Werenfried van Straaten

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Father Werenfried
Grave of Werenfried van Straten (2013)

Father Werenfried Philipp van Straaten OPraem (born January 17, 1913 in Mijdrecht , Netherlands ; † January 31, 2003 in Bad Soden am Taunus , Germany ), known as Speckpater , was a Dutch Catholic religious priest and founder of the international aid organization Church in Need (formerly Church in Need / Aid for Eastern Priests ).

Life

Philipp van Straaten came from a Dutch family of teachers. Although he was inclined to paint, he decided, at his father's request, to become a teacher and studied classical philology at the University of Utrecht from 1932 . There he was also the editor of a student newspaper and co-founder of a political party that only existed for a short time. Completely surprising for those around him, in 1934 he joined the Flemish Premonstratensian Abbey of Tongerlo ( Province of Antwerp / Belgium ) and was given the religious name Werenfried. A tuberculosis prevented its use in the mission , so he was secretary of the abbot .

In 1947 he wrote an article for Christmas in which he called for help for the fourteen million displaced persons from the eastern German territories . He didn't understand “help” as an abstract term: “I don't need any money from you, because money can't buy anything in Germany. I ask for bacon! ”He primarily collected food from Dutch and Belgian farmers for the often malnourished refugees and starving children in the western occupation zones of Germany. This earned him his nickname "Speckpater". His next concern was the pastoral care of the six million displaced Catholics, some of whom were housed in purely Protestant areas without their own churches and priests. With the campaign “A vehicle for God” he had used buses and trucks converted into chapel wagons (mobile altars) from 1950 onwards . In 1953, van Straaten launched the International Building Order to motivate students to help refugees and displaced people in Germany build their own homes.

After the plight of the expellees in the newly founded Federal Republic of Germany was largely alleviated around 1950, his concern was the persecuted church in Eastern Europe, which was now dominated by communism . In 1952, this led to the foundation of the aid organization Church in Not , based in Königstein . After the collapse of the Soviet regime , he tried to bridge the rifts to the Catholic Church with generous help to the Russian Orthodox Church . Werenfried van Straaten succeeded in combining social engagement with commitment to the preaching of the faith; for his life's work he has also been honored and honored many times by church and government. He describes the essence of his task as saying that everywhere in the world where God weeps, he has to dry his tears.

Father Werenfried's trademark was the famous “million hat” with which he begged for his entire life. Even when this hat was old and full of holes, it kept collecting donations; but with the note that it is better to donate notes than coins, as they would fall through the holes.

Just as Christ moved around Palestine , fed the hungry and healed the sick, it is also the task of the Church to alleviate human need, says van Straaten. The proclamation of salvation and love is, in Speckpater's own words , not a purely academic matter. He was thinking of the humanitarian obligations of the possessing peoples with their highly acclaimed technology and science, their organizational talent reaching up to the moon, and his assumption that still 15 percent of all children of the poorer peoples would have to die of starvation or malnutrition before they turn five Years old.

Werenfried van Straten is buried in the Königstein cemetery.

Honors

Father Werenfried is one of the three figures on the monument to the Königstein Church Fathers in Königstein im Taunus. The monument was designed by Christof Loch and inaugurated on September 1, 2011.

Father Werenfried Prize

The Pater Werenfried Prize was presented for the first time at the 3rd International Congress Meeting Point World Church from April 11th to 13th, 2008 in Augsburg and given to the Friends of St. Clemens Church in Berlin. This prize, endowed with 1000 euros , was awarded jointly with the Catholic Sunday newspaper .

The Pater Werenfried Prize was awarded to Gabriele Kuby at the 5th International Congress of the World Church Meeting Point from March 12 to 15, 2015 in Würzburg .

Fonts

  • They call me Speckpater , Paulus Verlag K.Bitter KG, Recklinghausen 1961.
  • Where God weeps , Georg Bitter Verlag, Recklinghausen 1969, ISBN 3-7903-0012-8

literature

in order of appearance

  • Ronny Baier:  Straaten, Werenfried van. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 1324-1330.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Eva-Maria Kolmann: Thank you, Father Werenfried! Church in Need / Aid for Eastern Priests, Königstein im Taunus 2005.
  • Markus Trautmann: With ardor of faith and ardor. Werenfried van Straaten and Johannes Leppich . Two charismatic figures in German post-war Catholicism . Patris Verlag, Vallendar 2009, ISBN 978-3-87620-336-2 .
  • Volker Niggewöhner (Red.): Father Werenfried - a master of hope. Sermons about the "Bacon Father" . Church in Need / Aid for Eastern Priests, Munich 2009.
  • Stefan Zekorn , Markus Trautmann (ed.): Witnesses of faith in Kevelaer - Werenfried van Straaten . Butzon & Bercker Verlag, Kevelaer 2010, ISBN 978-3-7666-1362-2 .
  • Sven Sterken: "The Chapel Truck is coming to your Village!" The Eastern Priests Relief Organization and the Refugee Problem in Germany after World War II . In: Trajecta. Religion, Culture and Society in the Low Countries , ISSN  0778-8304 , Vol. 26 (2017), pp. 65-86.

Web links

Commons : Werenfried van Straaten  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eva-Maria Kolmann: Thank you, Father Werenfried! Königstein im Taunus, 2005, p. 8.
  2. ↑ Eva-Maria Kolmann: Thank you, Father Werenfried! Königstein im Taunus, 2005, p. 11.
  3. ↑ Eva-Maria Kolmann: Thank you, Father Werenfried! Königstein im Taunus, 2005, p. 17.
  4. ↑ Eva-Maria Kolmann: Thank you, Father Werenfried! Königstein im Taunus, 2005, p. 34.
  5. ↑ Eva-Maria Kolmann: Thank you, Father Werenfried! Königstein im Taunus, 2005, p. 15.
  6. ^ Father Werenfried van Straaten . Church in Need website, accessed September 14, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Straaten, Werenfried van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Straaten, Philipp van (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch religious priest, founder of the international aid organization "Church in Need / Aid for Eastern Priests"
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Mijdrecht , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH January 31, 2003
Place of death bad Soden