Church Participation in Post-Catastrophic Funeral and Memorial Liturgies in a Secular Society. A Liturgical Study (

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Benedikt Kranemann
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology ; Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 248414789

In the wake of immense catastrophies (e.g. the train wreck in Eschede or the school shooting in Erfurt and Winnenden), there have been common funeral and memorial services. It has become common for the churches to participate in these rituals. Even though these liturgies have a significant meaning for society and church, they have hardly been studied in Germany from a theological perspective and not at all in Roman Catholic liturgical studies. This study seeks to understand this type of ritual expression (Disaster Ritual) through a critical analysis of the examples of the memorial service after the school shooting in Erfurt and the annual memorial serivces that have followed since then. Central in this study are four questions: What do the following elements look like? - Structures - Central Sign/Symbolic Acts - Texts - Spatial considerations where the celebrations take placeIn addition, the societal processes, in which the celebrations are negotiated and prepared, will also be analyzed. Which theology is in effect, either explicitly or implicitly? How is it expressed in these liturgies? At the same time, this study is also interested in the meaning society and the churches assign to these rituals.What kind of ritual celebration is this? A typology will be presented, through which opportunities will be created for these celebratory forms to better find its place within research in liturgical studies. The results of this study will be compared with the results of other similar studies of Disaster Rituals (i.e. the ritual celebrations after the school shooting in Winnenden.)

• DFG Programme: Research Grants