Study day discussed the current situation of the Eastern Catholic Churches in Bamberg
On the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Council Decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum, a study day organised by the Archdiocese of Bamberg at the St. Otto Diocesan House discussed the current situation of the Eastern Catholic Churches. The event was co-organised by the Deputy Director of BaFID, PD Dr Christian Lange.
The individual presentations, the panel discussion and the welcoming address by Bamberg Archbishop Herwig Gössl showed that the current situation of the Eastern Catholic Churches in Germany is changing significantly as a result of recent migration movements. Believers from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in particular, but also from the Eastern Catholic Churches in the Middle East, have immigrated to Germany in greater numbers in recent years. This presents them, as well as the Roman Catholic dioceses, with pastoral challenges: How and where can church services be celebrated? How can families get childcare places? How can parents find a job? What religious education do the children attend?
The head of the University, Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue Unit, Canon Prof. Dr Elmar Koziel, therefore concluded: “The Catholic Church in Germany is changing as a result of migration movements. It is therefore important that we engage more with them.”