Geertje-Froken Bolle:
Pastoral Care for the hard of hearing in Berlin and its Future

Sisters and Brothers,

"Pastoral Care for the Hard of Hearing in Berlin and its Future" is the subject of my today’s talk. A subject a I was asked for with this title. But: Does protestant pastoral Care for the hard of hearing in Berlin have a future at all??

Pastoral Care for the Hard of hearing in Berlin has no Future

A lot has happened in recent years and particularly in the last year– the results of it will be especially noticeable in 1999. Overlooking this fact I can only say: Pastoral care for the hard of hearing has no future at all.

I will explain this to you. In the last decades Berlin was equipped relatively well, regarding the personnel situation of the pastoral care for the hard of hearing. Not much if we focus on this field of activity but absolutely well equipped compared with the national churches. We had half a pastor’s job, a whole social worker’s job and half an office job. First of all the office job was reduced. When Penny Weigelt got this job in 1995 50 % changed into 25 %. At the same time it was planned to reduce the social worker’s job (Stefan Kahlbow) to 50 % and afterwards just cancel it. And finally even the 1/2 pastor’s job was at risk to be cancelled. The money of the national church is running extremely short and drastic shortages hit the special areas. During the National Synod longstanding plans became serious reality. The national church’s means for the pastoral care of the hard of hearing were shortened to 0 (including all material means).

One should wake up to the drama of such a church policy. "Protestant Church excludes 170.000 handicapped people from Preaching and Pastoral Care". That was the title of our protest leaflets last November. And it can’t be described in any other way – what happens here is really absurd.

Well, I do not belong to those people supporting this policy: preserving parochial congregations and abolishing special fields of pastoral care. Regarding pastoral care for the hard of hearing this also means: to shorten an area which presents an important part of the church. And: They do shorten an area of which the situation will become more critical within the next years and decades. All statistics assume that difficulty in hearing will increase enormously in the years to come. Many letters of protest and the fight, which mainly Ms. Käthe Rathke fought together with us, resulted in: the synod becoming aware of the fact that a solution for the pastoral care of the hard of hearing has to be found. It is planned to financially support different church circles – but this idea only refers to half a pastor’s job. Our congregation and our church circle, who support this work for twenty years now, will certainly continue supporting us wherever possible. Financing a full social worker’s job by the congregation or the church has turned out to be hopeless.

How could half a pastor’s job cover the pastoral care for the hard of hearing in all Berlin. And we mustn’t forget that actually Brandenburg belongs to it. Berlin-Brandenburg is a national church, that’s the way it is. Up to now, the pastoral care for the hard of hearing in Brandenburg wasn’t supported by the national church but by the deacon works. There work for the hard of hearing has been abolished, too.

We don’t have to feel in any way responsible of having been inactive. We have fought - but unfortunately we failed in many points.

So I could finish my talk claiming:

"Pastoral Care for the Hard of Hearing in Berlin doesn’t have a future".

Pastoral Care for the Hard of Hearing in Berlin does have a Future.

But stop it! Please allow me to talk as a theologian in this special case and to bring the conversation round to the bible. And allow me to re-answer to the question: Does pastoral care for the hard of hearing in Berlin have a future?

What about future and the bible? Future, expectancy, hope, promise. The bible is full of it. We expect and long for the Kingdom of Heaven. The things promised shall become true. Here and now. And later in total. The gospel of this week contains a well-known verse: "Strive for the Kingdom of Heaven first and then anything else will be given to you". And what does the Kingdom of Heaven have to do with pastoral care for the hard of hearing in Berlin? That’s what someone or other may ask. Well, I hope quite a lot.

Expecting that Kingdom of Heaven will come does only mean: We expect a time in which all human beings can live in dignity, in which all people come into their own. A time in which coexistence succeeds. We expect a time in which people understand each other. We expect a time in which anywhere it is spoken in a way that hard of hearing and deaf people can understand. This time is not a long way off. Full of yearning we do our utmost to let this time begin here and now. Having every confidence we know: Such a future is promised in the bible. "Strive for the Kingdom of Heaven first and then anything else will be given to you". For this reason I can clearly answer to the question: Yes, pastoral care for the hard of hearing in Berlin does have a future.

What we have to give up...

So how does this future look like? We will certainly have to give up several things. That probably means that we have to give up our faith in a national church that shares the money out fairly.

That probably means that we have to give up existence of secure jobs.

That probably means that we have to give up the hope to have an financially well equipped area.

What we mustn’t give up...

Beside it we have this: Hard of hearing and deafened people are as well members of our church as the well hearing ones. A congregation excluding hard of hearing people is no real congregation. We are told that coexistence can succeed and that confrontation of different kinds of people is possible. We mustn’t give up our fight. We mustn’t give up our hope.

Dear Sisters and Brothers, I see it a challenge to talk about the future of the pastoral care of the hard of hearing in Berlin in this year - 1998. I see it as a challenge to mark a "Despite" against al resignation.

And now I show your what we are about to do and how my concept for the next year looks like.

I Establishing a hard of hearing
congregation

At first it is important to take into account that in our work east and west tradition come across. In 1991 East Berlin’s work was joined to the Lukas church. Ms. Schuster’s job in the Inner Mission – Deacon Works hasn’t been replaced after she had retired.

We have to emphasise that the structure of the jointure to a local congregation in the today’s local church circle of Berlin enables a very special way of confrontation of hard of hearing and well hearing people. The fact that there have been and there are workers being employed in the local congregation of the Trinity St. Lukas congregation as well as in the pastoral care of the hard of hearing – this fact only forced this.

In Addition there is the numerically small local congregation. If people meet for service for hard of hearing, deafened and well hearing people on Sundays the hard of hearing and deafened members of the congregation predominate.

Representatives of the hard of hearing people are always present in our congregation council. Therefore it is possible to try out coexistence of hard of hearing and well hearing people in the management of our local congregation. I have experienced Detlev Balzer and Sabine Elle during my work in the parish council – and I am very grateful for this kind of exercise. During meetings you are forced to pay attention to a relationship that enables hard of hearing people to actually take part.

A very important pillar of our work shall become the bearer circle responsible for the hard of hearing work. I hope that we will succeed in getting a group of 8 - 10 people (full-time as well as voluntary workers) accompanying the hard of hearing work continuously. This group should meet once a month and talk about the work to be done and further develop a concept with me.

Still alive in Berlin is the "Hephata-Tradition". There is a circle of some 30 people, celebrating service with us and seizing the offers of the group regularly. The hard of hearing congregation – that’s how I would like to call them. People who feel comfortable among hard of hearing people and in the most part don’t get in touch with the local congregation.

I think it’s necessary to continue with the existing work. The people who have found the Lukas church as a place to experience: Here I do understand, here I am among people experiencing the same, who feel at home- for those people we bear responsibility. I moreover expect a lot of people to join us, if they hear from us.

To establish another congregation will therefore be an important pillar of our future work. Church service and groups, especially for extremely hard of hearing and deafened people as well as for well hearing people belongs to the work. Apart from church we also have to add to our working areas: Pastoral care, adult work (circles for working people, preparing time for planing senior work (afternoon meetings, conversation circles, home visits, common journeys), youth work (confirmation class). The special requirements for hard of hearing service and group work are well-known to all of you and I therefore just want to point out few characteristics of our work.

In particular I would like to mention the circle of the working people which is headed by Iris-Sieglinde Staneczek and me together. I especially mention it because of two reasons: First of all I am happy that in this special case it is possible to head a group by a hard of hearing member of the congregation. For me it’s very important that not only well hearing members are involved for hard of hearing members. That would give the impression that hard of hearing people are served there. Instead we are rather a place at which we make congregation with each other. The second reason why this circle is so important for me: We were largely able to keep the tradition of the former east area – and people from the west part joined. The circle for the working people exists since 1965. The analysis of bible passages represents the main topic of this circle.

Stefan Kahlbow did extensive youth work for hard of hearing and well hearing adolescents for years. You will get a view of the results of this youth work during the Berlin Evening.

Our congregation employee, Christel Gerhard, arranges a three weeks journey to Bad Sachsa in the Harz, every year. Unfortunately Ms. Gerhard will withdraw from full-time work, as she intends to early retire.

A brand-new project within Berlin’s pastoral care for the hard of hearing is about to be built up: A project regarding the history of the pastoral care for the hard of hearing at the Lukas church. It shall strengthen the establishment of our hard of hearing congregation; in the content it shall get moving the question of history of pastoral care for the hard of hearing and it shall support our community relations. We want to focus on conversation groups and an exhibition about the pastoral care for the hard of hearing. We call the place at which conversation groups will meet and the exhibition will be built up "conversation café". A place of meeting. Who can write stories better than those who have experienced them. For this reason we plan to invite people in our conversation café in the afternoon to tell us something: personal experiences, stories of life, stories of the hard of hearing groups. Someone will remember a funny incident, another will bring along a photo. It is important to document our history so that it doesn’t get lost. In the bible we are always encouraged to remember departure stories, and not to forget the story of God. The conversation café shall have a fixed location, but also visit hard of hearing people in their flats, as a mobile conversation café. Around this conversation café an exhibition about the history of the pastoral care for the hard of hearing shall be developed. The result shall then be a festschrift on the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the pastoral care for the hard of hearing of the national church.

II Integration of Hard Hearing People in the Local Congregations.

The second important part of our work is the field of integration. We want to support the integration of hard of hearing people in their local congregations. That includes that we offer congregations to support and advise them. Well, there is a certain tension. First of all there is the experience "there are no requests from the congregation". My predecessor minister Otto Leiser has been asked for advice by a single congregation only, in all his years of activity. At the same time we are all aware of the fact: in their local congregations hard of hearing people don’t get the attention deserved. For us that means: We have to sharpen their awareness so that they become more sensitive to this problems. And at the same time: we have to create structures for an improvement of the congregation situation for hard of hearing people.

For this reason it is absolutely essential that we submit an offer for further training: in preacher training and other clerical educational organisations, on pastor conventions and on conventions of other church employees. Encouraged by the Bavarian model of minister Volker Schmeling I tried to find representatives in the individual church circles, who would be responsible for their congregations and who would take part in further training. In addition I visited church circles and pastor conventions and – if existing - conventions for employees of senior work and I tried to inform these people about the situation of hard of hearing people and the necessity for church service and congregation work. I hope that I can succeed in gaining people for this job. For this people I intend to offer a one-week pastoral college for further training.

III Advice in Clerical Institutions

In addition to these offers for further training, which refer to the integration of hard of hearing people in local congregation, it makes sense to advise clerical institutions and contribute to the quality assurance. I therefore plan to organise such further training in geriatric nursing homes and deacon works , in deacon stations and geriatric care schools, as well. (The whole field of further training is about to be built up. I will start to submit this offers in this year’s fall and I therefore can’t report on it yet, to what extent it is made use of.)

IV Continuation and Establishment of Other Organisations and Institutions, Dealing with Pastoral Care for the Hard of Hearing

The contact to other organisations and institutions dealing with hard of hearing work will certainly further belong to our work. Above all is the hard of Hearing Association Berlin with its advice centres and the career guidance office, both hard of hearing schools, ENT specialists and hearing aid specialists.

In this connection I am very happy that I can offer - since fall 1997, in the first hard of hearing school in Friedrichshain (Margarethe von Witzleben-Schule) - religious education and by this a bridge between congregation - school is being built.

Contact to Pastoral care for deafened people – selectively common projects

Since 1994 the pastoral care for deafened people is located together with us in the Bernburger Street. This facilitates possible co-operation. At the same time we know how important a separation of these two working fields is. People who communicate with each other by using sign language and on the other hand people who try to hear loud language and read from lips and don’t know sign language at all, simply have different needs. As pastoral care for deafened as well as pastoral care for hard of hearing agree in that point there are few conflicts but more useful exchange. In October for example we plan – as a big exception and as a meeting of both working fields – a common church service.

V Public relations

I think that good public relations is very essential. I hope that our planned exhibition and the conversation café will contribute to it. In addition to our leaflets, the pastoral care for the hard of hearing is regularly present in regional congregation letters. Another "circular pastoral care for hard of hearing people" is planned.

For us it is important to have a part as church, because in church, people draw attention to the concerns of the hard if hearing people by public relations. For this reason we naturally took part in the activities on the 2^nd Mai of this year (Day of the hard of hearing and deafened within the scope of the action Basic Law).

It is at least as important to be present, to cry out by letters to the editor, by personal letters by talk contributions or, or ... if someone forgets the needs of hard of hearing people. And for example to make sure that difficulty in hearing is taken note of in the church press.

You can see a lot is planned. Please hope with us that we will succeed in most of it.

Finally a word to what I am more and more worried about: In our national church we are city and local church at the same time. So far the work of the pastoral care for the hard of hearing referred to Berlin. After the money for the clerical hard of hearing work in Brandenburg had been cancelled we ask ourselves what shall become of the work there. Will it be possible to create structures by support of Berlin so that at least a small part of the so important work can be preserved.

25 Years of pastoral care for the hard of hearing in Berlin at the Lukas church

In conclusion it is to be mentioned that we have our 25^th anniversary of the pastoral care for the hard of hearing at the Lukas church soon. And you all probably know that we lively step to the next anniversary. And probably I may welcome some of you here in Berlin in the year 2001 on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the hard of hearing work.