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The Walberberg Circle

The Walberberg Circle. The Social Ethics of the German Dominicans. Albert Maria Weiss 1844-1925 Taught in Fribourg Books: Liberalismus & Christentum Soziale Frage & Soziale Ordnung. Karl Fürst zu Löwenstein 1834-1921 Entered 1908 as Raymundus OP Christian Social Movement:

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The Walberberg Circle

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  1. The Walberberg Circle The Social Ethics of the German Dominicans

  2. Albert Maria Weiss 1844-1925 Taught in Fribourg Books: Liberalismus & Christentum Soziale Frage & Soziale Ordnung Karl Fürst zu Löwenstein 1834-1921 Entered 1908 as Raymundus OP Christian Social Movement: Centre Party Katholikentage Fribourg UnionAssociation of Catholic social scientists & politicians who worked on Rerum Novarum

  3. Walberberg Circle • 1930s & especially postwar • Dominicans of socio-ethical & socio-political influence on wider Christian social movement • Walberberg Priory • Strategic site between Bonn & Köln • Housed OP Studium till 1970s • Siemer, Welty, Utz, Nawroth, Steinofen • Individuals, not a ´school´

  4. Laurentius Siemer • 1888-1958 • Reforming rector of Vechta Boarding School • German Provincial 1932-46 • Set up Walberberg as centre of CST • Oversaw German edition Aquinas´works • Vehement distance from Nazi regime • Arrested 1935-6 • joined resistance of Catholic Workers in Köln • plot to assassinate Hitler - rest of war in hiding • 1946 editor of journal Die Neue Ordnung • Article ´The German People & Militarism´ • Radio & TV appreances, published in So sind wir Menschen (This is how we are)

  5. Eberhard Welty • 1902-1965 • Walberberg lecturer in ethics & moral theology • Köln doctorate in political science 1935 • Worked on German edition of Aquinas • With Siemer, joined resistance of Catholic Workers in Köln • Walberberg was a Gestapo military hospital at the time

  6. Politics for Postwar Germany • Struggle to connect communal identity & personal independence • community as living organism • ideal social order ´from the bottom up´ • Critiquing Pesch & Gundlach SJ´s solidarism & personalism • Debate in emerging Rhineland CDU (Christian Democratic party) on principles • Welty central to negotiations • his papers in book form Entscheidung für die Zukunft (1946) • tried to introduce name Christian Socialist • unable to get wider appeal for CST, worker involvement in CDU: concepts of common good too abstract

  7. Spreading CST • Welty’s Sozialkatechismus (1951-8) • spread the concept of CST in Germany • Started adult education courses in social ethics • ecumenical, non-partisan • wide audience e.g. workers´groups, trade unions • 1951 Walberberg Institute of Social Sciences • Founded in co-operation with politicians & business leaders • Co-ordinated programme of missionary preaching • Acted as a link between social democrat SPD & Church • Chief editor of Die Neue Ordnung

  8. Arthur Urz • 1908-2001 • From Basle, entered aged 20 • Deepened & updated Thomist Catholic social ethics • Fribourg PhD on inner relation of moral virtues in Aquinas • During WWII rural parish rector Bergish region near Köln • Famous for his collections of documents on CST: Bibliographie der Sozialethik (1960-1980) • 5-volume Sozialethik (2000)

  9. New Institutes • Utz founded International Institute for Social Sciences & Politics • as Chair of ethics & social philosophy at Fribourg • to apply CST to current political & social problems • rejuvenated Fribourg Union with lawyers, economists & political scientists • edited journal Politea on social ethics 1949-1953 • 1976 president of International Humanum Foundation • which aimed to fulfil the mission of Gaudium et Spes • publications on open society, unions, migration, unemployment • 1990s involved in founding Papal Academy of Social Sciences

  10. Thomistic Framework • Common good as starting point, (not personalist) • results from nature of person as social being: • relation & connection between individuals • Individual wellbeing integrated without sacrificing personal freedom • Subsidiarity ensures that individual interests are respected • Rational ethical basis, addressing itself to ´secular´ realm • CST justified by natural law, not biblical revelation alone • Law-based logic of norms • Inner experience, awareness of moral responsibility from which norms are abstracted • Theory in dialogue with practice: • Positivistic pragmatic views of human rights not enough, can lead to inhumanity • e.g. in debates on right to life of the born & unborn

  11. Uncomfortable Questions • For whom & what is the ´open society´ open? • What obligations must people face to support pluralism? • not popular issues for a mass audience, • but Utz had wide-ranging influence, • connecting diverse fields to create an integral social philosophy

  12. Edgar Nawroth • Born 1912 in Silesia • Medical orderly during WWII, then missionary in Düsseldorf • Fribourg PhD on Neo-Liberal Social & Economic Philosophy • 2nd Director of Walberberg Institute of Social Sciences • also taught theology & social ethics at Trier • 1965-1984 Chief editor of Die Neue Ordung • Specialist in social policy, especially questions of social partnership & social security • Particular interest in working & living conditions of employees • Advisor to Catholic Workers´ Movement & trade unions • Also advised business leaders e.g. Walberberg System Symposium, governments & bishops

  13. Heinrich Basilius Streithofen • 1925- • 3rd Director of Walberberg Institute of Social Sciences & editor of Die Neue Ordnung • Düsseldorf base as a confessor & preacher • working with Rhineland CDU • Journalist, co-founded Rhine Catholic Journalists group • Committed to Christian Trade Union Movment – caused conflict with Welty • Fribourg doctorate under Utz on Standards of Value in Trade Union Policy (1967)

  14. Wolfgang Ockenfels • Doctorate on Trade Unions & the State 1978 • took over Die Neue Ordnung from Streithofen • continues Nawroth´s work as Professor of Christian Social Science in Trier theology faculty • Took over Utz´s chairmanship of International Humanum Foundation • Walberberg Circle´s ideas live on in these institutions

  15. Challenges for Today • Change since the 1960s: • financial limits of the welfare state became clear • workers seem integrated into society, no longer fighting for their exisitence • Secularisation & individualism in society • mid-1970s lack of ´young blood´, Walberberg Studium suspended • Ideological disputes within the Order • Thomist Walberberg group v liberation theologians • 1984 Institute & Die Neue Ordnung now moved to Bonn, where the tradition continues

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