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Katholische Junge Gemeinde

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The "Katholische junge Gemeinde" (short: "KjG") is a major German Catholic youth organization. KjG has a democratic structure and local groups throughout Germany, mainly in Catholic parishes, with a total of about 80,000 members. The KjG is a member of the Catholic umbrella of youth organizations, Fimcap, and the German umbrella of Catholic youth organizations, BDKJ.

Katholische junge Gemeinde
AbbreviationKjG
FormationJune 17, 1970; 54 years ago (1970-06-17)
TypeGerman non-profit youth organization
Purposeassociation of young Catholics and Catholic local groups
HeadquartersDüsseldorf,  Germany
Membership
80.000 members in 24 diocesan organizations
Presidents
Anne Schirmer
Marc Eickelkamp
Praeses
Eva-Maria Düring
Secretary-General
Peter Dübbert
Websitewww.kjg.de

History

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See also: Overview of the history of KjG on the homepage of KjG (on German)[1]

  • 1896: The "Katholische Jungmännerverband" (translation: Catholic organization of young men) is founded. It is the predecessor organization of the "Katholische Jungmännergemeinschaft" (KJG, translation: Catholic society of young men).
  • 1915: The national organization of "Katholische Jungfrauenvereine Deutschlands" (translation: Catholic organizations of young women in Germany), the predecessor organization of "Katholische Frauenjugendgemeinschaft" (KFG, translation: Catholic society of young women), is founded.
  • 1938: Catholic youth organizations were forbidden in Germany by the Nazi regime.
  • 1947: The "Katholische Jungmännergemeinschaft" (KJG, translation: Catholic society of young men) is founded.
  • 1954: The "Katholische Frauenjugendgemeinschaft" (KFG, translation: Catholic society of young women) is founded.
  • 1970: The "Katholische Jungmännergemeinschaft" and the "Katholische Frauenjugendgemeinschaft" merge to the "Katholische junge Gemeinde" (KjG, translation: Catholic youth society).
  • 1979: The federal assembly of KjG decides that KjG shall advocate for a nuclear power phase-out.
  • 1995: KjG adopts the "Altenberg Declaration" (German: "Alternberger Erkärung"). In the declaration KjG emphasizes the importance of spiritual assistants being part of the leadership in KjG and that they need to be elected democratically by the members of KjG.[2]
  • 2001/2002: KjG calls in their campaign "enjoy the difference" for more tolerance. In particular, the campaign emphasizes that no human being shall be discriminated due to their origin, appearance, race, possession, or other superficial criteria and takes a strong stand against xenophobia.[3]
  • 2005: KjG organized with Fimcap a centre for international exchange during the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne named "feel the spirit" and visited by more than 20,000 pilgrims.
  • 2010: KjG hosted the General Assembly of Fimcap in Munich.
  • 2012: The diocesan branch of KjG in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising hosted the Fimcap EuroCourse 2012.
  • 2013: More than 100 groups of KjG took part with projects in the 72 hours campaign, the biggest social campaign of young people in Germany.
  • 2014: In the year of the European elections 2014 KjG organized the nationwide project "YOUrope - Strippenzieher*innen für eine jugendgerechte EU". The aim of the project was to encourage young people to think about youth rights and to show them possible ways to participate in political processes.[1]

KjG and contemporary worship music

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KjG had a significant influence on the development of contemporary worship music (German: Neues Geistliches Lied, NGL) in Germany.[4]

Patron and Motto

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The patron of KjG is Thomas More (1477–1535). The motto of KjG is "I never thought of consenting to a matter, if it would defy my morals." This quote is attributed to Thomas More.[5]

Emblem

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The emblem of KjG is called "Seelenbohrer". Literally translated from German this means "soul drill". It was designed in 1967 by Alfred Klever, a designer based in the vicinity of Cologne, during a course on screen printing in Altenberg. It represents the motto of the joint Pentecostal meeting of KJG and KFG, the predecessor organizations of KjG, in Münster in 1968: "Zur Antwort bereit!" (German for: "Prepared for the answer!").[6] At this national meeting the meaning of the emblem was explained as follows: "The dot in the center represents Christ, the Good News and the life. The bar moving around the dot symbolizes the humans who, inspired by the center, try to tackle problems and find and give answers. The arrow represents dynamic. Acting based on the solid ground of the Gospel means at the same time to move on and to pursue goals." Another (self-)ironic interpretation of the emblem is that it represents "beating around the bush, closely missing the goal and than move away quickly".[7]

 
Thomas More - patron of KjG

Structure

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Local level

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The 80,000 members are organized in various local groups spread all over Germany. Most local groups are based at a parish. However, local groups can be also located at other places such as schools. Each local group usually has a team of voluntary group leaders which prepare activities like e.g. weekly meetings or camps for children, adolescents and/or young adults. Furthermore, each local group has a board of two or more chairpeople (usually as many female as male chairpeople) coordinating the local group. The chairpeople are elected by the regular assembly of all members of the local group. Usually, all members regardless of their age are eligible to vote (some local groups however require a minimum age of 13 and a maximum age of 27).[8]

Diocesan organizations

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Diocesan organizations of KjG
  KjG Aachen[9]
  KjG Augsburg[10]
  KjG Bamberg[11]
  KjG Berlin[12]
  KjG Eichstätt[13]
  KjG Essen[14]
  KjG Freiburg[15]
  KjG Fulda[16]
KjG Hamburg[17]
  KjG Hildesheim[18]
  KjG Köln[19]
  KjG Limburg[20]
  KjG Magdeburg[21]
  KjG Mainz[22]
  KjG München & Freising[23]
  KjG Münster[24]
  KjG Osnabrück[25]
  KjG Passau[26]
  KjG Paderborn[27]
  KjG Regensburg[28]
  KjG Rottenburg-Stuttgart[29]
  KjG Speyer[30]
  KjG Trier[31]
  KjG Würzburg[32]

Notable (former) KjG members

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Homepage der KjG: YOUrope". Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  2. ^ "Geschichte der KjG". www.kjg.org. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  3. ^ "enjoy the difference - Home". www.enjoy-the-difference.de. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  4. ^ Frank, René (2003-01-01). Das neue geistliche Lied: neue Impulse für die Kirchenmusik (in German). Tectum Verlag DE. ISBN 9783828885738.
  5. ^ Homepage of KjG
  6. ^ Berichte von der Bundeskonferenz der KjG 2011: Freitag, 17.6. Archived 2016-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ KjG.de: Der Seelenbohrer
  8. ^ "Strukturen der KjG". kjg.de. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  9. ^ Homepage of KjG Aachen
  10. ^ Homepage of KjG Augsburg
  11. ^ Homepage of KjG Bamberg
  12. ^ "Homepage of KjG Berlin". Archived from the original on 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  13. ^ Homepage of KjG Eichstätt
  14. ^ Homepage of KjG Essen
  15. ^ Homepage of KjG Freiburg
  16. ^ Homepage of KjG Fulda
  17. ^ Homepage of KjG Hamburg
  18. ^ Homepage of KjG Hildesheim
  19. ^ Homepage of KjG Köln
  20. ^ Homepage of KjG Limburg
  21. ^ Homepage of KjG Magdeburg
  22. ^ Homepage of KjG Mainz
  23. ^ Homepage of KjG München & Freising
  24. ^ Homepage of KjG Münster
  25. ^ Homepage of KjG Osnabrück
  26. ^ Homepage of KjG Passau
  27. ^ Homepage of KjG Paderborn
  28. ^ Homepage of KjG Regensburg
  29. ^ Homepage of KjG Rottenburg-Stuttgart
  30. ^ Homepage of KjG Speyer
  31. ^ Homepage of KjG Trier
  32. ^ Homepage of KjG Würzburg
  33. ^ "Jens Spahn über Katholizismus und Politik | DOMRADIO.DE". www.domradio.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-18.
  34. ^ "Lichtblick - Magazine of the youth council of the district Main-Tauber, p. 6" (PDF).
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