„Catholic Action“ in Germany between 1920 and 1960
In his study, historian Klaus Große Kracht provides an analyzis of the “Catholic Action” in Germany 1920-1960. “Catholic Action” (Actio Catholica) was a worldwide lay-apostolic campaign of the Popes Pius XI (1922-1939) and Pius XII (1939-1958) for the “Christianization of the world”. The so-called “plague of laicism” was to be counterbalanced by an active commitment of lay Catholics in the largely secularized societies of the 20th century. The program, which was rather antimodern in its origins, aimed at a “fundamental-political” penetration of society: The faithful were to be mobilized for the public interests of the Church by special training and public campaigns. Meetings, petitions, and leaflet campaigns were among the means of Catholic Action, as did liturgical ceremonies and spiritual retreats. Those who embraced the cause of Catholic Action were part of an ecclesiastical laity elite: so there was hardly a Catholic leadership personality, who did not focus on the ideas of the Catholic Action. In the years following the Second World War, however, the all too narrow framework of the Catholic Action was increasingly questioned and more than before the Christians‘ “maturity” in worldly affairs was emphasized.
The importance of Catholic Action for German lay Catholicism in the 20th century has long been underestimated. For the first time, the study shows how deep also German Catholics between the Weimar Republic and the early Federal Republic were marked by its ideas: The faithful observed with great interest the attempts at implementation of the papal program in Italy and France; at the same time, they reflected their own experiences in the Church and the society within the framework of Catholic Action. In Germany, too, Actio Catholica was the central arena, on which the Catholic layperson assumed its “modern” form. The study provides a comprehensive account of this central “dispositive” of European lay Catholicism in the 20th century.