Social Academy

"Giving Europe a soul"

Since 2007, the Kommende Dortmund has been offering a summer school of several weeks for seminarians from Central and Eastern Europe under the motto "Giving Europe a Soul". What began then as a courageous experiment is today a firmly implemented and highly demanded offer in priestly formation. From the beginning, this offer was supported by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Supported by the AKSB and by the episcopal relief organization Renovabis, the Social Academy can build on the scientific support of

the Paderborn Faculty of Theology. The great appreciation for the Social Academy is evidence of the undiminished broad interest in social-ethical questions within many local churches in Eastern and Central Europe.

The summer school supports and enables the participants to actively shape the political-social and charitable engagement of their local churches, the modernization of their countries as well as the process of European unification. The program combines academic and practical elements, such as an introduction to political ethics using Christian social teaching as an example and learning key social skills for social engagement. Regular transnational reflection groups serve to secure results and transfer them to the situation in the home countries.

The Social Academy is a particularly internationally oriented institution, which makes the Kommende Dortmund known far beyond the borders of the country. This gives rise to sustainable international contacts with politicians, scientists and church leaders in a European context. In 2017, the commitment of Kommende Dortmund in Central and Eastern Europe was recognized with the award of the Constance Council Prize to Prelate Dr. Peter Klasvogt.

The objective of the Social Academy is to provide training and education in Christian social ethics against the background of the European unification process. After the end of the Social Academy, many alumni are still in contact with each other and with the Kommende Dortmund. In the meantime, a large international network of more than 230 seminarians and priests has emerged, who are committed to the social shaping of a united Europe. In recent years, in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, three major alumni congresses have been held to this end: in 2012 in Ariccia (near Rome), in 2014 in Zakopane (Poland) and in 2018 in Brussels (Belgium).

Download brochure as PDF