(Ökumenischer Kirchentag) - Theme: You shall be a blessing.
It was the occasion of an ecumenical reception when the Director of the Franciscan Mission Centre made the humorous remark: 'The ecumenical preparations have been so long and intense and we nearly wished the Convention would not take place.' It was Ascension Day and Third World Organisations like Missio, Misereor, Bread for the World and Network Africa-Germany had invited guests to meet visitors from Africa, Asia and Latin America. I had similar impressions as preparations for the first evening of encounter and liturgical celebra-tions had joined so many people together in mutual interest and co-operation. It was our in-tention to make the Convention a happy experience of faith and a blessing to one another according to the motto 'You shall be a blessing'.What is nearly unbelievable, the above reception was in fact just one of more than 3000 events of liturgies, bible sharing, exhibitions, stands, discussions, speeches and meetings bringing together more that 200.000 people from the whole of the country to the city's large trade fair halls and many parishes. For months it had been advertised through placards, spots on TV and on the monitors of the Underground. Accommodation had to be found in parish centres, schools and private houses. Then time came closer and people who had themselves officially registered received a package containing a hymn book, a map of Berlin and a guide to all the events, a typical German volume of just 720 pages!
Obviously people did have reservations about this new attempt of an ecumenical church convention. Back in 1971 a first 'Ecumenical Pentecost Meeting' had been held at Augsburg. This city had probably been chosen on account of the historical 'Augsburg Peace of Relig-ions' in 1555 when Catholics and Lutherans were officially recognised as equals in the Em-pire of Charles V. It has to be remembered that church conventions in Germany, both Catho-lic and Lutheran, are usually organised by lay organisations. This was also true of the Augs-burg Convention in particular, with little involvement of church leaders. It lasted three days with 8000 people participating. Soon it came to an éclat when many groups practised ecu-menical celebrations of the Lord's Supper causing the then Bishop Stimpfle of Augsburg to interfere radically and forbidding such celebrations for Catholics. The lay organisers had also to realise then that it was a mistake to ignore the leadership of the two mainline churches. Hence the early euphoria at the beginning was followed by disappointment and sobriety.
No wonder it took thirty years to envisage another attempt in Germany's new Capital without the earlier mistakes. This time church leaders on both sides were fully involved in prepara-tions from the very beginning. But then an unexpected blow, as Lutherans see it, came from Rome through the publication of Pope John Paul II new encyclical on the Eucharist on Holy Thursday. The Lutheran Bishop Huber of Berlin was particularly outspoken on this in the media. It is obviously very difficult for Lutherans to accept that the Pope addresses the uni-versal church in such documents and did not intent a direct interference with this coming event in Berlin. Furthermore it aggravated the situation beforehand when Bishops Huber and Kock, the chairman of the Lutheran Church Federation, made an outright call for a common Lord's Supper after stating one-sidedly their position as totally biblical. Tempers cooled down when the Convention was officially opened at the landmark of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, by the Federal President, the Papal Nuncio with a message from the Pope, the Chan-cellor and the Mayor. With the most beautiful summer weather hundreds of thousands at-tended and then streamed into the inner city welcoming them with hundreds of stands and ten stages presenting the multicultural church life of Berlin. It was a demonstration of joy in the faith and openness to people of other cultures and their experience of the Christian faith.
It is impossible to analyse the multiplicity of events offered during this Convention. Hence I will follow the method of presenting our Confrères, their commitments and contributions to the success of the Convention.
Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald:
Michael is the Chairman of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue at the Vatican and had been officially invited by the Organisers to participate in a platform discussion in the huge Deutschland Hall on the fair grounds on 31.06. It had the topic 'My God, your God - between the claim of absolutism and ability for dialogue'. Partners on the panel were the fol-lowing speakers: Dr. Elshahed, an Islam scientist from Cairo, Dr. Magonet, a Rabbi from London, Ven. Hanh, a Buddhist monk and author from France and Dr. Ucko from the Ecu-menical Council of Churches in Geneva. This discussion was so popular that 2000 people streamed into the hall to listen to the speakers. Mike staid with us in the White Fathers community of Berlin and concelebrated on Sunday with the Curate and Fr. Rohrmayer in our Church 'Martyrs of Africa'. The church was well attended with visitors and when the Curate introduced Mike he received prompt applause from the congregation.Alois Schmid:
Since his arrival in Berlin in January Alois became the contact person for inter-religious dia-logue of Cardinal Sterzinsky of Berlin. As such he was fully involved in the preparation of the Centre for Information and Encounter for Christians and Muslims at the Lutheran St. Thomas Church. Representatives of nearly all Muslim groups in the city participated. Then main event then took place on 31.05. and Alois conducted the platform discussion on the topic 'Before God and People - Political Action in a secular Society. Speakers were: Dr. Höppner, former Head of Government in Saxony, Mr. Hoffmann, Central Council of Muslims in Ger-many. Also then met Archbishop Fitzgerald and both joined the inter-religious Evening Prayer in the St. Thomas Church with representatives of six Religions participating. Mike and Alois also attended the Closing Ceremony in front of the Parlament.
Hans Ide:
Hans was able to organise a workshop in our Parish halls with the topic 'The nine Characters of Personality types, their advantages and their limitations' and to welcome a panel. He had as speakers Fr. Anselm Grün OSB from Münsterschwarzach Abby who spoke on spiritual guidance, spirituality in everyday life and profession. He is one of the most widely read spiri-tual authors in this country. He was assisted with the Enneagramme by Andreas Ebert, a Protestant Pastor from Munich and Tiki Küstenacher, the famous caricaturist, with his pro-gramme 'simplify your life'. Then joined Helen Palmer from Berkeley /California with her psy-chological/spiritual programme EMT (oral tradition of the personality typology). Hans did part of the moderation and also conducted a workshop for 120 people on 'Introduction into the spirituality of the Enneagramme for everyday life and profession'. Altogether 480 people par-ticipated in the event.Josef Rohrmayer:
In 2000 a small Ghanaian Catholic Community was formed in the Afrika Center. Meanwhile their number has grown and they are invited to participate in Liturgies of multilingual com-munities. Josef also encouraged them to participate on three occasions of the Convention. Two of them happened on the first Evening of Encounter on 28.05. The group had a stand with food and drink and so draw attention to the visitors about Ghanaian way of life. There were ten stages with programmes from 7.00 to 10.00 p.m. Josef co-ordinated the groups on the stage just outside Humboldt University and the Ghanaian community participated with prayer, singing and dancing as did two other African groups. The place was beleaguered with people who joined by clapping to the rhythm. Josef occluded the programme with the blessing followed by the ringing of bells of Berlin Cathedral as done on all stages. Two days later Josef directed the liturgy of an ecumenical service with a Lutheran Bishop preaching and the Ghanaian Community also participating. The combination of trumpets from a youth group and African drums inspired the congregation. Josef is also prison chaplain for Africans in the Tegel prisons. The chaplains organised an ecumenical event with 20 prisoners and some 60 visitors from the Convention. Four prisoners gave personal witness of their conver-sion and baptism being interrupted by spontaneous applause from the visitors.Ludwig Peschen:
Ludwig has this year joined Missio, the international Mission Works at Aachen, as a special-ist in Aids. He is particularly qualified on account of his long experience and activities in Bu-rundi. His main task is to create awareness and draw attention to the decease in Africa as well as in Europe. As such he spent a whole day in a Lutheran Community to lecture on this. His main aim is to open the minds of people to this problem as in many countries and cul-tures this is still a taboo theme. People with the decease are also stigmatised and have to be helped in coping with fatalism. This topic has some actuality in Berlin, as an increased rate of infection can be observed in Eastern Europe even if 70% of infections occur in Africa. Ludwig also presents his initiative ‚Nouvelle Esperance' in Burundi.
Wolfgang Schonecke:
Wolfgang is running NAD (Network Africa-Germany) in Bonn and together with the Berlin Office (Sister Margret MSOLA ) helped to prepare the reception for visitors from Third World countries at the Evangelical Mission Centre. Together with 15 other Religious they partici-pated in a demonstration from the Brandenburg Gate to the Federal Chancellory with the theme: Lets make noise and awaken people - Cancellation of debts cannot fall asleep!Gregor Böckermann:
Gregor is for many years part of 'Religious for Peace'. Men and women Religious have started this initiative 20 years ago. They wish to draw attention to our unjust economical sys-tem in view of the plight of Third World countries and especially the Continent Africa. They do this through demonstrations and 'vigils of warning'. The Convention was a welcome op-portunity. The members organised three vigils on a principal avenue of Berlin and in particu-lar in front of Deutsche Bank. They give ready answers to the media and Gregor has no hesitation to respond to TV teams as could be watched in a review on the Convention.Otto Walter and Johannes Harding:
Both Confrères were present in the area called Agora where a great variety of church activi-ties and institutions had presented themselves. Otto and Johannes had committed them-selves to inform on the religious life, the aims and aspirations of Congregations in a secular environment as well as in Evangelisation.
It was to be expected that the press and media had the chance of reporting and highlighting some extraordinary events at the cost of the normal ecumenical experiences and ex-changes. The first name to be mentioned is retired Professor Gotthold Hasenhüttl of Saar-brücken University (years ago he was a guest lecturer at St. Victor's Seminary, Tamale - Ghana). He celebrated a Catholic Eucharist and offered Communion to everybody present, Catholics and Lutherans. As he is a professor in Germany and Priest of Graz Diocese in Austria he does not expect any sanctions. It is different with Bernhard Kroll, Parish Priest of a Parish in Eichstätt Diocese. He had celebrated the Lord's Supper together with a Lutheran Pastor in the Gethsemanie Church. As a result he has been suspended by his Bishop Walter Mixa. Being a popular priest, however, people of his Parish organised a human chain con-necting the Catholic with the Lutheran Church in protest of the suspension.The Convention came to a solemn close on Sunday, 01.06., through an ecumenical service in front of the Parliament. It was a moving ceremony attended by 100.000 worshippers. Par-ticularly meaningful was the sharing of water as a symbol of blessing. Great and small blessed one another with water and the sign of the cross on each other's forehead. Also very moving the witness of two young women from East Germany about their newly found faith and baptism and a missionary nun from Bavaria about her experience in Brazil. It is our hope and prayer that this Convention was a strong impetus for ecumenism and a blessing in a secular country.
Josef Rohrmayer M.Afr. 10th June 2003
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