Last Saturday, June 12, 2021, delegates from the HVD regional associations came together for a virtual Council of Delegates. One of the most important results of this day was the establishment of the “Humanist Pastoral Care and Counseling” expert committee. The justification for the establishment of the expert committee states
A professional service is needed to support ethical and ideological orientation for people in life crises and also in more everyday situations – in shaping the art of living, the meaning of life and identity at different stages of life. This offer must be based on humanism and, moreover, on the experience of a shared humanity to accompany people – without a therapeutic approach, without conditions on the use of pastoral care and without reporting to other disciplines.
The tasks of the newly founded expert committee include issues relating to the professionalization of humanistic pastoral care, networking and cooperation with pastoral care of other world views as well as international networking and cooperation.
Anke Lauke, who was elected Chair of the Expert Committee at the Council of Delegates, explained that in the short term, the main objectives were to coordinate and raise the profile of existing pastoral care activities within the HVD. “In a second step, it is desirable to develop qualification programs for volunteers. The theoretical foundations of pastoral care and the designation itself will also occupy us in the near future. With regard to the sometimes controversial issue of pastoral care as a term, we want to maintain flexibility in the designation – precisely in order to avoid blocking practical initiatives with fundamental debates,” says Lauke.
Federal Executive Board fully staffed again
Another important result of the Council of Delegates was the election of two new Board members. Christiane Friedrich was elected for the “Socio-Political Networking” board portfolio; she is the state spokesperson for the Humanist Community Hesse (HuGH). Anna Ranneberg, Chairwoman of the Young Humanists Brandenburg, was confirmed as Board member for the “Youth” department. Federal Executive Board Spokesperson Erwin Kress warmly welcomed the two new board members: “I am delighted that the Federal Executive Board is now once again fully staffed and can actively tackle the next tasks with two committed new board members,” said Kress.
The Federal Executive Board also reported to the Council of Delegates on the activities of the Federal Association and presented the most important results of its work in recent months, for example the successful relaunch of the HVD website at www.humanismus.de, the founding of a humanist organization for the promotion of gifted students, the Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk, and the activities of the Humanist Relief Organization of Germany.
