“A sustainable vision of the church”

adminonDecember 22, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Young people in Germany © oneinchpunch (shutterstock)

The federation of the German catholic youth (BDKJ) has a new federal executive committee: On Saturday the citizen of Berlin Gregor Podschun (30) was selected into the office of the BDKJ federal chairman. In addition, the youth association set up a commission on abuse.

The Federal Chairwoman Lisi Maier continues her term of office. The BDKJ is the umbrella organization of 17 Catholic youth associations with about 660 members.000 members.

Podschun is honorary diocesan chairman of the BDKJ Berlin since 2015 and since this year also delegate of the youth at the Synodal Way, the reform process of the Catholic Church in Germany.

Youth and church

"We youth associations have a vision of the church that is fit for the future," the 30-year-old emphasized. "Especially against the background of sexualized violence and its cover-up, we must dismantle the power structures of clerics and strengthen forms of participation, especially of children and young people."

Podschun, who comes from Konigs Wusterhausen, studied social work and social management in Berlin. Most recently, he worked as a consultant for voluntary services at the Catholic association IN VIA in Berlin.

Joined at the age of 14

As national praeses, Ottersbach wants to place a special emphasis on promoting the spiritual leadership of the associations. "In particular, the participation of lay people in this field is a great strength of youth associations. I see the BDKJ in this topic in a pioneer role", said the native Duisburger. He joined the Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg (DPSG) at the age of 14 and was always active in Catholic youth association work, even as a priest. For example, he filled the office of DPSG diocesan curate from 2006 to 2010 and worked closely with the BDKJ as diocesan youth pastor in the Essen diocese from 2010 to 2015.

Podschun succeeds Thomas Andonie as BDKJ national chairman. Ottersbach takes over the office of Bundesprases from Dirk Bingener, who moved to the leadership of the Kindermissionswerk and the aid organization missio Aachen in October 2019. Together with BDKJ national president Lisi Maier they form the top of the catholic youth association work. The office of the honorary federal chairwoman remains vacant after the resignation of Katharina Norpoth.

BDKJ youth association sets up commission on abuse

The umbrella organization of Catholic youth associations in Germany sets up a commission to deal with sexualized violence. She should critically question its own structures and come to terms with possible acts of abuse, the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) announced in Dusseldorf on the weekend.

"With a processing commission, the BDKJ ensures that possible acts of sexualized violence committed in the past against children and adolescents in Catholic youth associations come to light and that the suffering of those affected is recognized accordingly," decided the BDKJ general assembly on Saturday evening.

Prevention and intervention

In the past years, the association has intensively dealt with questions of prevention and intervention in Catholic child and youth work. "To a fair contact with sexualized violence in the sense of the concerning counts however also a concept for the processing in the past of committed injustice", said the BDKJ Federal President Lisi Maier.

The commission consists of eight elected experts, at least four of whom do not have a current mandate in a youth or diocesan association of the BDKJ, a member of the BDKJ federal board and a speaker in the BDKJ federal office. Experts from affected people's organizations and other specialist bodies are to be regularly consulted for advice.

According to the Jesuit and theologian Ansgar Wucherpfennig, the state curtailed religious freedom in Germany too abruptly during the Corona crisis. He criticized the way liberties were "wiped away".

"What is decisive is that religious communities must have the freedom to practice their faith – as long as they operate within the parquet of the Basic Law," Wucherpfennig told the Catholic News Agency (KNA) on Friday. "The state must be careful not to pass laws 'just like that' that do not allow religious freedom and other civil rights to continue to apply."

Although he considers the protective measures taken to be sensible, said the rector of the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen. "But the way that freedoms have been wiped away – you have to be careful that that's not done without justification," Wucherpfennig said, referring to the restrictions on church services and pastoral care.

Church dealt with restrictions responsibly

Asked whether churches had accepted the restrictions on religious freedom too readily, Wucherpfennig said, "I don't believe so. By and large, it has been handled responsibly in the churches."The Corona pandemic has "seized the entire world society like a sea storm," said the professor of New Testament exegesis.

Wucherpfennig also commented on the accusation that the churches had let many people die lonely and without pastoral care in the Corona pandemic. He could poorly judge the church in its entirety on this, he said. "However, I have always had the impression that where chaplains have actually made an effort to assist the elderly and sick, solutions have usually been found."Wucherpfennig added that he had found the bans on visits to nursing homes and homes for the elderly imposed by the German states "too harsh".

Criticism of churches in Corona crisis

Reproaches had made for example the former Thuringian Prime Minister Christine Lieberknecht (CDU) the churches. In May, she accused churches of "failure" for leaving "hundreds of thousands of people" alone, such as the sick, the lonely, the elderly and the dying. The Benedictine priest and best-selling author Anselm Grun had also criticized the church. "A big problem of the crisis has been that many people died alone and could not be accompanied."

Wucherpfennig has been rector of the Sankt Georgen University of Applied Sciences since 2014 and will hand over this office to the previous vice rector and ecclesiastical lawyer Thomas Meckel from October onwards. In 2018, Wucherpfennig's case made headlines across Germany. He had been re-elected for a third term as rector of the Jesuit university in February 2018; however, the Vatican had not initially given him its approval in the form of the declaration of no objection ("Nihil obstat"), which was met with massive criticism. Wucherpfennig had repeatedly been critical of the church's treatment of women and homosexuals.

The pre-Easter Lent of Christians begins on Ash Wednesday after Carnival. Fasting is widely equated with renunciation. But that is by no means all. How about your fasting knowledge?

"Fasting" is defined as abstaining from certain (or even all) foods, drinks and stimulants for a certain period of time. The term itself comes from the Old High German for "to hold fast" in the sense of "to observe". However, fasting is known in many cultures and religions.

Asceticism: Derives from the Greek "to practice" and means practical self-training for philosophical or religious purposes. Central goals are self-control and strengthening of character.

Beer: Like wine, was traditionally considered permissible in monasteries, mainly because of the poor quality of water in the Middle Ages. Abstaining from alcohol is a classic point of Lent for many Christians today.
Christ: Christian fasting was originally based on Jewish tradition (s. Yom Kippur). Lent serves as preparation for Easter and recalls the 40 days Christ spent praying in the desert. In today's everyday life, fasting means doing without certain things, not completely without food.
Diet: the medical variant of fasting. Here it does not concern conscious renunciation of pleasure or reflection, but for example weight loss and non-ingestion of harmful substances. Misguided diets can lead to starvation, malnutrition, etc. lead.
Eucharistic sobriety or "Eucharistic fasting": in the Catholic Church, means abstention from all food and drink (except water and medicines) for a certain period of time before receiving communion. Previously, believers were required to remain sober from midnight beforehand. in 1964 this was shortened to at least one hour.
Meat and fish: Abstinence from meat is a (also very contemporary) classic of fasting. Monasteries were very resourceful in interpreting strict fasting rules "kindly". For example, beavers or waterfowl were declared as (permitted) fish. You can also do without F for television.
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand ("Mahatma," 1869-1948): One of the most famous ascetics in history. In India's struggle for independence, he repeatedly threatened "fasting unto death" through hunger strikes to achieve political goals, mostly an end to violence.
Cell phone: Abstinence from cell phones as a modern addictive substance can also be commanded or helpful.
Id al-Fitr: Breaking the fast at the end of Ramadan is one of the most important festivals in Islam. It lasts three days and is celebrated lavishly with family or friends.
Yom Kippur: In Judaism, health comes first! Fast often, but no more than 25 hours. There are several fasts; the Esther fast before Purim, the seven days before Passover, the Gedaliah fast, and, the strictest fast day, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
Carnival: Also called "Fastnacht" or, in Cologne dialect, "Fastelovend"; serves to drive out winter, but on Ash Wednesday also leads into the pre-Easter period of Lent (s. also quadragesis). In French, the last day of the festival is called "Mardi Gras" (Fat Tuesday). The strictest fasting day for Christians: Good Friday, the day of Jesus' Passion.
Body hostility: A radical sibling of asceticism, fasting and dieting. This involves deliberate physical exercise, chastisement, and in extreme cases, mortification.
Martin: The saint of sharing, in the 4. Bishop of Tours in the sixteenth century, was a true ascetic. But because his memorial day fell on the payday of the tenantry and the last day before the pre-Christmas Lent, there was extreme feasting once again on St. Martin's Day (s. also quadragesis). Stomach ache and hangover are still called "Martin's pains" in French today.
Sobriety: in the context of fasting, means two things; in the medical sense, "not having eaten breakfast" (s. also eucharistic sobriety), but also "sober" as serious or earnest.
Orthodoxy: In the Orthodox churches, the Eucharistic fast (s. there) from midnight. Twice a week, believers are encouraged to fast, on Wednesday and Friday. Strict fasting is the vegan; except for honey, no animal products may be consumed, moreover, neither oil nor alcohol.
Prophetic or ecstatic fasting: This is about preparing for an encounter with the divine or with God. Fasting serves here for visionary stimulation.
Quadragesis: Latin for "40 days," the duration of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter (s. Carnival). Today it is almost forgotten that Advent also used to be part of a 40-day period of penance and fasting ("Martin's Quadragesis"; s. Martin).
Ramadan: The Islamic month of fasting requires devout Muslims to eat neither food nor liquid during the day. This fasting commandment ends only at nightfall, when one can no longer distinguish a white thread from a black one (s. also Id-al-Fitr).
Sex: Sexual abstinence can also be a penitential, fasting, or purity requirement, for example, in preparation for a religious ritual.
Mourning/Death: Ritualized fasting until death exists in Jainism and Hinduism (s. Gandhi). Several times the Old Testament reports of fasting as a sign of mourning – or to emphasize the seriousness of a prayer. Thus King David fasted when one of his sons became deathly ill (2 Sam 12:15ff).
Reversal: Fasting can also be a confession of sin, accompany an individual or collective conversion, and thus become a penitential rite.
Renunciation: has become a modern word. Climate fasting, flight fasting, alcohol fasting, car fasting, cell phone fasting – in the affluent society Ludwig Erhard's appeals to "moderation" are no longer sufficient.
Sausage dinner, Zurich: An exotic in the fasting alphabet. It took place in 1522 in the house of the printer Christoph Froschauer and demonstratively violated the current abstinence requirement in the presence of several clergymen. The reformer Huldrych Zwingli was also present. The eating of sausages played a similar role in the Reformation in Switzerland as the posting of the theses in Wittenberg did in Germany.
Xanthippe: According to tradition, the wife of the Greek philosopher Socrates was characterized above all by bad humor. Once she is said to have trampled on a cake during an outburst of anger. Socrates reacted laconically by saying that now she, too, no longer had a share in the cake.
Yoga: The Indian philosophical doctrine recommends mental and physical exercises – an ideal partner, for example, to offers for nature-oriented fasting. One slogan of many: "Fasting Vacation – Detox with Yoga Escapes!"
Time: "Diet was yesterday, now comes the periodic fasting." Very modern: Intermittent fasting; 8 hours eating, 16 hours fasting – for dietary, not religious reasons. The various world religions know very different periods of fasting (s. above).

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