News from Europe - Katholikentag draws 20,000
This article is from The Tablet, June 26, 2004
(The Tablet is "The International Catholic Weekly", founded in 1860 and published in the UK. "Katholikentag" is German for "Catholic Day")
Europe
Katholikentag draws 20,000. More than 20,000 people attended the ninety-fifth Katholikentag held in Ulm last week, which opened with a call from the Pope to defend the foundations of Christianity, and heard a rallying cry from the theologian Hans Küng for more demo-cracy in the Church and a rethink on ordination.
According to the German quality daily, Süddeutsche Zeitung, the event, whose motto was “Living in God”, was “a friendly family gathering, ecumenically inspired, and showed that the Catholic Church had a far greater potential for diversity than many people were usually aware of”.
As well as the 20,000 strong crowd, an extra thousand a day came to take part in special events of their choice. There were more than 800 different lectures, discussions and events on subjects as varied as bioethics, Christian-Muslim dialogue, Church reform and ecological issues.
The Katholikentag began with an urgent appeal to all Christians from Pope John Paul II to lift their voices courageously when the foundations of the Christian faith and human co-existence were questioned, when the values of Christian matrimony and family were put aside and when the uniqueness of life as a gift of God was endangered. The Pope also spoke of the growing awareness of European identity.
One of the highlights was an address by Cardinal Walter Kasper on “The Ecumenism of Life”. Ecumenically we had now reached a kind of “half-way house”, Kasper said. Anyone who looked back over the past 10 years could see that more had been achieved in a comparatively short period than in the preceding centuries. Important texts like the Lima Declarations and the “Common Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” (“Rechtfertigungslehre”) had been made. But what had happened in practice was far more important. Protestants and Catholics were no longer enemies or rivals but worked and prayed together, and that was something for which one should be grateful. People should stop being pessimistic about ecumenism and remember Pope John XXIII’s express warning against “prophets of doom”.
As far as the delicate subject of intercommunion was concerned, Kasper said that it was best for the moment to go to Communion in the Church one belonged to. And although celebration of the Eucharist was most important to Catholics, there were several liturgical services like memorial, advent and baptismal services that could be celebrated ecumenically. Christians could also go on ecumenical pilgrimages together.
But the heart of the ecumenical movement was spiritual ecumenism, Kasper stressed. He was glad that so many of the new spiritual movements from across the denominations had come to Stuttgart at the beginning of May to urge together-ness for Europe and to give it a soul, he said.
Another highlight at Ulm was a discussion between Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the German bishops’ conference, and the theologian Hans Küng, whose licence to teach was revoked by the Vatican in 1979. Six thousand people crowded into the hall where it was held and many hundreds more loudly expressed their disappointment that there was no room for them outside. Both Lehmann and Küng are alumni of the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. They discussed Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Constitution of the Church which describes the Church as the People of God, and what had happened in the 40 years since it was published.
They began with a theological discussion on the Church as a sacrament but Küng soon turned to Church politics and said it was high time voluntary celibacy, the ordination of women and more democracy in the Church were introduced. The Church today sometimes reminded him of the Kremlin as it had been in Soviet times, he added. Lehmann jokingly dismissed these remarks as “tutti frutti”. Local Churches must not fall out of step with the universal Church, he said.
The recent Vatican instruction on the liturgy was, however, a “very legalistic document” he admitted. Lehmann said he appreciated Küng’s academic work and Küng congratulated Lehmann on having acquired his red hat. Lehmann said he hoped Küng would remain “a blessing” for the Church, and Küng said he hoped Lehmann would be able to persuade enough cardinals at the next conclave to vote for a John XXIV – who would carry out the much needed Church reforms. Both churchmen’s remarks were greeted with equal bursts of applause from the audience.
In his final summary Cardinal Lehmann said the Katholikentag at Ulm had been an overall success. Last year’s Ecumenical Kirchentag had had a positive ecumenical influence, he thought. Despite theological differences, the denominations were coming closer together.
Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Vienna
(The Tablet is "The International Catholic Weekly", founded in 1860 and published in the UK. "Katholikentag" is German for "Catholic Day")
Europe
Katholikentag draws 20,000. More than 20,000 people attended the ninety-fifth Katholikentag held in Ulm last week, which opened with a call from the Pope to defend the foundations of Christianity, and heard a rallying cry from the theologian Hans Küng for more demo-cracy in the Church and a rethink on ordination.
According to the German quality daily, Süddeutsche Zeitung, the event, whose motto was “Living in God”, was “a friendly family gathering, ecumenically inspired, and showed that the Catholic Church had a far greater potential for diversity than many people were usually aware of”.
As well as the 20,000 strong crowd, an extra thousand a day came to take part in special events of their choice. There were more than 800 different lectures, discussions and events on subjects as varied as bioethics, Christian-Muslim dialogue, Church reform and ecological issues.
The Katholikentag began with an urgent appeal to all Christians from Pope John Paul II to lift their voices courageously when the foundations of the Christian faith and human co-existence were questioned, when the values of Christian matrimony and family were put aside and when the uniqueness of life as a gift of God was endangered. The Pope also spoke of the growing awareness of European identity.
One of the highlights was an address by Cardinal Walter Kasper on “The Ecumenism of Life”. Ecumenically we had now reached a kind of “half-way house”, Kasper said. Anyone who looked back over the past 10 years could see that more had been achieved in a comparatively short period than in the preceding centuries. Important texts like the Lima Declarations and the “Common Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” (“Rechtfertigungslehre”) had been made. But what had happened in practice was far more important. Protestants and Catholics were no longer enemies or rivals but worked and prayed together, and that was something for which one should be grateful. People should stop being pessimistic about ecumenism and remember Pope John XXIII’s express warning against “prophets of doom”.
As far as the delicate subject of intercommunion was concerned, Kasper said that it was best for the moment to go to Communion in the Church one belonged to. And although celebration of the Eucharist was most important to Catholics, there were several liturgical services like memorial, advent and baptismal services that could be celebrated ecumenically. Christians could also go on ecumenical pilgrimages together.
But the heart of the ecumenical movement was spiritual ecumenism, Kasper stressed. He was glad that so many of the new spiritual movements from across the denominations had come to Stuttgart at the beginning of May to urge together-ness for Europe and to give it a soul, he said.
Another highlight at Ulm was a discussion between Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the German bishops’ conference, and the theologian Hans Küng, whose licence to teach was revoked by the Vatican in 1979. Six thousand people crowded into the hall where it was held and many hundreds more loudly expressed their disappointment that there was no room for them outside. Both Lehmann and Küng are alumni of the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. They discussed Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Constitution of the Church which describes the Church as the People of God, and what had happened in the 40 years since it was published.
They began with a theological discussion on the Church as a sacrament but Küng soon turned to Church politics and said it was high time voluntary celibacy, the ordination of women and more democracy in the Church were introduced. The Church today sometimes reminded him of the Kremlin as it had been in Soviet times, he added. Lehmann jokingly dismissed these remarks as “tutti frutti”. Local Churches must not fall out of step with the universal Church, he said.
The recent Vatican instruction on the liturgy was, however, a “very legalistic document” he admitted. Lehmann said he appreciated Küng’s academic work and Küng congratulated Lehmann on having acquired his red hat. Lehmann said he hoped Küng would remain “a blessing” for the Church, and Küng said he hoped Lehmann would be able to persuade enough cardinals at the next conclave to vote for a John XXIV – who would carry out the much needed Church reforms. Both churchmen’s remarks were greeted with equal bursts of applause from the audience.
In his final summary Cardinal Lehmann said the Katholikentag at Ulm had been an overall success. Last year’s Ecumenical Kirchentag had had a positive ecumenical influence, he thought. Despite theological differences, the denominations were coming closer together.
Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Vienna
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