"We are all the Church" Must have more peace work and nature conservation....while we still have the energy
Powerful stimulus for grassroots lay work
The Swiss Catholic People's Association has a new president: Simone Curau-Aepli. The Thurgau entrepreneur and politician wants to transform the traditional "men's association" into a driving force for church creativity.
Simone Curau-Aepli gained notoriety as president of the Swiss Catholic Women's Federation. After twelve years at the helm of the women's association, she recently stepped down. And now she's back: as president of the Swiss Catholic People's Association (SKVV). What attracted her to the new role? It's the opportunity to use the SKVV's resources to promote diversity and creativity in the church environment.
A Christian Mission
What is the SKVV anyway? According to its statutes, the purpose of this association is to financially support projects by Catholic or ecumenically oriented lay organizations that seek to realize a Christian mission.
What does this entail? What kind of projects are these? These are, explains Curau-Aepli, projects such as the Alliance Equally Worthy Catholic (AGK), a nationwide, reform Catholic organization that "fights for an equal, credible, and solidarity-based Roman Catholic Church."
Impulses for project work
The author is apparently not the first to find the abbreviation "SKVV" difficult to interpret right away. Curau-Aepli concedes that communication has been somewhat neglected in the past. Under her leadership, she wants to change this and not only support projects after "careful review," as has been the case so far, but also provide impetus and suggestions for project development.
Curau-Aepli could imagine the SKVV setting a thematic framework—for example, in the area of peace work or nature conservation—to encourage lay organizations to generate ideas. Curau-Aepli says she doesn't just want to distribute funds, but "awaken longings."
A woman in a men's club
If you want, you can call Pope Leo the forefather of the SKVV. Not the new Pope, Leo XIV, but his predecessor of the same name, Leo XIII. This Pope published an encyclical in 1891 that became known under the words "Rerum Novarum." Wikipedia claims this is the "mother of all social encyclicals." In any case, it is a "social cyclical" that, among other things, advocates for fair wages for workers.
"Rerum Novarum," says Markus Kappeler, gave the Catholic lay movement in Switzerland an "enormous boost." As president of the SKVV, Kappeler is Curau-Aeppli's predecessor. He was appointed to the board in 1995 and then took over the presidency of the association in 2017, which emerged in 1904 from a merger of various Catholic associations. Until 1991, Kappeler recalls, the so-called Volksverein SKVV (People's Association SKVV) was a "men-only association." He is therefore happy to be handing over the reins to a woman.
"We are all the Church"
Kappeler says he has been working for the church at the national level since 1980, at that time as the national director of the Jungwacht (Young Watch). Since then, he has witnessed "incredible" changes in the church. Only the hierarchy, he complains, has proven resistant to change. While one should always maintain contact with the church leadership and seek dialogue with "the gentlemen of the Catholic Church," he advises all those who volunteer for the church as laypeople. However, one must always listen to one's own conscience and act confidently: "The church is neither the hierarchy nor the state church bodies." We are all Church."
Based on his many years of experience, he appeals to all who wish to contribute to the Church as lay people: "Let's not wait for approval from above. Let's courageously make a difference at the grassroots level while we still have the energy. We owe this to the Christian message. And today's world, which seems to be falling apart, needs justice, peace, and the integrity of creation – central Christian tasks that are worth our commitment to."
.jpeg)
Comments