Pastoral care by telephone

0800/111 0 111 or 0800/111 0 222: whoever dials one of these two numbers in Germany will always find a person willing to listen. “Words can give rise to ways”: that’s the motto of TelefonSeelsorge (telephone pastoral care), the ecumenical organization of counselling and pastoral care founded by the Berlin pastor and physician KLAUS THOMAS in 1956. The service offers counselling and assistance by telephone to anyone in critical situations. The 50th anniversary of its foundation was celebrated on 16 September with a solemn service in the Cathedral of Berlin and a reception at Deutsche Telekom Ag in honour of the 7,000 volunteers and collaborators who perform the service. Last year alone, according to figures furnished by Deutsche Telekom, the TelefonSeelsorge received 1.6 million telephone calls from people asking to be heard, in total anonymity, just as the service’s staff remains anonymous. THE ART OF LISTENING. During the reception, Federal President HORST KÖHLER , under whose auspices the event was held, gave a speech in the presence of many leading figures from the ecclesiastical, political, economic and social worlds. “The art of listening is often underrated”, declared Köhler. “Many volunteers, of whom 80% women, dedicate themselves to others in a disinterested way, inspired to do so by their own faith. TelefonSeelsorge listens not just to Christians but to the lonely and the ill, the unemployed or those with problems with their own partner”. PASTORAL CARE BY TELEPHONE . “TelefonSeelsorge is part of the pastoral action of the Churches and is irreplaceable in view of current social situations and changes in people’s conduct and the way they communicate with each other”, declared Cardinal KARL LEHMANN , bishop of Mainz and President of the German Bishops’ Conference. “The magnificent work of staff and volunteers is of incalculable value for our society. In all these years they have contributed to the continuation and success of this Christian telephone service”, he added. According to Cardinal GEORG STERZINSKY , archbishop of Berlin, “TelefonSeelsorge is an “example of outstanding ecclesiastical service in the modern world”. LIVING ECUMENISM . There are 105 points of TelefonSeelsorge in Germany, most of them in joint organizations of the Catholic and Evangelical Churches. In these bodies the Churches actively work together, giving an important and concrete example of living ecumenism. “Ever since its foundation, Telefonseelsorge has been at the service of life”, said the President of the Council of the German Evangelical Church, Bishop WOLFGANG HUBER , who called the service “a success story of ecumenism”: “Thanks to the dedication of many volunteers, the Church is able to be present wherever people have an urgent need for its help”. Apart from the suicidal, the mentally ill and people in critical economic situations, many phone in due to relational conflicts: “The constantly high number of calls shows that anonymity and silence represent an important basis of the service offered by TelefonSeelsorge for all those in our society who do not wish to make public their anxieties and needs, but who seek a protected place in which they are able to receive pastoral support and counselling”, pointed out BERND SCHLÜTER , president of the EKD Diakonie. NEW TECHNOLOGIES. The main partner of TelefonSeelsorge, Deutsche Telekom, participates by placing at the charity’s disposal the most modern technologies by which it is possible to make calls free of charge from a mobile phone to the nearest TelefonSeelsorge point. The chairman of the board of directors of Deutsche Telekom, KAI-UWE RICKE stressed that the company “is supporting the Churches in the firm conviction that the help provided by TelefonSeelsorge is more than ever important today”.