Faith gives me the freedom to make my political decisions"

Courageous testimony with political and ecumenical incentives by Michael Brand MdB (CDU) at the Opening of the Year of St. Paul in Schoenstatt at the Vigil Celebration

Coro Choir Die musikalische Gestaltung hatte eine Projektgruppe übernommen
Bendición del cuadro de San Pablo Blessing of the picture of St. Paul Segnung des Paulusbildes
Michael Brand, diputado nacional Michael Brand, member of parliament Michael Brand MdB
Mons. Peter Wolf (izq) y el P. Lothar Penners con representantes de la municipalidad de Vallendar Mons . Peter Wolf (left) and Fr. Lothar Penners with representatives of the city of Vallendar Mons. Dr. Peter Wolf (links) und Pater Dr. Lothar Penners bedanken sich bei den Lokalpolitikern aus Vallendar für ihr Kommen
Misa festiva, 29 de junio Festive Mass, June 29 Festgottesdienst am 29. Juni
San Pablo nos habla... Saint Paul wants to speak to us... Paulus hat uns heute etwas zu sagen… Fotos: POS Fischer © 2008 Álbum de fotos – photo album – Fotoalbum

SCHOENSTATT, mkf. The Year of St. Paul is not only an event of inner-ecclesial significance. This was the experience the evening of June 28 at the Pilgrims‘ Church in Schoenstatt where some 800 people had gathered, among them a number of local politicains from Vallendar. The vigil celebration, with which the Schoenstatt Movement opened the anniversary year of St. Paul, set clear political as well as ecumenical course.

"It was a good insight into Schoenstatt," said Hanno Fischer, party chairperson for the CDU in Vallendar, who was grateful for the invitation to open the Year of St. Paul together with the Schoenstatt Movement. The elected official for Mayen-Koblenz, Dr. Alexander Saftig, who was prevented from attending because he was away on vacation sent a greeting. Inspite of summer vacation the Pilgrims’ Church began visibly to fill up shortly before the beginning of the vigil celebration. It does good to see how great ecclesial events are celebrated in Schoenstatt as a matter of fact, and the local church is also drawn in. Many people who had undertaken the trip to Schoenstatt this evening were grateful to be take in the "breath of the world church" , as one visitor to Vallendar expressed it. The international news agency, Zenit, had previously published an interview with Dr. Peter Wolf, where he speaks about the significance of the year of Paul for the church and for Schoenstatt. At various Schoenstatt centers there were concurrently celebrations to begin the year of St. Paul. The joy was great to already have Dr. Wolf’s talk available in German, Spanish, English and Italian. "Now the year of St. Paul has begun for me!" writes Mercedes Luque of Córdoba, Argentina from the Mothers’ Federation. Upon reading the sermon, a teacher in the USA gratefully remembers how study the relationship between St. Paul and Fr. Kentenich had helped her in previous years to complement the image of the gargantuan Paul with the features of the person Paul, who knows Christ loves him in his limitations and weakness…" Fr. Kentenich builds a bridge for Christians who grew up Protestant like me", writes another. "A bridge I would like to cross. As I read these texts, I felt brushed with grace."

Saints stood at the beginning of European history

"Give us witnesses today as well, witnesses tot he resurrection who are struck by your love and who carry the light of the gospel into our time.", prayed Pope Benedict XVI at the closing in front of the basilica of St. Paul outside the Wall. Witnesses to the resurrection – that was the experience of those who entered into the vigil celebration in Schoenstatt this evening.

Within the framework of a solemn and dignified Vigil a large picture of St. Paul was blessed. It is to remind all those who see it of the anniversary year of the apostle to the Gentiles. It depicts the apostle as he steps onto European soil and brings Christianity to this continent, whose Christian roots have shaped today’s understanding of freedom, the dignity of the human person and solidarity and still guarantee those values. Like the celebration in Rome, the celebration in Schoenstatt was not merely a moment to look into the past. Rather, it is about inviting St. Paul to come to Europe again. According to Fr. Dr. Lothar Penners, it is about crossing the threshold of history and enkindling this continent and the whole world with the fire of his conviction in Christ. This picture reminds us of that fact as does every statue of St. Paul in almost 200 shrines throughout the world.

"Saints stood at the beginning of European history," said Michael Brand MdB (CDU) who was glad to give testimony this evening in Schoenstatt to his faith in public life as a Protestant Christian. The member of the lower house of parliament from Fulda who got to know Schoenstatt at the shrine in Dietershausen added, " They have become bearers of the culture or Europe; their dedication to Christ was so fruitful that we live from it still today." We need people today – in sports, business, and politics who stand for their Christian conviction and live out of them, said Brand, "people like Kevin Kuranyi with his witness to the faith, like Bundespresident Köhler, who without regard to protocol helps people in a retirement home, or the member of parliament, who, courageously and out the of experience of her own father’s sickness, brought the topic of dementia into public awareness last week. Besides "great saints" we need untold numbers of "little saints" who give witness to their faith in their marriages and families, to the dignity of the human person.

Grounding and Freedom

In his work as a member of parliament, faith gives him the grounding and freedom to make his political decisions, which the majority doesn’t favor. If you don’t follow the majority, you will be accosted, attacked, questioned. But there are decisions of conscience which demand a departure from the majority. Concretely he named the question of embryonic stem cell research, "living wills", and late-term abortions. The year of St. Paul, so he hopes, will give people courage to take a stance out of faith in all areas of life. It is important that Christians collaborate and in the discipleship of the apostle Paul show "their colors" through their example in their families, workplaces, in everyday life, in Schoenstatt, in Fulda and in Berlin."

Going into the school of St. Paul

Previous Msgr. Dr. Peter Wolf demonstrated in his sermon how much Fr. Joseph Kentenich, the Founder of the Schoenstatt Movement was inspired by St. Paul and how strong the spiritual closeness of these two personalities was. "In over 20% of the talks, sermons and letters which we had at our disposal, we stumbled upon the name of the apostle to the Gentiles. It became clearer and clearer to us and we became more and more aware that our founder had worked out entire topics and core content of his spirituality based on St. Paul. He went into his school of thought and was inspired by him and made entire sections of his letters his own." So Fr. Kentenich invites us today to go into the school of St. Paul and trace the original experiences of this great witness of early Christianity and so discover anew the joy and beauty of being a Christian." On hand of numerous citations from texts and statements from Fr. Kentenich, Msgr. Wolf showed how our Founder not only went into the school of St. Paul himself and encouraged his followers to do so, but rather how beside the spiritual convergence, an ever growing convergence of life story and life destiny shaped him. The alias, "Paul", which Fr. Kentenich chose during his imprisonment by National Socialism, according to Dr. Wolf, is "no coincidence or randomly chosen name just to escape the vigilance of SS and Gestapo mail censors. During this time the letters of Paul receive a whole new meaning and proximity. Suddenly the school of St. Paul is tangibly present and perceptibly real." In Fr. Kentenich’s proximity as in St. Paul’s "a deeper and deeper attachment grows, as it grew around St. Paul. Paul was not only and teacher and mediator of knowledge for his communities, but rather engage like a father or mother. Paul knows the difference between numerous teachers but few fathers in Christ (see. 1 Cor 4: 15). He sees himself as the father of his communities. Paul claims to suffer for those entrusted to him as a mother suffers labor pains. (see Gal. 4:19). Many of those who gathered around our Father and founder suddenly understood what St. Paul was talking about and how seriously he meant those words. Experiencing our own founder and the similarity of their destiny and mission will give many people lively access to the great apostle of 2000 years ago whose birth we now celebrate.

What saying of the Apostle’s would I like to imitate?

During the holy Mass on June 29, Fr. Dr. Lothar Penners, Director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Germany, directed our gaze to the tension in the person of St. Paul between the "wealth of his gifts and his human weakness. Paul is not one of those saints who are likeable at first glance: the acuity of his dialectic, the greatness of his mission and the dimensions of his life’s achievements put some people off. St. Paul was molded by contradictions, but even so had the ability to bring resolve contradictions, to bring opposites together, had the strength of synthesis. Hence, it is understandable how Fr. Kentenich, who wanted to bring together God and world, faith and life, thinking and loving, would seek such a spiritual closeness to St. Paul.

In all his greatness and significance, however, St. Paul is one who can and wants to come closer to us. Father Penners urged his listeners to spell out the various themes from the pauline letters for their personal lives over the course of the coming year. What a gain it would be, said Fr. Penners when if at the end of this year we could say after St. Paul. "I can do all things in him who strengthens me." Or, "I know whom I believe." Or, "All things to all men." The picture of Paul, the apostle who stepped onto European soil, who wants to step into the here and today of the church and Schoenstatt, will hang in the Pilgrims’ Church and invite all who enter to come closer to this Paul.

• Text of Mons. Wolf's sermon

Translation: utr, Schoenstatt