8 + 9/2015 , pp. 16–19 ( kirche-in-not.de ( memento of March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 883 kB], on the historical development of the Pontifical Foundation).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aid to the Church in Need - home-de. In: acninternational.org. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b mg: "Church in Need" becomes a papal foundation. Press release. In: de.radiovaticana.va. Vatican Radio , December 7, 2011, accessed August 4, 2019 (originally accessed December 11, 2011).
  3. ^ Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 39, September 28, 2013, p. 20.
  4. ↑ Cf. Rudolf Grulich: "Church in Need" has been organizing congresses for 60 years. ( Memento of December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 57 kB) Background. In: kirche-in-not.de, February 18, 2011, accessed on December 9, 2013.
  5. ↑ On the August putsch in Moscow 20 years ago, see Wolfgang Stingl: “Now I need a radio”. In: Messages from Königstein. Issue 3, 2011, p. 26 ff.
  6. ↑ Pastoral help remains the focus. KIRCHE IN NOT presents its 2017 annual report ( Memento from July 18, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). In: kirche-in-not.de, 9./30. July 2018, accessed March 24, 2019.
  7. ↑ German Central Institute for Social Issues - Test report on the award of the DZI donation seal for Church in Need / Ostiesterhilfe Deutschland e. V., Munich. German Central Institute for Social Issues . Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  8. ↑ Pious texts, rough morals and excellent contacts in Rome. In: Vorarlberger Kirchenblatt. March 22, 2009 ( kath-kirche-vorarlberg.at [March 18, 2009, accessed on August 3, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Change of management team. Thomas Heine-Geldern is the new Executive President of ACN International ( Memento from April 18, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). Church in Need press release, April 18, 2018.
  10. ↑ The national offices of CHURCH IN EMERGENCY | CHURCH IN EMERGENCY - Germany. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  11. ↑ New CEO at KIRCHE IN NOT Germany | CHURCH IN EMERGENCY - Germany. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Vatican Radio: 60 Years “Church in Need” ( Memento of October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: radiovaticana.org, February 4, 2007.
  13. ↑ Liane Bednarz: The fear preacher. How right-wing Christians infiltrate society and churches . Droemer Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-426-27762-1 , urn : nbn: de: 101: 1-2018053004313215891709 .
  14. ↑ Against the current. (No longer available online.) In: kirche-in-not.de. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015 ; accessed on July 25, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Christiane Florin: We opinion dictators . In: Christ & Welt / Die Zeit 1/2015 . December 29, 2014 (quoted from Bednarz: Die Angstprediger ).
  16. ↑ How journalists were intimidated by Church in Need at the Congress. In: gkp.de. Society of Catholic Publicists in Germany (GKP), accessed on July 25, 2019 .