alcoholics, people with physical and mental disabilities and people with sexually transmitted
diseases. It also provided childcare, corrective training for youths, protection for girls, nursing
for the ill and women's services. In 1916, the bishops of Germany officially made the German
Caritas Association the social services arm of the Catholic Church. 46 Caritas would be the
Church’s’ answer to the challenges of caring for the afflicted. The Caritas movement would
grow and train members, supported by the German bishops. Articles would begin to appear in
support of a renewed permanent diaconate, a diaconate of charity. In his book The Emerging
Diaconate, William Ditewig points to a 1934 article written by G. von Mann, Director of Caritas,
calling for a “renewed diaconate of charity, rooted in the sacramental life of the parish
community.” In 1936. Hans Schutz would report on a 1935 meeting of Caritas workers who
discussed von Mann’s idea of a restored permanent diaconate with a threefold ministry “of
liturgy, charity, and catechesis.” At that meeting, the need for specific formation of the deacon
and the need at ordination for a “missioning’ by the bishop was also discussed. 47 With the
upheaval of the world that Hitler, the Third Reich and world War II would cause, the need for a
charitable ministry would be even more important.
The horrors of the German concentration camps need not be repeated here. Among the
prison or “concentration” camps, Dachau, the first German camp was built to house political
prisoners. Many Catholic clergy were imprisoned at Dachau, the clergy offered Mass to fellow
inmates, but the German SS were hostile to any religious observances, and often brutally
discouraged participation. Eventually after intense pressure from the German bishops and The
Vatican, the priests of Dachau were housed together and given permission to establish a chapel.
46
Caritas Germany. The History of Caritas in Germany. Accessed July 9, 2018 http://www.caritas-
germany.org/aboutus/history/history.aspx .
47
Ditewig. Emerging Diaconate, 96.
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