Heinz Hubert Baumann (11 December 1946 – 24 April 2010) was a German Roman-Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

Life

Heinz Baumann grew up as the first son of August and Agnes Baumann in

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

- and attended the humanities-oriented gymnasium . There he came into contact with the teachings of

Francis de Sales Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...

and early on developed the desire to become a priest. After graduating in 1966, he studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

under

Hans Küng Hans Küng (; 19 March 1928 – 6 April 2021) was a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author. From 1995 he was president of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos). Küng was ordained a priest in 1954, joined the faculty o ...

and

Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

and was ordained as a priest on 17 June 1972 in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

. After a few years as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

at the Aachen parishes of and he moved to in the on 2 April 1979. On 29 December 1981 (with effect from 1 January 1982)

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Klaus Hemmerle Klaus Hemmerle (April 3, 1929 in Freiburg im Breisgau – January 23, 1994 in Aachen) was a Roman Catholic bishop in Aachen, Germany.Ferdinand Lenßen as

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of St. Elisabeth. He was introduced into his duties on 17 January 1982. At the end of 1998, Heinz Baumann fell seriously ill for about seven months. After his recovery and return he continued to lead the parish until 2009. He died from illness on 24 April 2010. His grave is located in his birthplace Barmen.

Work

Baumann wanted to see church as a meeting place widely open for anyone and beyond confessional borders. He typically tried to convince people with deeds rather than words and to thereby encourage imitation. He was motivated by a deep belief and commitment to

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

, reflected in a multitude of projects, events and long-term established facilities. Besides his child and

youth work Youth work is community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose. In the United Kingdom youth work is the process of cre ...

he helped long-term unemployed people (f.e. by the creation of an unemployment center),

drug addict Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

s, and he supported the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. Intercultural communic ...

and

intercultural exchange Intercultural communication is a discipline that studies communication across different cultures and social groups, or how culture affects communication. It describes the wide range of communication processes and problems that naturally appear w ...

. He also encouraged people to take over responsibility and initiative themselves. While to him working with the youth had the highest priority he also continued to maintain already established initiatives such as the "Elisabeth Conference", a program originally founded in 1908 to support poor people, and among them especially elderly women and, increasingly,

single mother A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...

s. Between 1989 and 2004 he set up a

clothing store A clothes shop or clothes store is any shop which sells items of ready-made clothing. A small shop which sells expensive or designer clothing may be called a boutique. A shop that sells clothes for a narrowlyrestricted market such as school un ...

for people in need. In 1991, he helped set up a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

open to everyone. He also initiated a local newspaper. Between 1991 and 1994, a nationwide exchange program took place under the name "" between German St. Elisabeth parishes. More than one hundred pupils from cities such as

Bottrop Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cente ...

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

, Aachen and Königs-Wusterhausen participated in this program. Gifted with a certain kind of wit, Baumann became known to also take unconventional and sometimes odd measures to support people in need. He actively participated in many social-political discussions and was not shy to exchange even vehement arguments with superiors inside and outside the church. Open also to worldly amusements, Baumann was guided by his insight: "''

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

must have been a happy person, why else would he have turned water into wine?''" For example, he was a member of the traditional '' in Barmen and honoured member of the carneval society ''. From 1990 on he repeatedly celebrated

holy mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Christ ...

es in the

circus tent A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

of the

Circus Roncalli Circus Roncalli is a German professional circus founded in 1976 by and André Heller. According to Paul, the name was suggested by fellow Austrian and his film script ''Sarah Roncalli, Tochter des Mondes'' arah Roncalli, Daughter of the Moo ...

whenever they came around to visit Aachen on their journey. The vicinity of the parish church of St. Elisabeth being located at the , one of Aachen's important traffic hubs with the nearby , was utilized by Baumann for large-scale admonishing banners mounted on the building's facade and fencing in order to spread the message and draw attention from motorists and passers-by to global ills as well as to local activities and to ask for help and commitment. Since 1994 on the occasion of the annual

World Animal Day World Animal Day is an international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4, the feast day of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. The World Animal Day movement is supported and endorsed by a nu ...

he carried out animal blessings of domestic animals in memory of

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

. Being a passionate

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

fan since his youth, Baumann officially looked after the team of the 1. FC Köln pastorally, an initiative originally started in 1991 when he supported the players in the struggles after the accidental death of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

player Maurice Banach. Over time he thereby became known as "FC pastor" nationally. As a diocesan minister, he led seminars and workshops on

intergenerationality Intergenerationality is interaction between members of different generations.Klimczuk, Andrzej, ''Intergenerationality, Intergenerational Justice, Intergenerational Policies'', n:S. Thompson (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice'', ...

in the

Maria Laach Abbey Maria Laach Abbey (in German: ''Abtei Maria Laach'', in Latin: ''Abbatia Maria Lacensis'' or ''Abbatia Maria ad Lacum'') is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), near Andernach, in the Eifel re ...

. In addition, he was deputy federal praeses of the federal association of Catholic male communities and men's facility in Germany. In 1993, Baumann was awarded the prize of the Zeitungsverlag Aachen for demonstrating virtues such as helpfulness, humor, repartee, originality and passion for Aachen. Heinz Baumann inspired the German artist to create several portraits, some of which could be seen posthumously f.e. in the 2012 exhibition "Fanum Profanum". From 2002, he fought to continue the

social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

s for young people and to keep the unemployment center open against austerity and closure intentions imposed by his superiors. He also advocated for employees threatened with redundancies, including offering parts of his own salary. At the same time Baumann tried to save costs and increase the attractiveness of the church by moving parts of the parish office into the church itself in 2002 (project "", engl. "Desk in the church") so that the church could open to visitors also in the mornings. In 2003, further ideas for new usage concepts were presented. In 2005, this led to redesigning the entrance area of the church, which now could be easily inspected from outside through a newly created window in order to remove threshold fears to enter the church from pedestrians in the streets. The parish office was relocated into there and combined with a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

meeting point open to anyone. In parallel, in 2004/2005, Baumann personally supported the initiative of several pupils of the parish to repaint the entire interior of the church (project "", engl. "White Christmas") and arranged a holiday camp in . These flourishing contacts resulted in that he was asked to inaugurate their local (engl. 'Brother Klaus Chapel') in July 2008.

Life

Work

See also

References

Further reading