Keyword

adminonDecember 20, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The Forum of German Catholics wants to contribute to a new evangelization in Germany and, to this end, "bring together Catholics who are loyal to the pope and the church and who have different spiritualities and spiritual orientations in Catholic breadth to form a loose association.". The forum sees a "new beginning not in the continuation of structural debates and discussions about statutes, but in personal conversion, in spiritual renewal, in obedience to the faith and in loyalty to the Holy Father and the bishops associated with him". The association, which is recognized as a non-profit organization, was established on 30. Founded in Fulda in September 2000. The seat is Munich.

The Forum's Board of Trustees includes the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinals Augustin Mayer and Leo Scheffczyk, the Bishops of Fulda and Regensburg, Heinz Josef Algermissen and Gerhard Ludwig Muller, the former head of the SPD parliamentary group in North Rhine-Westphalia, Friedhelm Farthmann, and the former federal chairwoman of the Christian Democrats for Life (CDL), Johanna Grafin von Westphalen.The chairman of the forum is the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine "Der Fels", Hubert Gindert. Congresses on questions of faith After a two-year absence, the Forum of German Catholics returned to Fulda in October 2007 with its congress of this name, and thus to the tomb of St. Boniface, widely regarded as the "Apostle of the Germans," which is located in the cathedral there. The recent congress, which, according to the forum founded in Fulda in 2000, attracted about 1.The sixth edition of the forum, which attracted 600 participants, including about 350 young people, was held in the city. The first three took place in Fulda, and in 2004 and 2005 the forum was held in Regensburg. The reason: The "Richthalle" in Fulda – now a parking garage – was no longer available as a venue, and the congress center had not yet been built."On the way to Christ" was the congress motto. Greetings came in many forms: from Pope Benedict XVI., by the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, by Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne and by Hesse's Prime Minister Roland Koch (CDU). Lectures, panel discussions and workshops dealt with topics such as "Every human being – a call of love from God," "Obstacles on the way to Jesus" and "Persecuted Christians today" or the question "How do I lead my children to Christ??". The speakers included professors such as the theologian Klaus Berger, the philosopher of religion Jorg Splett and the Bonn constitutional law expert Josef Isensee. Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann had come from Wurzburg, and Bishop Anders Arborelius from Stockholm. The final event was a pontifical mass in the Fulda Cathedral, presided over by the Nigerian Cardinal of the Curia, Francis Arinze.In the opening service in the cathedral, the host Bishop of Fulda, Heinz Josef Algermissen, emphasized: "I am glad about the Forum of German Catholics, in which faithful women and men have joined together, for whom the closeness to Jesus Christ and His Church is a source of joy and commitment."Elsewhere, the bishop called the "Joy of Faith" congresses a "pious institution in the good sense of the word" and spoke of "wonderful congresses". The patron was Hesse's Minister of Economics Alois Rhiel. The 55-year-old CDU politician and former mayor of Fulda justified this with a "very personal motivation" and spoke of a personal commitment. He wants to consciously bear witness to the fact that "as a Catholic Christian, I am committed to politics".The Congress adopted a "Resolution on the injustice of abortion in Germany", calling on members of the Bundestag to finally ensure effective legal protection for unborn children. And he adopted an "Urgent request to the bishops of Germany to revise the Konigstein Declaration". Through this 1968 declaration, the truth about the sanctity of marriage and sexuality, as expressed in the encyclical "Humanae vitae" Pope Paul VI. light up, have been darkened. With their "Konigstein Declaration" the bishops had at that time reacted to the "Joy of Faith" congresses, which had been held shortly before by Paul VI. The bishops reacted to the encyclical presented to them, which prohibits artificial methods of contraception. The bishops pointed out the responsibility of conscience and freedom of conscience of Catholic spouses also in questions of contraception. "Purity is beautiful" For the first time at a "Joy of Faith" congress, there was a separate youth program, organized by new spiritual movements such as "Totus Tuus", "Youth 2000" and "Regnum Christi". The aim was to carry forward the impulse of the Catholic World Youth Day (WYD) in Cologne last August. In an appeal of the forum, which saw itself as a loose association of "Catholics loyal to the Pope and the Church", "to the young participants", it was said that the family was the "Noah's Ark of this time". And: "You can build this family. Your life partner already exists. Pray for him or for her and wait for him or for her. Do not let yourself be misled by the sexualization prere of this time. Purity is beautiful and purity makes beautiful. Every renunciation is an investment in your future family."

Cologne Archbishop Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki and his Vicar General Markus Hofmann have announced the first consequences they are drawing for the archdiocese from the Gercke report. Among them are eight concrete working points.

Last Thursday, the independent investigation into the handling of sexual violence in the Archdiocese of Cologne had been published. This Tuesday, the press conference on the first concrete steps and measures took place.

Cardinal Woelki began by reaffirming that he had kept an initial promise with the unredacted and complete publication of the report on dealing with sexual violence. However, this is only "one mosaic stone" in a much larger process. "I will try to do everything I can to make the Church a better place."

External control is to be anchored in concrete governance and compliance structures. "In concrete terms, this means, for example, a mutual control of the individual institutions, but also by independents from the outside," said Cardinal Woelki. "It must not and will no longer be possible that files can be manipulated or disappear."This also includes the establishment of an independent commission for coming to terms with the past, which will continue to advance the ie.

Files must no longer be destroyed

"I gave the instruction a long time ago that no more files are to be destroyed."Thus it offends against valid church right, so the cardinal. Therefore, fundamental changes are necessary in some areas.

A reform of church law is necessary, abolishing the contradictions between DBK guidelines and church law, as well as a change in the principle of church law that cases of abuse are in part seen in church law merely as violations of the promise of celibacy.

In addition, he announced reforms with regard to further training of management personnel, especially in dealing with sexualized violence. A whistleblower system proposed in the report, which allows anyone to give anonymous tips, is also to be implemented.

For all future reforms, the principle must always apply: "The perspective of those affected must be the guiding principle for action," said the Archbishop of Cologne, who is available for personal discussions with those affected and asked them to contact him.

First concrete steps

On the first concrete steps, the Vicar General of Cologne Dr. Markus Hofmann – he named eight specific areas of work:

The establishment of an independent investigation commission, to which Cardinal Woelki had already invited on 15. In March, the church signed an agreement with the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Johannes Wilhelm Rorig.

The provision of funds for the increased recognition services for affected persons.

A regular control of accused clerics and laymen.

The strengthening of the intervention in terms of personnel and organization.

The evaluation and further development of prevention.

The future work of the affected persons' advisory board in accordance with the DBK guidelines.

Improved record keeping through digitization, traceability and tamper-proofing.

The changes in priestly formation through a psychological assessment, a preparatory year with social missions and greater involvement of women in formation.

He said the expert report uncovered the interplay of systemic and personal responsibilities when it came to the reasons for a decades-long cover-up. "It's our job to make sure we don't slack off in dealing with this ie," said Vicar General Hofmann. "With the guiding principle 'Better a truth that hurts than a lie that comforts,' we want to do our best to provide solid reappraisal."

In response to questions about his resignation, Cardinal Woelki emphasized what amption of responsibility means to him: "Simply taking moral responsibility and leaving – to protect the reputation of the episcopate and the Church – that is too easy for me, and in my eyes it is wrong. I will accept and fulfill moral responsibility. I will do everything here and now and in the future to ensure that no more such mistakes happen."

Pope Benedict XVI. Has deplored cases of abuse by Catholics and church employees in Canadian residential schools. Such offenses should not be tolerated, the head of the church said Wednesday during a meeting with a group of Canadian aboriginals and church officials at the Vatican.

Beginning in the second half of the 19th. From the mid-twentieth century until the 1980s, Canada had boarding schools where indigenous children were to be educated separately from their parents to Western culture. In the schools, whose management the state usually entrusted to the churches, there had been repeated attacks. The Canadian delegation was led by the Aboriginal Grand Chief, Phil Fontaine; the Church was represented by the President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop James Weisgerber. Both had told the pope about their experiences and concerns, a subsequent Vatican statement said. Benedict XVI. had made it clear that the church had accompanied and supported the indigenous people from the beginning of their presence in Canada, especially through the missionaries. "The Pope expressed his pain for the sufferings experienced by some indigenous children due to the deplorable behavior of some members of the Church in the Canadian residential school system," the communique reads.Benedict XVI. expressed its sympathy and its urgent solidarity to them. He had made it emphatically clear that "acts of abuse must not be tolerated in society". He prayed that all those affected would experience healing, and he encouraged Native members to move into the future with renewed hope. In 2007, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet apologized for mistakes made by the church in the past. As archbishop of Quebec and primate of Canada, he acknowledged that the narrow-mindedness of some pre-1960 Catholics had fostered anti-Semitism, racism, indifference to aboriginal peoples and discrimination against women and homosexuals.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply