The General Assembly of the Görres Society in Mannheim - impressions

The 127th General Assembly of the Görres Society at the end of September at the University of Mannheim – in the former electoral palace – was a real success, even a breakthrough. Here are some impressions from the perspective of the Roman Institute:

The most important message from Mannheim is that the president has succeeded in securing the society's financial future for the coming years through the Bishops' Conference. This was achieved through a series of very wise decisions, strategic positioning in recent years (Young Forum, cooperation with the Cusanuswerk) and convincing arguments. As President Engler expressly noted at the general meeting in the former library of the magnificent castle, the work of the foreign institutes was also among the positive aspects. Prof. Dr. Arnd Uhle (Leipzig), a highly esteemed member of the Board of Directors of the Roman Institute, played an important role in securing future funding. In addition, Dr Josef Lange (Bonn), an outstanding expert on the Roman Institute, was elected to the Budget Committee.

Another important development was the admission of Prof. Dr Matthias Simperl (Augsburg) to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Roman Quarterly, which, as is well known, manages without a printing subsidy and even pays fees to young authors.

During the requiem mass for deceased members in the Jesuit church, our own departed members were also remembered: Peter Rohrmann, Herman H. Schwedt and Marco R. Bettoni Pojaghi. Father Hans Langendörfer, spiritual advisor to the Görres Society, delivered a sermon of theological depth in his inimitable, engaging and indeed captivating manner.

The reception took place in the so-called catacombs of the castle, i.e. in the cellar, where the student apartments were located after the Second World War. This immediately reminds the writer of the booklet ‘Living like in catacombs’.

The Roman meeting took place in unclouded harmony across generations, in the immediate vicinity of the Young Forum meeting with Dr. Barth.

The historians of the society already got their money's worth with Hiram Kümper's brilliant lecture on the history of the University of Mannheim, but the main lectures with Achim Wambach and, most recently, Heinz Bude were also undoubtedly brilliantly presented.

It is impossible to present a selection of the other lectures given in the sections here. We would just like to mention the lecture by Prof. Dr. Claudia Gronemann (Mannheim), who spoke about the reception of antiquity in the modern Maghreb. In her contribution, Ms. Gronemann explicitly referred to her conference on Augustine at the Roman Institute in 2019.

At the closing ceremony, our former member Lennart Luhmann was awarded second prize in this year's essay and creative competition.

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Category: From the institute