Mrs. Basdekis has a great experience inside the Roman Catholic Church, but also a personal expertise and point of view that make her opinion realistic and important.

In all the districts of Northern Germany there were only a small number of Roman Catholics, as well as in the central part of the country. So, all these areas were to be called "diaspora" for the Roman Catholic Church. The southern part (Bavaria, Baden-Wüttemberg) always had many Catholics and few Protestants. So, Protestants there lived in "diaspora".

Some historical background
My family and relatives all lived in the Northern part of the country, in Hamburg or Braunschweig. We had many priests and a noun in our family tree. Around 1900 and afterwards, they all suffered from the Protestants.

It was not always very easy to go to the Church or to celebrate special services like "Corpus Christi" (60 days after the Easter). All Roman Catholic pupils didn't go to school those days, while the others had to go. Being most of the time on the streets, pupils of all confessions were beating and calling names to each other. When I went to school after the World War II, I found the same situation in the schools. Nobody tolerated the other's religion, nobody was interrested in the other's thinking.

Because they were a minority, Roman Catholics were seen as an exotic confession. This situation came to an end when refugees from the Eastern part of Germany (Silesia) came to the Northern part of Germany. 95% of these refugees were Catholics and they were used to practise their religion. Fron now on. we can say that daily life changed.

People became used to see lots of Church participants. For example: the three churches in Braunschweig became too small, so that seven more churches were built during the next years. There was a change in the daily life.

For a Roman Catholic, the good years lasted from World War II till the end of the 80-ies. During this period there were few contacts between the two major Curches: Catholic and Protestant. Everybody "cooled his own soup".

There was neighter hostility against each other, nor interrest in the other's confession. At the end of the 80-ies, a lot of faithful Protestants and Roman Catholics left their Churches. There are many resons for this behaviour:

– they wanted to be independent, not to have any obligation;
– nearly everybody was in good financial situation, so that they didn't need God or Church;
– the elderly had died, those who knew how to pray to God durings wars or catastrophes, their children had never suffered from hunger or poverty;
– these people around 45 didn't teach their children about the importance of Church life and prayer, for them, Church didn't matter. A Typical example: for Chrismas, a young man was asked why is he going to the Church; the answer: "It's so romantic!";
– after 1989, the government issued a law in which every German was obliged to pay the solidarity tax. This tax has the same percent as the Church-tax. We can imagine that all the people not interrested in the Church immediately left the Church and paid the new tax, avoiding the payment of both.

Ecumenical movement today
Roman Catholics and Protestants today have started ecumennical involvement and dialogue. Some of the ecumenical meetings take place in our community in Braunschweig once a month.

But the two Churches resume to organise meetings of prayer, singing and sermons, they are not engaging specific and important issues bewteen them. I'm sure that the newt 50 years would not bring spectaculous changes, nor closer ecumenical connections.

Remember: when pope Benedict XVI was the chief of the congregation of faith, he wrote in a very interresting paper: "There will never be unity between Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. Protestant Church is a deficient Church. Their priests are not staying in direct succession of Saint Peter. The only Church which is a true church is the Orthodox one".

At the funeral of pope John Paul II and the inauguration of the new pope Benedict XVI only the Orthodox priests and bishops were welcomed and stayed in the first row. Also, during the Holy Mass in the Meeting for peace, the communion was given only to the Roman Catholic cardinals and to the Orthodox delegates, the dignitaries from the Protestant Church being left aside.

These are signs that make us be reluctant about the future of the ecumenical meetings between Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church.

Spiritual life today in a parish
During the Great Lent, we have a Tuesday morning prayer (6 a.m.) prepared by the laities. It takes a half an hour and after that, we have the breakfast together. Usually, we have around 30 people attending. On April 11th, it will be my turn, with a theme: "Open you eyes to the fullness of life", a meditation on the spituality of life and the decision making against death. The Gospel text will be taken from John 12, 20/33.

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