For those who missed it, we encourage you to listen to the recording of our introductory presentation exploring similarities between the rise of Adolf Hitler during Nazism and the rise of Donald Trump under the current U.S. administration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2UpWsoccHg.
In this session, it became clear that the Catholic and Lutheran Churches played a significant role in promoting Hitler. After looking at the similarities that concern us that we are once again repeating history, participants then shared ideas among themselves of what we might do as Christians, since we are called by virtue of our baptism to stand up to injustices affecting innocent victims and those being inappropriately persecuted. Some have asked why we are moving into politics when we are supposed to be focused on church reform.
The reason is simple: Our highest calling as Christians is to imitate what Jesus himself did while on earth.
That is to stand up for innocent people being treated unjustly and speak out on their behalf.
As we continue our series: 1933 Germany: Are we repeating history, our guest speakers are:
- Fr. Max Stetter, Augsburg
- Dr. Regina Franken, Berlin
- Christian Weisner, Munich
- Fr. Helmut Schüller, Vienna
- Paul Ulbrich, Munich
Margaret Mary Moore facilitated everything.
Our speakers are priests and lay leaders who are officials in their Catholic organizations, promoting the agenda of Pope Francis and the synodal processes for reform.
In this presentation, they share their experiences and insights on growing up in post-World War II Germany and Austria, and the parallels they see in the United States in both the Church and society. They use criteria for analyzing fascism based on the work of an institute in Berlin focused on intersectional justice, which has collaborated with the UN in Tanzania and Uganda.
Through PowerPoint presentations, they note criteria filled with observations about both Germany and the USA. Participants note their own observations about the current US government policies and the policies of the Catholic Church. Similarities and parallel behaviors in government leaders and Church officials are identified under the current U.S. administration.
Here is the recording for this presentation: https://youtu.be/5vPZ0ytBHUc.
Under the Hitler regime, the Catholic Church, led by Pope Pius XII, supported Hitler’s platform.
Today, the leadership of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops is observed in their support of many of Donald Trump’s policies. While there is some complaint expressed about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, cutting USAID funding, little is being done to stop it.
Cardinal Dolan of New York praised President Trump during his inaugural prayer service, expressing gratitude for their friendship.
Episcopal Bishop Budde, on the other hand, called the newly elected president out, asking him to demonstrate compassion for innocent immigrants fleeing from tyranny in their own country.
Christian Nationalists and Christian Evangelicals, on the whole, stand with Trump. A newly formed organization called Catholics for Catholics joined Trump at Miralago for a prayer service.
Once again, we are seeing Catholics going along with these policies, naively repeating history. The objective of this series is a wake-up call to Americans.
Speak up and speak out before it is too late.
Save these dates as our series continues: 1933 Germany: Are we repeating history?
Sign on for all events is https://zoom.us/j/2429500175. Password is spirit.
To find the times for you in your local time zone, click on Our Universal Calendar.
May 7, 2025 Webinar: 11:00 a.m. eastern Courageous Opposition to Nazism
Max Josep Metzger, who served as a military chaplain during World War I, became a passionate advocate for peace and reconciliation between nations after witnessing the horrors of war.
Maximilian Maria Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz.
Restituta Kafka was an Austrian nun and resistance fighter during Nazi era. She worked as a head nurse at a hospital in Vienna. Her outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime and active resistance, including hanging crucifixes in patient rooms despite an explicit ban, brought her in conflict with Nazi authorities.
May 21, 2025 Webinar: 11:00 a.m. Eastern Courageous Opposition in South America
You will be invited to watch the movie Romero. Roger Ebert depicts the story of Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero, who organized peaceful protests against the violent military regime, eventually at the cost of his own life. There are several other Romero films that are available on the Romero Trust website. They can be viewed from the website but not downloaded. The film Righting the Wrong is the most recent film – produced in Spanish with English subtitles: http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/videos. Frank Callus will facilitate this meeting.
We are grateful to the sponsors for this series: Spirit Unbounded (SU), the Int’l Catholic Reform Network (ICRN), We Are Church Int’l, the Association of German Catholic priests, the Association of Austrian Catholic priests, the Association of U.S. Catholic priests, Faithful America, and Catholic Church Reform Int’l (CCRI).
Supporting Local Parish Communities, striving to become a more synodal Church with clergy and people working together
Along with our Christian call to stand up to injustices, we are also being called to do our part in evolving our local parishes and Small Christian Communities into synodal Churches. To continue this effort, our next webinar will be:
Establishing and Supporting Pastoral Councils for both Dioceses and Parishes
Sr. Donna Ciangio, Chancellor to Cardinal Tobin in Newark, New Jersey, will offer a step-by-step guide to setting up diocesan and parish pastoral councils. She will offer PowerPoint slides which you can save and use to set up a new council or make adjustments to already existing councils that need to be more inclusive of lay representation in your community.
Sister is a Dominican Sister of Caldwell, New Jersey. She holds a doctorate from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. She works with parish pastoral councils, Small Christian Communities and other parish structures, as well a one of the Synod on Synodality coordinators for the Archdiocese. She was the Director of Church Leadership Consultation and worked internationally and nationally in promoting parish vitality and pastoral direction, congregational and leadership development.
Sign on is https://zoom.us/j/2429500175. Password is spirit.
This will be held at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. To see the time in your locale, click on Our Universal Calendar.
Your donations are most appreciated
YOUR GIFT – IN ANY AMOUNT – IS PRICELESS
When you make a donation to support our cause, you join with others who are investing in restoring our Church to what Jesus intended. The dollars we receive are used to run our programs and to reach a broad spectrum of the People of God. We are focused on reaching out to the Faithful, reform activists, young adults as well as those who feel abandoned by the Church, to mention just a few. Your personal contributions in offering your suggestions and your donations are most appreciated.
We have begun to genuinely join our voices together behaving as a synodal Church. Let us now be willing to assume co-responsibility for our role in our parishes or Small Christian Communities. Becoming a synodal church will not happen unless we the laity together with our clergy initiate the process. We will keep you informed of more to come as we move forward to become a more synodal Church. We will continue to offer more online gatherings as a community.