Traudl Wallbrecher
Gertraud “Traudl” Wallbrecher (née Weiß; 18 May 1923 in Munich - 29 July 2016 in Munich[1]), a representative of the Catholic avant-garde of the 20th century, was the initiator of the Catholic Integrated Community, which she established with her husband Herbert Wallbrecher (1922-1997) after the Second World War.
Work and Life
Gertraud Weiß grew up in Munich-Schwabing. From age 13, she belonged to the Catholic Heliand League.[2] After auxiliary service in the war, she began studying psychology at the University of Munich, and from 1943 onwards she attended the Social Women's School. As a nurse, she was obligated to work in the service in 1945 and experienced the dissolution of the Dachau concentration camp first hand.[3]
From 1945, she was the leader of Heliand.[4] At the nationwide meeting in Telgte near Münster in 1947, she unsettled the assembled people with the question of what the Shoah catastrophe meant for the church and its mission.[5] As a consequence, she left the Heliand in 1948 and started the group "Junger Bund".[6] Among others, she was encouraged to do so by theologian professor Michael Schmaus.[7] The priest Dr. Aloys Goergen supported the group until 1968.
In 1949, Traudl Weiß married the lawyer Herbert Wallbrecher from Hagen in Westphalia, who belonged to the Catholic "Bund Neudeutschland".[8] They had four children. With him and his friend Johannes Joachim Degenhardt, the later Cardinal and archbishop of Paderborn, she found two allies. The Integrated Community was formed by the people who gathered around Traudl Wallbrecher, her husband and Aloys Goergen.
As editor of the magazine "Die Integrierte Gemeinde",[9] Wallbrecher aroused the interest of agnostics like Gerhard Szczesny[10] and theologians like Joseph Ratzinger,[11][12] who supported the path of the KIG within the Catholic Church since then.[13][14] She gained ideas for the "community" experiment in 1965 on a trip to kibbutzim in Israel.[15] Through the friendship with Chaim Seeligmann,[16][17] this resulted in an intensive exchange, which eventually led to the founding of the "Urfelder Kreis"[18] in 1995.[19][20] American Hutterites and German Bruderhofers were also drawn to attention.[21] In the USA, Wallbrecher won religious Jews as friends, such as the writer Zvi Kolitz and the director of the New York Yeshiva University, Norman Lamm.[22]
Together with her husband, she founded the private Günter-Stöhr-Gymnasium in 1977, now one of the schools of the St. Anna school network.[23] Since 1978, an Integrated Community in Africa[24] has developed from her encounter with Bishop Christopher Mwoleka,[25] Tanzania.[26][27]
One of her greatest concerns was the theology, which had grown from the new experience of the Church.[28] In order to work on this, two exegetes of the New Testament, Rudolf Pesch[29][30][31][32] and Gerhard Lohfink[33][34][35][36][37] gave up their professorships in the 1980s and joined the Integrated Community. A chair called "Cattedra per la Teologia del Popolo di Dio",[38][39] was set up at the Lateran University[40] in Rome in 2008[41] after Wallbrecher's initiative of the "Academy for the Theology of the People of God" in the Villa Cavalletti near Frascati; since September 2016 the chair offers the post-graduate distance learning module "The Profile of the Jewish Christian", from September 2017 on also in English.[42]
On July 29, 2016, Gertraud Wallbrecher died in Munich at the age of 93 after a long illness.[43] The Italian newspaper "Avennire" (August 9, 2016) captioned its obituary "Addio a Gertrude Wallbrecher, 'teologa' del popolo di Dio".[44]
Writings
- Traudl Wallbrecher (Hrsg.): Monatszeitschrift HEUTE in Kirche und Welt. (2000–2008) ISSN 1616-2293.
- Traudl Wallbrecher (Ed.), TODAY pro ecclesia viva, (English edition of HEUTE pro ecclesia viva ISSN 0946-6401),Bad Tölz 1996
- Traudl Wallbrecher, Ludwig Weimer, Arnold Stötzel (Hrsg.): 30 Jahre Wegbegleitung – Joseph Ratzinger/Papst Benedikt XVI. und die Katholische Integrierte Gemeinde. Verlag Urfeld, Bad Tölz 2006, ISBN 978-3-932857-40-9 .
- Traudl Wallbrecher, Ludwig Weimer (Hrsg.): Katholische Integrierte Gemeinde. Eine Kurzdarstellung. Verlag Urfeld, Bad Tölz 2005, ISBN 978-3-932857-45-4 .
- Traudl Wallbrecher (Hrsg.): Die Integrierte Gemeinde. Beiträge zur Reform der Kirche. 18 Bände, Verlag Urfeld, München (1969–1976).
- Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger: Skandalöser Realismus? – Gott handelt in der Geschichte. Verlag Urfeld 2005, Preface from Traudl Wallbrecher, ISBN 3-932857-44-5 .
- Traudl Wallbrecher (Hrsg.): Ecclesiae Solamen – Gedanken zur Theologie Johann Adam Möhlers. Verlag Urfeld 1982.
- Traudl Wallbrecher: Das Vaterunser und die Weitergabe des Glaubens. In: Heute in Kirche und Welt Heft 5/2008, ISSN 1616-2293, S. 13.
- Catholic Integrated Community (Hrsg.) Theologica No. 3 – Englisch Edition: 'Teologa' del popolo di Dio. Gertraud Wallbrecher (1923–2016), Baierbrunn 2016, ISBN 978-3-946577-03-4
References
- Wallbrecher, Gertraud. "Remembered". Catholic Integrated Community (CIC). Katholische Integrierte Gemeinde. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Katholische Integrierte Gemeinde - eine Kurzdarstellung. Bad Tölz: Verlag Urfeld. 2005. p. 8. ISBN 9783932857454. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Koch, Bernhard (2017). "Traudl Wallbrecher (1923 - 2016)". Plough Quarterly. Spring: 76. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Heute in Kírche und Welt". Sonderausgabe zum 18. May 2003 (Verlag Urfeld). 2003: 2. Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - de Gaál, Emery (2010). The theology of Pope Benedict XVI - The christocentric shift (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. Chapter 7: Pastor to Radical Christians. ISBN 978-0-230-11476-0. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Guerriero, Elio (2016). Servitore di Dio e dell'umanità - La biografia di Benedetto XVI. Milano: Mondadori. pp. Chapter VI: Ebrei e cristiani: due religioni, un'unica Alleanza. ISBN 8804672404. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Katholische Integrierte Gemeinde, Heute in Kirche und Welt, No. 6/2008, ISSN 1616-2293, p. 3, Papst Benedikt XVI. an Traudl Wallbrecher zu ihrem 85. Geburtstag, Vatikanstadt, 14. Mai 2008
- Tyldesley, Mike (2003). No heavenly delusion? A comparative study of three communal movements. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0-85323-608-9. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Wallbrecher, Traudl (1976). "Die Integrierte Gemeinde". Christliche Existenz in einer säkularen Welt - Beiträge zur Reform der Kirche. 1 - 17 (1969). Retrieved 29 June 2017.
- de Gaál, Emery (2010). The theology of Pope Benedict XVI - The christocentric shift. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. Chapter 7: Pastor to "Radical Christians". ISBN 978-0-230-11476-0.
- Karl-Heinz Menke, Die 'Älteren Brüder und Schwestern', in: Zeitschrift Communio, 2009, p. 191
- Kissler, Alexander (2005). Der Deutsche Papst - Benedikt XVI. und seine schwierige Heimat. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder. pp. 87, 93–94. ISBN 3451288672. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Wallbrecher (Ed.), Traudl (2006). 30 Jahre Wegbegleitung. Bad Tölz: Verlag Urfeld. pp. 20 ff. ISBN 978-3-932857-40-9. Retrieved 28 May 2017.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- "Joseph Ratzinger / Papst Benedikt, Skandalöser Realismus? Gott handelt in der Geschichte, Verlag Urfeld, Bad Tölz. 3. Aufl. 2005 ISBN 3-932857-44-5, Vorwort von Traudl Wallbrecher,(Urfelder Texte, 4)" (PDF).
- Pesch, Rudolf (2009). Juden und Christen - ein einziges Volk Gottes?. Düsseldorf: Patmos. p. 66. ISBN 978-3-491-72534-8.
- Seeligmann, Chaim (2002). Es war nicht nur ein Traum. Bad Tölz: Verlag Urfeld. pp. 142 ff. ISBN 3-932857-29-1. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Seeligmann, Chaim (1998). Spuren einer stillen Revolution - Begegnungen eines Kibbuz-Mitgliedes mit der Katholischen Integrierten Gemeinde. Hagen: Verlag Urfeld. ISBN 3-932857-21-6. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Palgi, Yair. "First impressions of the Urfeld Circle Meeting". פוסטים אחרונים. yairpalgi.com. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Yaacov Oved. "Globalization of communes 1950 – 2010, 2013, New Brunswick NY, Transaction Publishers". p. 161. ISBN 9781412849487.
- Dorkam-Dispeker, Joel (2015). Stacheln im Honig. Marburg: Schüren Verlag. pp. 307 ff. ISBN 978-3-89472-290-6. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Yaacov Oved (2013). The Witness of the brothers - A history of the Bruderhof. New Brunswick (U.S.A.); London (U.K.): Transaction Publishers. pp. 319–321. ISBN 9781560002031. Retrieved 28 May 2017. p. 321 reports about a meeting of Johann Christoph Arnold and Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome on June 24, 1995 arranged by Integrierte Gemeinde
- Buckenmaier/Pesch/Weimer, Achim/Rudolf/Ludwig (2008). Der Jude Jesus von Nazareth - Zum Gespräch zwischen Jacob Neusner und Papst Benedikt XVI. Paderborn: Bonifatius. ISBN 978-3-89710-419-8. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Günter-Stöhr-Gymnasium". St. Anna Schulverbund. www.st-anna.eu. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Herbert-Wallbrecher-School – Tanzania – INTIGREATOR". www.intigreator.com.
- Cheney, David M. "Bishop Christopher Mwoleka". Catholic Hierarchy. www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Report Nr. 19/2006. "Catholic Integrated Community in Tanzania" (PDF). Jumuiya Katoliki ya Integresheni. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Reports from Tanzania - 2015 The Girls Boarding School in Mikese" (PDF). KIG-online.de. KIG - Catholic Integrated Community. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Cardinal Ratzinger, Joseph (1999). Many religions, one covenant - Israel, the Church and the World. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. pp. Notes, Preface. ISBN 978-0-89870-753-3. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Pesch, Rudolf (1999). The Trial of Jesus continues (Translated from the German by Doris Glen Wagner ed.). Allison Park, Pa.: Pickwick Publications. ISBN 978-1-55635-033-7.
- Pesch, Rudolf. "Rudolf Pesch, 1936 - 2011". WorldCat Identities. worldcat.org. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "» In memory of Rudolf Pesch". www.popolodidio.org.
- Rudolf Pesch, Juden und Christen – ein einziges Volk Gottes? Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 2009, ISBN 9783491725348
- "Gerhard Lohfink". Plough.
- In review: No Irrelevant Jesus, by Gerhard Lohfink Thomas D. Stegman (2013): The Living Presence of God. Jesus of Nazareth by Gerhard Lohfink. In: America The Jesuit Review 2013 (18. March 2013)
- Lohfink, Gerhard (2014). Does God Need the Church? (translated by Linda Maloney ed.). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press. p. 321. ISBN 9780814659281. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Lohfink, Gerhard (2015). Jesus of Nazareth - What He wanted, who He was. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press. ISBN 9780814683088. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Martin, James. "Jesus, by the book". America The Jesuit Review. www.americamagazine.org. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Cattedra per la teologia del popolo di dio". Pontificia Università Lateranense. www.pul.it. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Symposium in Tanzania". March 2014.
- Achim Buckenmaier, A poor people of God for the poor in the world? The challenge of Pope Francis, Roma 2014, Lateran University Press ISBN 884650965X
- "Chair for the Theology of the People of God". www.popolodidio.org. Prof. Dr. Achim Buckenmaier. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- "Distance Learning". Theology of the people of God. Chair for the theology of the people of God. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Weimer, Ludwig. "Setting the course: Assembling instead of dissipating" (PDF). Remembering Traudl Wallbrecher. kig-online.de. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- Galli, Andrea (2016-08-09). "Addio a Gertraud Wallbrecher, 'teologa' del popolo di Dio". Avvenire. Retrieved 28 May 2017.