1. THE DIMENSIONS OF MIGRATION TO GERMANY

A large number of refugees are currently coming to Germany; in 2015 alone there were around one million¹. Many of them come from the Middle East, predominantly Syria and Iraq, but also from North African countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Most of them are Muslims, but experts estimate around ten to twenty per cent of the refugees to be Christians². This means that in 2015 alone up to 200.000 Christians came to Germany from the East³. The vast majority of them belong to Orthodox Churches, but the number of Catholics from Eastern Catholic Churches is increasing too due to the movement of refugees from the Near and Middle East, as well as from African countries⁴. Their number should stand in the tens of thousands⁵.

2. WHAT ARE THE EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES?

The Catholic Church in total consists of several autonomous Churches, in Latin: ecclesiae sui iuris. The Western Latin Church is only one of them and is joined by twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches possessing equal rights⁶. The Second Vatican Council commented on these Churches in Art. 23 Lumen gentium. It says:

“By divine Providence it has come about that various churches, established in various places by the apostles and their successors, have in the course of time coalesced into several groups, organically united, which, preserving the unity of faith and the unique divine constitution of the universal Church, enjoy their own discipline, their own liturgical usage, and their own theological and spiritual heritage. Some of these churches, notably the ancient patriarchal churches, as parent-stocks of the Faith, so to speak, have begotten others as daughter churches, with which they are connected down to our own time by a close bond of charity in their sacramental life and in their mutual respect for their rights and duties”.

The “Eastern Catholic Churches” are in full communion with the Catholic Church, recognise the papal primacy to its full extent and share the same doctrine of faith as the entire Catholic Church, but they preserve and maintain their own liturgical traditions, spirituality and church discipline⁷.

2.1. TERM: “CHURCHES SUI IURIS”

What does the term “churches sui iuris” mean? The Catholic Church regulates its own affairs through internal legal norms, known as the canon law. While many laws apply to the entire Catholic Church, the Churches sui iuris possess broad autonomy to arrange their internal order themselves. The central legal texts are the Code of Canon Law of 1983 and the Code of the Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO) of 1990. The former code only refers to the Western Latin Church while the latter code forms the legal framework of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Second Vatican Council solemnly declared (Art. 5 Orientalium Ecclesiarum):

“[…] the Churches of the East, as much as those of the West, have a full right and are in duty bound to rule themselves, each in accordance with its own established disciplines, since all these are praiseworthy by reason of their venerable antiquity, more harmonious with the character of their faithful and more suited to the promotion of the good of souls”.

The term Church sui iuris is not meant to stress independence so much as to emphasise the fact that these Churches are endowed with their own identities. It must not be confused with the term “rite”.

2.2. TERM: “RITE”

For a long time the designation “rite” was used with reference to Churches. This is imprecise, however, because not all Churches sui iuris differ from each other in their rite. Rather, several Churches belong to the same family of rite⁸. The term “rite” means something else. It is defined in the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches (c. 28 § 1): “A rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris”.

3. THE EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND MIGRATION

3.1. SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF MIGRATION FROM EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES

The homelands of many Eastern Catholic Churches lie in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, from which a strong flow of migration to Europa can be observed. In their countries of origin they form a minority in two regards: as Christians they are a minority vis-à-vis the Muslims, and as Catholics they are a minority vis-à-vis the other Christians.

Today believers from at least twelve of the total twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches are demonstrably present in Germany⁹. For example, according to estimates 10.000 Chaldeans, 8.000 Maronites, and 30.000 members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church live in Germany¹⁰. Due to their small numbers, they receive scant attention. However, their special status in canon law raises quite particular questions in the diaspora.

3.2. PROBLEMS OF CANON LAW

Various conversations in the preparatory stage of the project already brought problems requiring a canon law solution to light. The following are a few examples:

1. 1. The parish priests of the Latin Church often have no experience with members of the Eastern Catholic Churches. They do not know what to do when they would like to marry or to have their children baptised. On the other hand, there are too few priests from the Eastern Catholic Churches¹¹. Some have arrived among the refugees, but they still hardly speak any German. It was reported that one Eastern Catholic priest had found a job in a German car factory. It would have been better if he had introduced himself to the diocese¹² and been employed in pastoral work. In the diocese of Münster, Father ABOUD, who comes from Lebanon, holds services in Arabic¹³. In this way many refugees from Arabic countries have found a spiritual home.
2. 2. Furthermore, church buildings are needed for liturgical celebrations. The Latin Church has several buildings hardly being used. The problem is, however, that their equipment does not match the requirements of the Eastern liturgy¹⁴. Finally, conferring the sacrament of confirmation is also a problem In Germany, this sacrament is conferred in the Latin Church to young people from the age of 12.
3. 3. The conferral is preceded by catechism which is important for the young people's religious education. In the Eastern Catholic Church, however, the chrismation with holy Myron is conferred together with baptism in infancy. It cannot be repeated. In order not to exclude the young believers and deprive them of religious education, the solution was found that they should also participate in the confirmation catechism and receive only a blessing instead of the sacrament.

All in all, the problems can be summarised as follows:

“Many refugees from the Middle East are members of local Catholic churches which are united with Rome. The classical native-language missions which were established decades ago for Catholic labour migrants are however unable to meet the need for pastoral support for Christian refugees from the Middle East by themselves”¹⁵.

The Catholic immigrants who came to Germany in previous decades belonged to the Latin Church. The goal was to integrate them gradually into the Latin parishes. With the members of the Eastern Catholic Churches, however, this is completely different¹⁶. They have the right and the duty to preserve and cultivate their own rites (cc. 17 and 40 § 3 CCEO)¹⁷.

4. INSTRUMENTS OF CANON LAW FOR BUILDING AN ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

On the one hand, the laity has the right to participate actively in the liturgical celebrations of any Church sui iuris whatsoever according to the prescripts of the liturgical books (c. 403 § 1 CCEO). This provision eases the situation in the diaspora because the faithful can receive pastoral services in a different rite. On the other hand, they have the right and the duty to preserve their own rite (c. 40 § 3 CCEO). In addition, they have the right to worship God according to the prescriptions of their own Church (c. 17 CCEO). This right is matched by the duty of bishops who have been committed the care of faithful of another Church sui iuris. They are bound by the serious obligation of providing all necessary means for these Christian faithful to retain the rite of their own Church, cultivate and observe it as much as they can (c. 193 § 1 CCEO). Consequently, pastoral structures for migrants from Eastern Catholic Churches have to be designed in such a way that the autonomy of these Churches remains intact and that their rites can be followed. Canon law provides for various pastoral structures, which are presented below.

4.1. ESTABLISHING THEIR OWN HIERARCHY

The first structure consists in establishing their own hierarchy. A hierarchy for a Church sui iuris can also be established outside its native territory. In this sense Pope John the twenty-third established an apostolic exarchy for the Catholic Ukrainians of the Byzantine rite in Germany in 1959¹⁸. The Ukrainians form the largest group of Oriental Catholics in Germany. Their presence goes back to their immigration after the First World War. The current Exarch, based in Munich, is Bishop Petro KRYK. However, this structure, which guarantees the highest degree of autonomy, requires a certain size and stability. This does not seem appropriate for smaller, only recently immigrated groups.

4.2. OUTSIDE THEIR OWN HIERARCHY

The following structures are outside their own Hierarchy. In territories where no hierarchy has been constituted for the faithful of a certain Church sui iuris, the hierarch of another Church sui iuris of the place is to be considered the proper hierarch of these faithful (c. 916 § 5 CCEO). If there are several Churches, the Apostolic See designates one of them. In Germany, the Latin Church or the Ukrainian Catholic Church would come into consideration. In 1994, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches decided that, with the exception of the Ukrainians, all Oriental Catholics living in Germany should be subject to the jurisdiction of the local Latin ordinary¹⁹. This means that the Latin diocesan bishops bear the jurisdictional and pastoral responsibility²⁰ What kind of pastoral structures can be created within the Latin dioceses for Oriental Catholics?²¹

1. 1. Priests: The easiest way is for the diocesan bishop simply to appoint a priest for the pastoral care of Oriental Catholics (c. 383 § 2 CIC, c. 193 § 2 CCEO).
2. 2. Missio cum cura animarum: The next level is to establish a missio cum cura animarum. This is the classic formula for communities still being built up, applied to ethnic or national groups or those of a given rite that have not yet settled down (No. 91 Erga migrantes)²².
3. 3. Parishes: A missio cum cura animarum is still not a parish, but there is also the possibility of appointing a pastor (c. 383 § 2 CIC, c. 193 § 2 CCEO) and thereby creating a personal parish. “A personal ethnic-linguistic parish or one based on a particular rite is foreseen for places where there is an immigrant community that will continually have newcomers even in the future, and where that community is numerically strong” (No. 91 Erga migrantes)²³
4. 4. In 2010 the bishop of the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart established a personal parish for the Chaldean Catholics²⁴.
5. 5. Episcopal Vicars: The highest level provided for in the Codes is the appointment of an episcopal vicar or syncellus (c. 383 § 2 CIC, c. 193 § 2 CCEO). He possess the same ordinary power which a vicar general has by universal law (c. 476 CIC)²⁵.

Another possibility, which is not regulated by the Codes, would be Ordinariates for Oriental Catholics²⁶. This means that a Latin diocesan bishop would be appointed as ordinary for the Oriental Catholics living in a country's territory²⁷. He would receive exclusive jurisdiction over the members of one, of some or of all Eastern Catholic Churches. This form of organisation has not been implemented in Germany until now, although it has in Austria²⁸.

5. BETWEEN IDENTITY AND INTEGRATION

In conclusion, it can be determined that canon law provides several instruments for organising the pastoral care of migrants from Eastern Catholic Churches. The different instruments will seem more or less practical according to the individual size, stability and integrity of each group. The various solutions provided by Canon Law lie in a field of tension between integration and identity.

On one hand, Eastern Catholic Churches are in full communion with the Latin Church and are completely integrated in this respect. True equality exists between all the faithful (c. 11 CCEO) and lay persons have the right to participate actively in the liturgical celebrations of any Church sui iuris (c. 403 § 2 CCEO).

On the other hand, Canon Law protects their identity which is based on important traditions from the church’s history. For example, the faithful are obliged to preserve their own rite (c. 40 § 3 CCEO), and they are entitled to liturgical services according to the prescriptions of their own church (c. 17 CCEO). The Bishops have the corresponding obligation to provide all necessary means for that purpose (c. 193 § 1 CCEO).

Identity and integration are also two key concepts which are important to Cardinal Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising and president of the German Bishops' Conference. He expounded on them in an address at the conference on migration and integration at the United Nations in Geneva on 30th November 2017. He said: “The genuine empowerment of migrants is a decisive step towards successful integration”²⁹.

Notes