Johannes Leppich

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Grave of Father Leppich in the Sentmaring Park in the spirit district of Münster

Johannes Leppich SJ (born April 16, 1915 in Ratibor , Upper Silesia , † December 7, 1992 in Münster ) was a German Roman Catholic priest and belonged to the Jesuit order . He was best known as a street preacher in the 1950s and 1960s .

Life

Johannes Leppich was the son of a prison overseer. At the age of twenty he joined the Society of Jesus and, after studying philosophy and Catholic theology, was active in pastoral care in Breslau , Gleiwitz and in the Friedland refugee camp . In 1946 he was one of the founders of the German branch of the Christian Workers' Youth (CAJ), was its national chaplain and later worked in prisons and in the city apostolate. Leppich became known for his popular and street sermons in numerous cities (until 1971). Because of his biting social criticism, he was nicknamed "Machine Gun of God" in the Adenauer period, based on the American revival preacher Billy Graham . Leppich was controversial because he not only campaigned for Christian values ​​in his sermons, but also took a clear political position: while he railed against communism and socialism, he defended the right-wing and church-oriented dictatorship of General Francisco Franco in Spain.

Father Leppich was one of the founders of pastoral care by telephone and in the early 1960s called the international " action 365 " into being, a missionary and socially committed ecumenical lay movement whose spiritual basis is daily Bible reading. Leppich published, among others, Father Leppich speaks (1952) and Christ on the Reeperbahn (1956).

Through trips to Pakistan, India, Thailand and North America he got to know the poverty in the world and organized donations in kind and money. The Bibles that are still occasionally on display in hotels today go back to his suggestion and that of the Gideon Association .

After two heart attacks in the early 1970s, Leppich stopped participating in mass events and also ended his work as a traveling preacher.

Works (selection)

  • Father Leppich speaks (1952)
  • People before God. Remembrance and Warning (1953)
  • Christ on the Reeperbahn (1956)
  • Pray with me - a children's breviary (1956)
  • Money Motor Girls (LP 1956)
  • 3 × Satan (1957)
  • God between idols and comrades (1958)
  • Meditations on the Asphalt (1963)
  • Newspaper - a prayer book (1963)
  • Dynamic Apostolate (1963)
  • In Green Hell (1964)
  • Atheist Breviary (1964)
  • Happened - noted - meditated. 50 Years Flashback (1974)

literature

Honors

Web links

Wikiquote: Johannes Leppich  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Brenner: Preacher Johannes Leppich: The machine gun of God . Spiegel Online " Einestages ", July 13, 2014
  2. ↑ Dirk Schindelbeck: Loudspeaker God. Father Leppich SJ In: Damals Nr. 10 (1998), pp. 8-11
  3. ^ The anniversary of the death of the Jesuit father Johannes Leppich
personal data
SURNAME Leppich, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German religious, Jesuit and traveling preacher
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Ratibor , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 1992
Place of death Muenster