New role for “Working Group of Christian Churches” in Krefeld

Anniversary of the “Working Group of Christian Churches”
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“We are no longer allowed to quarrel”

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Christianity will only survive ecumenically: Klaus-Norbert Kremers, Chairman of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Krefeld, in the Dionysius Church.
Foto: vo

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Krefeld 75 years of ACK: The Working Group of Christian Churches celebrates. The role is new: in 1946 it was about signposting to the outside, today it was about signposting inward. The churches are fading – only together do they remain visible.

After the war, the moral crisis was clear: Germany had committed historical crimes, started a war, and broke pretty much all the rules and values of human civilization. In this situation, the “Working Group of Christian Churches” was founded in December 1946. It was also about regaining values and dignity after the end of Nazi rule. That this happened in ecumenical solidarity was a sign of hope and strength: the churches were a place where people could find orientation about guilt, forgiveness, good and bad.

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Cover picture of the book “Im Kreuz ist Heil. History of the Aachen Peace Cross ”. The creation of the Peace Cross goes back indirectly to the establishment of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Krefeld in 1946.
*Photo: Lammertz, Thomas (lamm)*

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That was 75 years ago. On Saturday, December 11th, 3 p.m., this anniversary will be honored with a service in the Friedenskirche, in which, among others, the superintendent of the Evangelical Church District Krefeld-Viersen, Barbara Schwahn, the Catholic regional vicar Thorsten Obst and Lord Mayor Frank Meyer will take part. But this occasion is not just about looking back at a great historical hour of the churches in Krefeld. The ACK has taken on a completely new role that has to do with the dwindling influence of the churches. The social position of the churches has changed – also: the urgency of ecumenism. Beyond all differences in creed, the importance of Christianity is waning in public perception. Differences in creed are hardly understood any more, hardly considered to be significant. The increasingly disinterested view from outside is “ecumenical” in this sense: It looks at Christianity as a whole and makes everyone responsible for everything. It is not just a bon mot that even Protestants leave their church in protest against the Pope. Klaus-Norbert Kremers, chairman of the ACK Krefeld, says from this mixed situation: “The future will not allow us any more internal Christian disputes; only a united appearance can raise the reputation of the Christian denominations. “

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A look back: The Working Group of Christian Churches, as a founding act 75 years ago, called for the first ecumenical appeal in the city on December 11, 1946. It was the first ecumenical event in all of Germany after the end of the Second World War.

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The petition addressed above all the current need in the city, the longing for peace and less the crimes of Nazi Germany, especially the Holocaust. The response was overwhelming: around 10,000 people followed the call. The path led over Lohstrasse, Rheinstrasse and Ostwall to the north wall, where it ended on a hill of rubble. The explanations and supplications were generally about forgiveness of guilt, help against hunger and hardship, displaced persons and refugees, and the return of German prisoners of war. “Lord, give peace to this defeated people! Give his wives their husbands back, their fathers and mothers their sons, give back the prisoners of war to the families!

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The initiative inspired a second one: in the midst of returning soldiers, priests and Christian lay people from Krefeld, the plan was made to donate a peace cross for pilgrimages through the diocese. The cross was made in Krefeld by master carpenter Franz Eiker and was 3.50 meters high and 2.25 meters wide. In the center of the oak cross, which weighed three hundredweight, a wooden board with the carved face of the crucified was attached – the portrait comes from the Aachen artist Prof. Anton Wendling. The cross was financed by donations from the Catholic men’s movement, which was founded in 1946 as the only men’s movement in the diocese of Aachen.

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On Good Friday 1947, after a solemn mass in the Dionysius Church, the Peace Cross began its first journey through Krefeld. Around 1000 men followed the cross, which was carried by a total of six men. The sending of the Peace Cross attracted international attention.

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The Holocaust and questions of guilt and forgiveness in connection with the crimes of the Nazis played no role in the 1947 declarations either. Again it was about the need in mind: the daily bread, the reconstruction of destroyed houses and apartments, help for refugees and generally “our need”.

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Since then, according to the book “Im Kreuz ist Heil. History of the Aachen Peace Cross ”by August Brecher, the cross found its way through 39 deaneries and 120 parishes, carried by around 200,000 men. The cross is still used today for peace pilgrimages through the diocese; and if it is not on the move, it will be housed in Aachen Cathedral.

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The addressee of the ACK has changed since then. The call for community across denominational boundaries is now directed primarily inward, to the religious communities themselves, to Christianity in general. “The brand core of the political parties is just as difficult to identify as it is for the churches,” says ACK chairman Kremers, “dealing with their content is increasingly perceived as uninteresting; Here as there, only rough contours are recognized. ”Kremers calls himself“ squeaky Catholic ”, that is to say, he is a staunch Catholic, but one who has no fear of contact with other religious communities. According to his observation, this is a move of time. The churches, he says, have given up their previously exclusive position; Today it is their endeavor to create a togetherness instead of an opposition. According to him, this applies not only to the large, i.e. Catholic and Evangelical Churches, but also to small religious communities; for, according to Kremers’ experience, they too have opened up in recent years, and indeed – this is important to Kremers – without the confessions becoming arbitrary. The bottom line is that Kremers concludes that the ACK’s mandate has changed: “While this used to be an exchange of traditional denominations, in the future this must also mean a proactive approach to new denominations. Krefeld could once again be a pioneer: “Especially here in Krefeld, a historical melting pot of denominations, we have to start with it and move forward courageously.”

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