German Catholic Women's Association
{{Short description|Catholic women's organization}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2020}}
{{Expand German|Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox organization
|name = German Catholic Women's Association
|image = KDFB Logo.png
|image_border =
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|formation = {{Start date and years ago|1903|11|06|df=y}}
|extinction =
|type = Catholic lay organization
|status = active
|purpose =
|headquarters = Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Germany
|location =
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|region_served = Germany
|membership =
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|leader_title = President
|leader_name = Maria Flachsbarth
|main_organ =
|parent_organization = Catholic Church
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|website = [https://www.frauenbund.de/nc/startseite/ KDFB]
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The German Catholic Women's Association ({{langx|de|Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund}}), abbreviated as KDFB, is a federally registered Catholic lay women's organization and political interest group. The association has roughly 180,000 members in Germany with 1,800 branches in twenty-one German dioceses.
The KDFB focuses on advocating for the rights of women in the Catholic Church in Germany and organizing educational seminars, crisis support programs, and religious pilgrimages and devotions for Catholic women. The KDFB promotes gender equality, environmental protections, charity, and education as Christian issues. The organization has been criticized by conservative Catholic organizations, such as the Forum of German Catholics, for supporting the Mary 2.0 movement and advocating for legal protections, equality, and Catholic blessings of same-sex couples.
History
The KDFB was founded on 16 November 1903 in Cologne for women of the Catholic laity as part of the Women's Movement in Germany.{{cite web
|url=https://www.frauenbund.de/nc/startseite/berichte-detail/article/verantwortung-fuer-demokratie-uebernehmen/
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115082853/https://www.frauenbund.de/nc/startseite/berichte-detail/article/verantwortung-fuer-demokratie-uebernehmen/
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=November 15, 2017
|title=Verantwortung für Demokratie übernehmen
|date=September 25, 2017
|website=www.frauenbund.de
|publisher=Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund
|access-date=February 3, 2020
|quote= }} The founding chairwoman was Emilie Hopmann, who served as chair of the association until 1912. Hopmann co-founded the KDFB with Minna Bachem-Sieger and Hedwig Dransfeld. Dransfeld worked closely with the women's rights activist Ellen Ammann, who founded the Munich branch of the KDFB in 1904. Later that year Emy Gordon founded a branch of the KDFB in Würzburg. In 1911 Marie Zettler and Countess Pauline von Monteglas helped start the Bavarian branch of the organization. Zettler was elected as the Bavarian Secretary of KDFB in 1912 and remained in the position for forty years.{{cite web
|url=https://www.frauenbund-diessen.de/frauenbewegte-frauen
|title=FRAUENBEWEGTE FRAUEN
|date=
|website=www.frauenbund-diessen.de
|publisher=Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund
|access-date=February 3, 2020
|quote= }} The organization was originally called Katholische Frauenbund. The name changed in 1916 to Catholic Women's Association of Germany. It changed again in 1921 to Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund.
The KDFB originally served as a union of Catholic women from all social and economic classes, ages, and professions focused on service to the Catholic Church and the German people. The primary goal of the organization was to provide education to women, opening social women's schools in Munich, Cologne, Aachen, and Berlin. The KDFB also opened marriage counseling centers, family education centers, and helped organize maternity holidays. During the Great Depression in Central Europe, the KDFB campaigned for working rights for unmarried women and opened career counseling centers in Cologne and Berlin.{{cite web
|url=https://www.frauenbund.de/wir-ueber-uns/bundesverband/geschichte-des-kdfb/
|title=Geschichte des KDFB
|date=
|website=www.frauenbund.de
|publisher=Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund
|access-date=February 3, 2020
|quote= }}
Function and activities
File:Fronleichnamsprozession Neumarkt Oberpfalz 2012 010.jpg procession in 2012.]]
The KDFB offers educational programs and seminars, social justice work, and crisis support for women, as well as information on Catholic teachings and advocacy for women's rights in society, government, and the Catholic Church. The KDFB organizes religious services, devotions, and pilgrimages. They also participate in Women's World Prayer Day annually.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}
The organization supports environmental protections, gender equality, charitable work, and education and advocates that these issues pertain to Christianity.{{cite web
|url=https://www.frauenbund-bayern.de/ueber-uns/
|title=Landesverband
|date=
|website=www.frauenbund.de
|publisher=Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund
|access-date=February 3, 2020
|quote= }}{{cite web
|url=https://www.frauenbund.de/wir-ueber-uns/bundesverband/
|title=
Bundesverband
|date=
|website=www.frauenbund.de
|publisher=Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund
|access-date=February 3, 2020
|quote= }}
The KDFB advocates supports same-sex marriage in Germany and advocates for Catholic blessings of same-sex couples.{{cite web
|url=https://www.frauenbund.de/nc/startseite/berichte-detail/article/debatte-um-ehe-fuer-alle/
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106071222/https://www.frauenbund.de/nc/startseite/berichte-detail/article/debatte-um-ehe-fuer-alle/
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=January 6, 2018
|title=Debatte um "Ehe für alle"
|date=May 29, 2017
|website=www.frauenbund.de
|publisher=Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbund
|access-date=February 3, 2020
|quote= }}
The KDFB publicly supports the Mary 2.0 movement, which works to bring awareness to sexism in the Catholic Church and the mishandling of the clerical sex abuse crisis. The movement also calls for an end to mandatory celibacy for priests and to reform the Church's teachings on sexuality.{{cite web
|url=https://www.kfd-bundesverband.de/pressemitteilung/katholische-frauen-begruessen-bundesweite-initiativen-zur-erneuerung-der-kirche/
|title=Katholische Frauen begrüßen bundesweite Initiativen zur Erneuerung der Kirche
|date=March 6, 2019
|website=www.kfd-bundesverband.de
|publisher=KFD
|access-date=
|quote= }} In 2019 the KDFB was criticized by the Forum of German Catholics, who called for a boycott of the association after it had publicly supported the Mary 2.0 movement.{{Cite web|url=https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/21621-wegen-maria-20-katholiken-forum-ruft-zu-austritt-aus-frauenbund-auf|title=Wegen "Maria 2.0": Katholiken-Forum ruft zu Austritt aus Frauenbund auf|website=katholisch.de}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.frauenbund.de/nc/startseite/ KDFB]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Catholic Church in Germany
Category:Catholic lay organisations
Category:Catholic organizations established in the 20th century
Category:Christian organizations established in 1903
Category:Organisations based in Cologne