Sister E. Kohlhaas questions the facility throughout the Church – Swiss Catholic Portal

“If anybody needs to be first, let him be final of all and servant of all”. Quoting the Evangelist Mark (Mark 9, 30-37), Sister Emmanuela Kohlhaas emphasizes in her newest work that the inequalities of energy throughout the Church “aren’t suitable, in keeping with the Gospel”.

The German Benedictine nun born in 1961, in her latest work on the brand new artwork of main – The brand new artwork of management – which has simply been printed by Herder – factors out that the hierarchical conception of energy within the Catholic Church has developed over the course of historical past, evolving in direction of absolutism.

“Within the primitive Church, it was totally different”, assures the one who was for years prioress of the monastery of the Benedictines of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Cologne-Raderberg, and who has simply based a brand new subsidiary of her convent. She put in it within the constructing left by a group of aged Dominican ladies in Düsseldorf-Angermund, North Rhine-Westphalia. For her, administration time from high to backside (“up and down”) is handed.

In an interview with the Austrian Catholic newspapers, Emmanuela Kohlhaas declares verbatim: “If I’m wondering how Jesus represented the priesthood to himself, if ever it was in his horizon, I don’t assume that, in his perspective, the mix of the priesthood with energy is key”.

For contemporary management that empowers folks

Organizational marketing consultant and musicologist, the nun has an vital mental background. She studied Catholic theology, musicology, psychology and comparative religions in Bonn, graduating in 2000 with a doctorate in musicology. From 1982 till not too long ago she was a Benedictine nun in Cologne-Raderberg. From 2002 to 2009, she taught liturgy and music on the College of Music and Dance in Cologne, whereas following a grasp’s diploma in “Teaching, supervision, organizational consulting” on the College of Utilized Sciences from Frankfurt.

Participation as a substitute of “vassalic obedience”

Emmanuela Kohlhaas is aware of all aspects of management and administration, and as a nun she has skilled dramatic management failures within the Church. As prioress (now ex-prioress) main a thriving Benedictine convent in Cologne, she describes a contemporary management which permits folks to flourish, which makes use of potentials and encourages strengths, which is aware of learn how to handle crises and upheavals – whether or not in a household, a enterprise or a Church. She argues for participation as a substitute of “vassalic obedience” and explains why there may be extra democratic participation in non secular communities than within the hierarchy of monks and bishops.

Plea for a sure “disobedience”

She herself was democratically elected as prioress in 2010: “It is utterly regular for us. When folks hear this, they’re usually stunned to see that with us [les bénédictines, ndlr]it’s compulsory, which is unimaginable amongst bishops.” She herself defends the concept of ​​a Church wherein bishops are elected and girls ordained.

Within the ebook printed final yr by Herder editions, Disobedience: A Trial (Disobedience: A Take a look at of Reality), written in collaboration with Father Thomas Frings, great-nephew of Cardinal Joseph Frings, the Benedictine nun pleads for basic modifications within the Church.

False obedience and fatalistic discouragement

She deplores the false obedience within the Church and the fatalistic discouragement. With a biblical perspective and private experiences, the nun and former moderator of the presbyteral council of the diocese of Münster analyzes religious abuse and obedience, encourages resistance and true freedom, additionally displaying the place religious resilience comes from. These concepts, Sister Emmanuela Kohlhaas extends them in her new ebook on the brand new artwork of main printed in February of this yr. The Benedictine nun totally helps the synodal course of launched final yr by Pope Francis and which is able to conclude with the Basic Meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the Vatican in October 2023. (cath.ch/kathpress/be)