Laity
The autumn Plenary Assembly of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZDK) has started in Bonn today. The work, that will end tomorrow, will include the appointment of 45 national delegates out of 180 representatives of the German Catholic laity who make up the ZDK Assembly. Among the candidates who are not, at present, members of the ZDK are Malu Dreyer, the minister president of Rhineland-Palatinate; Heinrich Detering, president of the German Academy for Language and Literature; Manfred Weber, chairman of the European Parliament’s EPP Group and Bavarian Christian social politician; as well as Andrea Nahles, current federal minister for labour from the Social Democratic party. Alois Glück and Hans Joachim Meyer, two former presidents of the ZDK, will no longer be members of the Assembly. Various projects will be analysed about the reform of the pension system and the management of pensions for professions connected to the Catholic world. The topic is referred to as “social and ethical requirements for pension”. An important change has already occurred. This morning, Mgr. Gebhard Fürst, Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, has left his post as spiritual assistant at the ZDK after 16 years. The new assistant is Mgr. Stefan Hesse, Archbishop of Hamburg. His succession is seen as positive by the delegates also in light of the role that Mgr. Hesse has within the German Bishops’ Conference as high representative for migrants and refugees.
