Protecting Unborn Life in the Secular Age: The Catholic Church and the West German Abortion Debate, 1969–1989

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 612-645
Author(s):  
Kimba Allie Tichenor
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
The West ◽  
Abortion Debate ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Events ◽  
The Catholic Church

In 1969, the newly elected coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) in West Germany announced plans to reform Paragraph 218, the law that regulated women's access to abortion. This announcement prompted a public debate in West Germany on the state's obligation to protect unborn life—a debate that continues today in reunified Germany. Through an analysis of key events in that debate between 1969 and 1989, this article makes a twofold argument. First it argues that despite West Germany's increasingly secular orientation, the Catholic Church exercised significant political influence with respect to abortion policy throughout the history of the Federal Republic. Second, it argues that the West German Church's participation in these debates exposed deep rifts within the Catholic community, which, in turn, contributed to the formation of a smaller, more activist, and conservative Church. This smaller Church has achieved a remarkable degree of political success in reunified Germany by mobilizing its conservative core constituency, embracing new arguments, and pursuing issue-specific alliances.

scholarly journals A Quarter of a Century of Czech Political History: Stability through "Cautious" Nanopolitics

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
Ella ZADOROZHNYUK
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political History ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
International Attention ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Short Breath

The key events of the 25-year political history of the Czech Republic are considered: the 1998 Opposition Agreement between the two leading forces – the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSDP); the emergence of ANO 2011 (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens); the Patent of Tolerance concluded in 2018 between the ANO 2011 and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. The concept of "nanopolitics" is introduced to designate domestic and foreign policy actions which make minor moves with major implications for the country's political course and attract international attention. The local short breath policy associated with these actions might have long-term consequences, including global ones. The demolition in April 2020 in Prague of the monument to its liberator Marshal Ivan Konev is one of the examples of this kind of policy.

The Changing Relations Between Trade Unions and the Social Democratic Party in West Germany

1978 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-415
Author(s):  
Klaus von Beyme
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Cooperative Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Democracies

In western democracies different patterns of cooperation among working class organizations have developed. The three ‘pillars’ of the working class movement in Britain, the trade unions, the party and the cooperative movement, have no equivalent in the history of Germany, for two reasons.

Anticommunism and Détente: Mindszenty, the Catholic Church, and Hungarian Émigrés in West Germany, 1972

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Arpad von Klimo
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
German Society ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The West ◽  
The Us ◽  
Communist Government ◽  
The Catholic Church

Abstract Cardinal Mindszenty was head of the Catholic Church of Hungary between 1945 and 1974, but had been imprisoned between 1949 and 1956 and hiding in the US embassy in Budapest from 1956 to 1971. In 1971, Mindszenty left the country and settled in Vienna after long negotiations between the Vatican and the Hungarian communist government. When he visited the Hungarian diaspora and non-Hungarian followers in the West between 1972 and his death in 1975, controversies about communism, Catholicism, and Western society and social change in general erupted. This article analyzes these controversies and the different groups that supported the cardinal and their understanding of anticommunism in the context of a changing West German society and against the background of changes within the Catholic world after Vatican II. The ideas about communism Mindszenty and his right-wing supporters formulated were outdated in the 1970s but had a long afterlife.

The origins of the Catholic Social Guild in Scotland: ‘We have not attacked the Socialists professedly’

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Potocki
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
The West ◽  
Main Activity ◽  
Social Message ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
The Catholic Church

The activities of John Wheatley's Catholic Socialist Society have been analysed in terms of liberating Catholics from clerical dictation in political matters. Yet, beyond the much-discussed clerical backlash against Wheatley, there has been little scholarly attention paid to a more constructive response offered by progressive elements within the Catholic Church. The discussion that follows explores the development of the Catholic social movement from 1906, when the Catholic Socialist Society was formed, up until 1918 when the Catholic Social Guild, an organisation founded by the English Jesuit Charles Plater, had firmly established its local presence in the west of Scotland. This organisation played an important role in the realignment of Catholic politics in this period, and its main activity was the dissemination of the Church's social message among the working-class laity. The Scottish Catholic Church, meanwhile, thanks in large part to Archbishop John Aloysius Maguire of Glasgow, became more amenable to social reform and democracy.

ZAANGAŻOWANIA KOŚCIOŁA KATOLICKIEGO NA RZECZ MIGRANTÓW – PRZESŁANKI DOKTRYNALNO-PRAWNE

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (`1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Piotr Wojnicz
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
Important Thing ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is naturally associated with migrants and its history and doctrine areinextricably linked with the migration of people. Many of the documents of the Catholic Church referto the history of human migration. The responsibility of the Catholic Church for migrants has deephistorical and theological roots. The Catholic Church sees both the positive and the negative sidesof this phenomenon The pastoral care of migrants is a response to the needs of these people. It doesnot replace the territorial structures. They both work closely together and complement each other.The primary objective of the pastoral care of migrants is to enable migrants to integrate with thelocal community. An important element of these structures are religious orders of men and women.The most important thing for migrants is the Christian attitude of the local community tothem. Church repeatedly stressed the importance of hospitality to migrants. Both human andChristian attitude towards migrants expresses itself in a good reception, which is the main factorin overcoming the inevitable difficulties, preventing opposites and solving various problems. Thisattitude helps to alleviate the problems associated with the process of social integration.

PRZEŚLADOWANIA KOŚCIOŁA KATOLICKIEGO NA ZIEMIACH POLSKICH W DOBIE POWSTANIA STYCZNIOWEGO W ŚWIETLE RAPORTU KONSULATU FRANCJI W WARSZAWIE Z 1869 ROKU

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-88
Author(s):  
Jacek Wojda
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Hard Time ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Difficult Position ◽  
Apostolic See ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Seventieth of XIX century were very hard time for Catholic Church in Polish Kingdom. Mainreason was aim for independency in Poles’ hearts. Deeply connected with polish nation, Churchsuffered because of Tsar’ political repression. Although different stages of its history are not closelyconnected with post uprising’s repressions.Report of French General Consulate in Warsaw bearing a date 1869 stress accent on samekind of the Catholic Church persecutions, which were undertaken against bishops and dioceseadministrators, and some of them were died during deportation on Siberia, north or south Russia.Hierarchy was put in a difficult position. They had to choose or to subordinate so called Rome CatholicSpiritual Council in Petersburg or stay by the Apostolic See side. Bishop Konstanty Łubieński isacknowledged as the first Victim of that repressions.Outlook upon history of persecutions, which is presented, shows not only Church but pointsout harmful consequences Russia’s politics in the Church and society of the Polish Kingdom. Citedarchival source lets us know way of looking and analysing history during 1861−1869 by Frenchdiplomats.

Lamennais

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gurian
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Third ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Papal Infallibility ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church includes men who, after brilliant services to the Church, died outside her fold. Best known among them is Tertullian, the apologetic writer of the Early Church; less known is Ochino, the third vicar-general of the Capuchins, whose flight to Calvin's Geneva almost destroyed his order. In the nineteenth century there were two famous representatives of this group. Johann von Doellinger refused, when more than seventy years old, to accept the decision of the Vatican Council about papal infallibility. He passed away in 1890 unreconciled, though he had been distinguished for years as the outstanding German Catholic theologian. Félicité de la Mennais was celebrated as the new Pascal and Bossuet of his time before he became the modern Tertullian by breaking with the Church because Pope Gregory XVI rejected his views on the relations between the Church and die world. As he lay deathly ill, his niece, “Madame de Kertanguy asked him: ‘Féli, do you want a priest? Surely, you want a priest?’ Lamennais answered: ‘No.’ The niece repeated: ‘I beg of you.’ But he said with a stronger voice: ‘No, no, no.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document