The German Catholic Women's Association (), 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 The Catholic Church in Germany () or Roman Catholic Church in Germany () is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope, assisted by the Roman Curia, and with the German bishops. The current "Speaker" (i.e., Chairman) of th ...

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 Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

for women of the

Catholic laity Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders (Catholic Church), Holy Orders or vowed to life in a Catholic religious order, religious order or Religious congregation, congreg ...

as part of the

Women's Movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's ...

in Germany. 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 Ellen Aurora Ammann (1 July 1870 – 23 November 1932) was a German politician and activist of Swedish origin, a representative of the Bavarian People's Party. From 1919 to 1932, she served as Landtag deputy for the Bavarian People’s Party, ...

, who founded the

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

branch of the KDFB in 1904. Later that year Emy Gordon founded a branch of the KDFB in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

. In 1911

Marie Zettler Marie Zettler (13 November 1885 – 5 February 1950) was a German politician and commentator/journalist. A member of the Catholic-centrist Bavarian People's Party, Bavarian People's Party (''"Bayerische Volkspartei"'' / BVP), and with women now p ...

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. 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.

Function and activities

Fronleichnamsprozession Neumarkt Oberpfalz 2012 010

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. The organization supports environmental protections, gender equality, charitable work, and education and advocates that these issues pertain to Christianity. The KDFB advocates supports

same-sex marriage in Germany Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 1 October 2017. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage passed the Bundestag on 30 June 2017 and the Bundesrat on 7 July. It was signed into law on 20 July by President Frank-Walter Ste ...

and advocates for Catholic blessings of same-sex couples. 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. 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.

References

External links

KDFB
{{Authority control Catholic Church in Germany Catholic lay organisations Catholic organizations established in the 20th century Christian organizations established in 1903 Organisations based in Cologne Women's organisations based in Germany Catholicism and women