10/05/2009 • 11:27 pm Comments Off on 05.10.2009 Event note
Eine Podiumsveranstaltung von KHG – AIDS-Hilfe -Aachen – misereor – missio –
Referent: Pfarrer Stefan Hippler, Südafrika
Filed under: Uncategorized, catholic church, church, Church Matters, hiv, khg, theology
10/03/2009 • 12:03 am 1
Moving office is always a nightmare, some broken glass, quite some still to be opened boxes and lots of chaos at the end of this day. But I hope that over the weekend I will be able to get all in its place and at the same time start already with serious work. My trip to Europe is coming more close and talks have to be prepared and meetings as well. I always like to travel well prepared and most things done before leaving.
But tomorrow first gym again, it is time to bring the body in shape, also priests can be vain and cocky a bit… 🙂 And it is good to have a balance with all that meetings and sitting behind a computer desk. As I am very lazy when it comes to gym, I have chosen a personal trainer. He is from Kenya, a former boxer and I can tell that he does not know the word “break” when it comes to work out. But I guess this is the only way to get me going and I want to achieve more strength and fitness. A body is God given and as we have only one to use for a lifetime it makes sense to care in many ways for him.
On the preparatory side, I still have to do the concept for a talk about “HIV as a sign of time for the church” – and I am somehow thinking of the question, whether HIV and AIDS needs a sort of enculturation of theological thoughts and concepts. I am myself not sure what it means in detail, but somehow I feel that a sort of liberation theology is also necessary for this topic. Well, brainstorming continues….
Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Reflection, Aids, body, Church Matters, fitness, hiv, liberation theology, theology
09/26/2009 • 10:36 pm Comments Off on 26.09.2009 It hits home….
Saturday evening, and slowly but surely it hits home: This very next morning, it will be the last Sunday service you are conducting as the chaplain of this German speaking community. Since days I can feel, that besides all happy ends and staying in the country and working in the fields of HIV and AIDS it is indeed work to get an emotional grip to that fact. For 12,5 years the Sunday service was always a fixed point to meet the people, to have a chat afterwards, to liaise with those, who attended every Sunday, to welcome the new ones, say farewell to the swallows before winter, joke with the kids and eat some cake or have a coffee.
I will simply miss it. And all supply services of this world will not bring me back that feeling of belonging to this bunch of so diverse people, unified only through their language. Communities abroad are indeed special, they are a melting pot for a whole range on opinions, longings, life designs and desires – it’s a vibe I never found in a German parish. This is said without any judgement.
I guess it will take time to re-adjust and find myself in the new position. And I decided that I take my time to mourn the loss of this community and that I take my time to absorb this farewell so that at the end, a wonderful kaleidoscope of memories will be part of my life. I can sense now how much I loved to be the chaplain, how much it was part of my life. Actually a good feeling, combined with the sadness of leaving…
Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized, Aids, emotion, farewell, German speaking Cathollc Community, hiv, south africa, sunday service
09/25/2009 • 11:30 pm Comments Off on 25.09.2009 Makwan. A letter from Paradise
On Facebook I am part of the cause: “save the iranian gays Hamzeh and Loghman from being executed”
On the cause side one can see the youtube clip: Makwan, a letter from Paradise – which shows the hanging of a gay person in Iran and brings to live the life of a person who’s only guilt it was to love a man as a man. It is touching, shocking, moving, going to heart. It is unbelievable that there are still countries where people are executed because of their sexual preference. And religion is the cause for the death sentence.
I makes me aware of how powerful religion can be, that it can be a cause of life or death, a blessing or a curse for another person with a different ethical view and living condition. And it makes me so much more cautious about how I judge and talk about other people. Also in our Christian believe system is homosexuality intransic evil as I have read in one church paper. Working in the fields of HIV and AIDS, the gay issue is of course very often attached to it, specially when somebody is coming from Europe. Here in South Africa, the virus has no “gay” connotation, many women and heterosexual persons are infected. Nevertheless, when it comes to the history of the virus in the 80′, it was in the gay clubs of North America were the virus was prevalent and spread.
So sexual orientation is on the agenda again and again, when dealing with my portfolio. For me personally, I don’t think, that the sexual preference does not matter and I guess, that for God it also does not play a role – whether somebody has a good heart, develops his or her talents, is doing good, is a blessing for others – that might be rather criteria in his or her eyes. Well, I guess, even “his” or “her” means a limitation to God. But unfortunately our language needs a gender to express itself. Having in the moment the big discussion about our South African female runner, it shows clearly how careful we should be with gender determination anyway.
Anyway, this film-clip about Makwan, yes, I would say Makwan has touched my heart and my soul this eve, and I will never ever forget what I have seen – and will be always in my mind, as a person, as a Christian, as a priest.
Filed under: Networking, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, Aids, blessing, ethic, facebook, gay, God, hiv, homosexuality, iran, priest, religion, south africa, virus, youtube
09/24/2009 • 7:18 pm 7
German Bishops are worried about the increasing numbers of people leaving formally the church, so I read in the news today. And I wonder how the bishops discuss that matter. Do they, as people usually do, search for the blame by the people leaving or do they start soul searching with themselves to find out, what is going wrong in our days. The right-wing Pius brotherhood has a simple solution: Only the way back to the good old times will prevent more people leaving the church – not sure how they really can think like that. One must be very ignorant to the reality of today and totally living in the past with closed eyes to come to that conclusion. I am sure our bishops are different – and if they really would go out and ask the people why they are leaving the church, one answer will come up more frequently in my opinion:
That church is losing its relevance for the people of our days, that the sermons in church do not match the living circumstances in our days, the announcements of episcopal nature are not matched with how people experiencing church and the representatives of the church in their daily lives. Sunday sermons are followed by Monday blues – power games instead of servants of the faithful – people feel hurt and alienated from us clergy. Obviously we never can generalize it – but in this context the personal experience, the personal encounter is the decisive test for a single faithful. Mess it up and you have lost a soul, so to speak. And there is still the scandal of sexual abuse, the loss of moral stance through the encyclical “humanae vitae”, the dealing with the Pius brotherhood – so many topics were my church in our days cannot gain points on the score card.
As we accompany people through the times, I guess we always have to reflect on our attitude as professional staff of the church, we always have to ask what is coming first, God’s message of love or church discipline. We might make general rules in the church, but we always have to see the individual standing before God. Not more and not less…
If we do so, maybe people still will leave the church, be it because they found other ways of finding God, may it that the path of the church community is not fast enough for the individual, may it that they even don’t need a church institution anymore because of their direct contact possibilities with God. Whatever it might be – our goal as the Catholic Church should be to serve all good people to be able to connect to God. And when we look into the field of HIV and AIDS, there is even more the need just to bring home the love of God, the unconditional love of God. Forget about judgement, forget about exclusion – just embrace the person as he or she is – he or she deserves it because he or she is a brother or sister of me and a son or a daughter of God. Embrace the person, make him or her feel home and loved and wanted…
Filed under: Reflection, Society and living environment, Aids, bishop, Catholic, catholic bishops conference, christian, church discipline, Church Matters, God, hiv, people living with the virus, rules, unconditional love
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