Be the change
Change does not come overnight. Change does not come easy. Change does not come because of one single person. Be the change.
Johannes Modesto’s query caught me off guard. To begin with, his first question for the end-of-Tagung Q&A went to me, not to Michael Kiβener, the far more illustrious speaker on the panel. Second, I had made it clear during my speech that I was not Catholic.
Ms. Heap, how do you see Willi Graf’s life and death as having changed Catholic liturgy and doctrine? I hope the panic I felt for two seconds did not show on my face. How had Willi Graf and his friends changed Catholic liturgy? And doctrine?
Then like a flash, I recalled the October Kiliansbote that Manfred had pressed into my hands a few days before. Pfarrer Karl Bopp penned a passionate message entitled Gebrochenes Brot für gebrochene Menschen, or “Broken Bread for Broken People.” Pfr. Bopp tackled an issue that we often see in our own news reports, namely the debate regarding whether “sinful” individuals - in the case of US news, President Biden and former Speaker Pelosi - may partake of Communion in the Catholic Church. As we well know, that debate is generally rancorous and hate-filled.
Pfr. Bopp flipped the script. We’ve got it backwards, he states. It’s not the worthy that Jesus called, but rather the unworthy. The broken. He backed up his assertion with quotes from Vatican II and Pope Francis. The title of Bopp’s short essay comes from an Australian Salesian writer named Francis J. Moloney.
Bopp and Moloney argue that 1) Jesus himself was broken, and 2) the Church has wrongly seen Communion as reward for holiness and perfection, instead of as a place for broken people of all faiths to come together. Did you feel that transition? Not broken Catholics…
The purpose of this post is not to ponder Catholic theology. That is well outside my scope of knowledge or expertise. Ask me about White Rose. I will leave theology to Pfr. Bopp, Johannes Modesto, Cardinal Marx, and others.
But the first time I read Bopp’s essay, it hit me in the heart. What a sea change this represents!
St. Kilian (Bad Heilbrunn) has long been a tolerant, welcoming community. When Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, then archbishop of Munich-Freising, strongly discouraged if not forbade association between Catholics and non-Catholics, I lived in that corner of the world. Although St. Kilian lies just outside the Munich-Freising boundaries, the good people of that congregation publicly distanced themselves from his statement. I remember how that felt – both the statement and the strengthening of bonds. I was probably 20 when a Pfarrer in Bad Heilbrunn invited me and a friend for tea, explaining that he wanted to know people of other faiths better. (Note: The same held true with the Katholische Hochschulgemeinde in Augsburg, where I Fulbrighted.)
Therefore, when Johannes asked me that scary question, and Pfarrer Bopp’s essay flashed before my eyes, I could answer loudly and clearly: What Willi Graf and his friends in the Gray Order and in that small room in the Siegfriedstraβe longed for – namely, dialog with people of other faiths, and a more meaningful liturgy – that exists now. It’s no longer uncommon for Catholics to sit together with Lutheran, Russian Orthodox, Freikirchler, Jewish, and Muslim friends. Catholics may now read the Bible for themselves without waiting for a priest to explain it. Liturgy is more meaningful. What Willi Graf and his friends wanted, is being achieved through the work of Vatican II and Pope Francis.
At least, I hope that is what I said! I don’t remember breathing.
Two days later, I sat in the Pfarrheim of St. Kilian in a small circle, people coming together for monthly meditation (Andacht). Two women led the service. Program included a couple of Lutheran songs, as well as a Shabbat song – in Hebrew – along with a prayer of peace for Israel.
Spread the tent of your peace over those in Israel. Your peace, your Shalom, is protection and freedom. Spread your peace over those who worry and mourn for family members… Spread your peace over the Jewish community in Germany and in all countries, where they are subjected to fear and threats. God, we have no words, but yet we must find words. … Help us stand against antisemitism and hatred of Israel. Help us stand visibly and audibly in steadfast solidarity with our Jewish siblings. Encourage us to find words, voice, and actions for this…
October 12, 1943 as Willi Graf dictated his final words to his family, his Germany – a country he loved - had perfected the art of antisemitism to a degree never before known. As Willi Graf faced the executioner, his Church – a church he loved – had abandoned him. His act of reading the Bible for himself (his glee at receiving a full copy for Christmas 1936 is heartwarming) was still not condoned by Catholic doctrine or practice.
October 12, 2023 as the Catholic church considers beatification of Willi Graf, a non-Catholic American speaks at that very conference. The concluding memorial service features an extraordinarily moving rendition of Willi Graf’s final letters, composed by Jennifer Rosenfeld (Jewish American) and sung by Jon Lee Keenan, also not Catholic. And Cardinal Marx includes prayers for peace in Israel and protection of the Jewish community, tying that to Willi Graf’s concern for justice and honor.
When you are overwhelmed by reports on Fox News or MSNBC, when Twitter has one too many heave-inducing Tweets, when one more person twists truth into aberrant falsehood, take a giant step back. Put yourself in Willi Graf’s shoes.
How did Willi Graf’s life – and death – change Catholic liturgy and doctrine? How did White Rose work impact German society, and us in the USA as well? How did those young lives affect history? Willi Graf, Willi Bollinger, Heinz Bollinger, Traute, Schurik, Christl, Traute, Käthe, Gerhard, Hans Scholl, Sophie, Hubert, Regine, Wolf, Heinz Brenner, Susanne, Hans Hirzel, Lilli, Raimund, Ottmar, Hermann, Lilo, Falk, and more? And the adults who loved and supported them? Wilhelm Geyer, Manfred Eickemeyer, Harald Dohrn, Tilly Hahn, Eugen Grimminger, and the problematic Kurt Huber and Josef Söhngen? How did Gisela Schertling’s postwar atonement make a difference?
Change did not come overnight. Change did not come easy. Change did not come because of one single person.
And yet every single person, doing hard work, over time, together brought about change. Not just to the Catholic Church, although during this trip that was most obvious to me. But to our world, making us more inclusive and tolerant, better educated, widening horizons.
We’re not done yet. Keep working.
Be. The. Change.
© 2023 Denise Heap. Contact us for permission to quote.
For a copy of the October Kiliansbote, contact Franz Steger, Redaktion: kiliansbote@web.de.
Another excellent post and a call to action for all of us!