| Patrons in 2016: |  |
European Parliament |
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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki |
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- Theme
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- Exhibition
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- In Advance
Julián Carrón
Since 2005 Fr. Prof. Julián Carrón has led the Catholic movement “Communion and Liberation”, succeeding the founder, Luigi Giussani. He teaches the course “Introduction to Theology” at the Catholic University of Milan.
Previously Julián Carrón was the principle and chaplain of Madrid's minor seminary as well as Professor of New Testament studies and led a number of academic committees and institutes. He has published numerous works in the field of Biblical studies, especially regarding the historicity of the Gospels in the light of philological findings.
As the one responsible for Communion and Liberation he has undertaken several tasks on behalf of the universal Church, among them as advisor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Preceding contributions to the Rhine Meeting:
- 2015
- Presentation „Education of the Person – Education for Freedom“
Adolf Diefenhardt
- Panel discussion Saturday, 27 February, 14.30
Since the Summer of 2015, Dr. Adolf Diefenhardt has worked as general consultant doctor at St. Joseph’s House, Rheinfelden, an institution for 700 people with mental and multiple disabilities. Previously he directed the Lubaga Hospital in Kampala for four years.
Adolf Diefenhardt studied medicine and theology in Fribourg, Paris and Dublin. He looks back on a long medical and administrative career, 17 years of which were spent in Africa. In Uganda he was the medical director of a refugee camp as well as directing hospitals. From 1998 until 2011 he was a project leader and coordinator for Malteser International and was then responsible for German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Aid in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Ahmad Milad Karimi
- Presentation Friday, 26 February, 19.30
Prof. Dr. Ahmad Milad Karimi is an Afghan-German philosopher of religion, Islamicist, publisher and author. Born and raised in Kabul, he fled with his family to Germany at the age of 13. After studying philosophy and Islamic studies at Freiburg im Breisgau and New Delhi, he completed a philosophy doctorate on Hegel and Heidegger. Since 2012, Karimi has taught Kalām, Islamic philosophy and mysticism at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
Karimi is a co-founder of two publishing houses, the Salam childrens’ and youth books press, and Kalām Publishing, for Islamic theology. His autobiography is titled “Osama bin Laden is Sleeping with the Fishes: Why I’m glad to be a Muslim, and what Marlon Brando has to do with it”. Milad Karimi produced a completely new translation of the Koran in 2009.
Gerhard Ludwig Müller
- Presentation Saturday, 27 February, 10.45
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the former Bishop of Regensburg, was called to join the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI. Since 2012 he has been Prefect of the Congregation. Pope Francis confirmed him in this office and in February 2014 created him Cardinal.
After studying philosophy and theology at the Universities of Mainz, Munich and Freiburg, he completed his doctoral thesis in 1977, on the topic of “Church and Sacrament in ‘non-religious’ Christianity. Bonhoeffer’s Contribution to an Ecumenical Theology of the Sacraments”. A year after qualifying as a professor, in 1985, he became one of the youngest professors to occupy the Chair in Catholic Dogma at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. His book, “Catholic Dogmatics: for the Study and Practice of Theology” is his best known up to this day. Alongside his over 400 scholarly works, he was active in the propagation and preservation of the Catholic Faith as a member of the German Bishops’ Conference’s Commission for the Faith, and most recently as Chair of the Ecumenical Commission. In 2008 he founded the Pope Benedict XVI Institute, which seeks to illuminate the life and work of Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI.
Stephan Neuhoff
- Panel discussion Saturday, 27 February, 14.30
Stephan Neuhoff was Director of the Cologne Fire Service from 1989 until his retirement in the Spring of 2014. After studying mechanical engineering at Aachen Technical University, the native of Cologne completed fire brigade management training, before starting work for Cologne’s professional fire service, where he soon assumed the leadership role. During his term of service, a major flood in 1993 and the collapse of the Cologne city archives took place, as well as several large events such as World Youth Day 2005 and the football World Championship 2006. Stephan Neuhoff continues to teach rescue engineering at Cologne Technical College and sits on the boards of several professional associations.
Franz Reimer
- Panel discussion Saturday, 27 February, 17.00
Prof. Dr. Franz Reimer is Professor of Public Law and Legal Theory at the Justus Liebig University, Gießen. Born in Bonn, he studied law at Bonn, Oxford and Freiburg, where he received his doctorate, where he then worked as a research assistant in the Institute of Political Science and Philosophy of Law. After qualifying as a professor in 2007 he accepted a call to the Justus Liebig University in Gießen and while there has served since 2012 as executive director of the Rudolf von Jhering Institute for Fundamental Research in Legal Theory.
As president of the Erwin Stein Foundation he has published on the subject of homeschooling in the light of constitutional law, both in German and international journals. He most recently wrote for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a comment on the German Constitutional Court's landmark decision on homeschooling (2 BvR 920/14), entitled “Raum der Freiheit?”
A father of three, he was also a curator of the travelling exhibition “The White Rose: Faces of a Friendship”.
Preceding contributions to the Rhine Meeting:
Russell Ronald Reno
- Panel discussion Saturday, 27 February, 17.00
Prof. Dr. Russell Ronald Reno is the editor of the journal First Things. He studied religion at Haverford College and later at Yale University, where he completed his doctoral studies in religious ethics. The author of many books and commentaries in the area of Biblical studies, he taught for many years at Creighton University before assuming the editorship at First Things.
Reno was raised in Maryland and was a member of the Episcopal Church, where he exercised various official duties. In 2004 the father of two became a Catholic.
Friedrich-Leopold Graf zu Stolberg Stolberg
- Panel discussion Sunday, 28 February, 14.30
Friedrich-Leopold Graf zu Stolberg Stolberg has been the Presiding Judge of the District Court in Görlitz since 2008. After studying law and history, he worked initially at the district court in Dresden, and then as press officer for the German Ministry of Justice. After working in the district courts of Hoyerswerda and Bautzen, and as a public prosecutor, he became Presiding Judge of the District Court in Görlitz. He also directed the office for employment cases in higher administrative service for the Justice Ministry of the German Federal State of Sachsen.
John Waters
- Panel discussion Saturday, 27 February, 17.00
John Waters is a journalist and writer based in Ireland. He has been writing for Irish newspapers since 1981 and contributing to the Irish Times for 23 years. Since 2014 he has been working as a columnist for the Irish Independent. He has authored several books, audio books, stage plays, and song lyrics.
John Waters counts among the most prominent voices in public life in Ireland. Having specialised in “raising unpopular issues of public importance” he focuses on current developments in society, culture, and politics. He adopts a decidedly personal standpoint, starting off from life's existential questions, often supported by his personal testimony (e.g. in his best sellers Jiving at the Crossroads and Lapsed Agnostic). This renders his contributions interesting to audiences well beyond Ireland.
Preceding contributions to the Rhine Meeting:
- 2015
- Presentation „Creating Beauty: Setting Out Anew for the Ends of the Earth“
- 2014
- Opening talk „Seeking our European Heart“
Joseph H. H. Weiler
Prof. Dr. Joseph H. H. Weiler is the President of the European University Institute in Florence. Previously he taught law at Harvard Law School, before becoming Director of the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law and Justice at New York University. He has taught as a visiting fellow at universities around the world, including University College London and University of Copenhagen, and is Co-Director of the Academy for International Trade Law in Macao. His primary interests are European integration, trade and globalisation, democracy, and the relationship between law and religion. He is the editor of the Journal of International Law of the International Journal of Constitutional Law. Among his many writings appearing in different languages are Der Fall Steinmann und Un’Europa cristiana.
Frank Wendt
- Panel discussion Sunday, 28 February, 14.30
Dr. Frank Wendt is a research fellow and teacher at the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry at the Charité in Berlin. Before this he had studied medicine and forensic medicine and practiced psychiatry as a doctor. He is one of the editors of the psychiatry and psychotherapy text book Irren ist menschlich (To Err is Human) and numerous scholarly articles. He acts as an expert witness in criminal cases.
Rainer Maria Woelki
- Holy Mass Sunday, 28 February, 10.00
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki has been the Archbishop of Cologne since 2014. Consecrated a priest in 1985, he received his Doctorate in 2000 in Rome. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne between 2003 and 2011, before the Pope appointed him Archbishop of Berlin in 2011, and in 2012 Cardinal Archbishop. His archiepiscopal motto is “Nos sumus testes” – “We are witnesses” (c.f. Acts 5:32).
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News
06 Nov 2016
The Rhine Meeting 2017 will show an exhibition of photos by Barbara Klemm.
05 Nov 2016
The editor of the reformed journal Ecclesia, Dr. Huib Klink, has confirmed his participation for 2017.
04 Nov 2016
The Presentations 2016 by Prof. Dr. Russell Ronald Reno and John Waters are online.
17 Oct 2016
Prof. Dr. Mouhanad Khorchide, director of the Centre for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster, has confirmed his participation for 2017.
02 Oct 2016
The catholic archbishop of Moscow, Dr. Paolo Pezzi, has confirmed his participation for 2017.
