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- Johannes von Rönge was an early builder of the Christian denomination of New Catholics. Johannes von Rönge was originally a Roman Catholic priest in Silesia and a member of the Frankfurt Parliament. He was outraged by the Bishop Arnoldi of Trier's use of his Cathedral's holy artifact (der heilige Rock, "the holy skirt", - the garment which Christ supposedly wore at the crucifixion) - to increase pilgrimage and likewise church revenues. The Bishop had proclaimed that the artifact had healing powers. In response, von Rönge helped form the New Catholics. The first congregation was in Breslau and within less than a year grew to over 8,000 members. von Rönge organized the New Catholics as a principally democratic organization. He ended the rule of celibacy for priests, excommunication, oral confessions, indulgences and other practices of the Catholic Church, and he married Berthe Mayer, sister of his friend Carl Schurz's wife, Margarethe. Many churches followed his example and the New Catholics grew rapidly. von Rönge had also garnered support from Robert Blum, a newspaper publisher in Saxony. Blum published writings of the new movement. Johannes was heavily involved in politics. He was a member of the parliament in Worms. With his view of "rational religion", von Rönge proclaimed "that the sole basis of Christian faith was to be in the Bible, interpreted by each for himself in the light of reason". They were later forced to change their name from New Catholics to the German Catholics. A Protestant group analogous to the New Catholics was the Friends of the Light. In 1849, these two groups combined to form the Freireligiöse ("free-thinkers") communities. After the failed revolts, many Freireligiöse went to the United States (where they were known as "Freethinkers") or moved to Canada and South Africa where they acted as missionaries. In 1852, Wisconsin had 32 congregations. Their influence lasted into the early part of the 20th century, but then began to falter. The influence and lasting effect of this German movement remains in the Midwest. For his actions, von Rönge was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and lived in exile in London. While in London, Johannes von Rönge was subject to surveillance by The Police Union of German States. They were also interested in Bertha von Rönge who had returned to Germany in 1858 because her sister, Margarethe Meyer was married to Carl Schurz whom they described as "the keen emissary of the communist connection". In 1852, Marx and Engels wrote an account of the "forty-eighters", refugees from the failed revolution in Germany, which they entitled, Heroes of the Exile. In it they lampooned and satirised von Rönge of whom they wrote, "he is banal, hackneyed, as insipid as water, luke-warm dish-water" and described him as an "ungainly, sallow, tedious village parson". When not satirising the internecine struggles of the German émigrés they chronicle the establishment of a 'provisional government' which included von Rönge, and their attempts to raise money to overthrow the governments of the German states. In 1859, the von Rönges moved to Manchester where they opened a kindergarten at which they were joined by Maria Kraus Boelte who later founded with her husband the New York Seminary for Kindergartners. The von Rönge's stay in Manchester was short-lived as they soon encountered hostility from other supporters of the kindergarten who seem to have been hostile to Johannes' unorthodoxy in religious matters. In 1860 they handed over their kindergarten in Manchester to Mrs Fretwell, a Unitarian, and went to Leeds to open another kindergarten. von Rönge's Religion of Humanity described by Stewart and McCann was close to Unitarianism, a religion which appealed to many supporters of the kindergarten in England. He is listed in a biographical dictionary of Unitarians and Universalists. In 1861, following the granting of an amnesty, Johannes von Rönge returned to Germany where he joined his wife who died in 1863. The bold movement of the young Catholic priest of Prussian Silesia at one time seemed to promise greater political and religious liberty in Europe. That it failed was due partly to the faults of the reformer, but mainly to the disagreement of the Liberals of Germany upon a matter of dogma, which prevented them from unity of action. von Rönge died in October, 1887. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem, "", commemorating von Rönge.
- Johannes Ronge war ein deutscher katholischer Priester, der wesentlich zur Gründung des Bundes Freireligiöser Gemeinden beitrug. In der Zeit des politischen Vormärz bewegte die katholische Kirche in Deutschland der aufkommende Ultramontanismus. Im Herbst 1844 schrieb Ronge einen offenen Brief an den Bischof von Trier gegen die Ausstellung des Rockes Christi, einer Reliquie, zu der über eine Million Menschen pilgerten, was Ronge als Götzenfest anprangerte. Dieser Brief, ein Offenes Sendschreiben wurde in den von Robert Blum herausgegebenen Sächsischen Vaterlandsblättern veröffentlicht. Dieser Artikel wurde tausendfach kopiert und verteilt, woraufhin sein Verfasser im gleichen Jahr von der katholischen Kirche exkommuniziert wurde. Im Januar 1845 rief Ronge in Laurahütte/Oberschlesien zur Gründung einer neuen „romfreien“ Kirche auf, die sich im März 1845 den Namen deutschkatholisch gab. Auf deren Synode 1847 waren nicht weniger als 259 Gemeinden vertreten. Diese neue Reformbewegung wurde vom liberalen Protestantismus begrüßt, später sollte es zu einer Verbindung beider Reformelemente kommen, der dann freireligiös genannten Bewegung. 1848 nahm Ronge am Frankfurter Vorparlament teil und gehörte dort zum radikal-demokratischen Flügel. Wegen seiner öffentlichen Kritik des preußischen Königs musste er 1849 nach England emigrieren, wo er 1851 Bertha Traun, geb. Meyer heiratete. 1852 gründete er in London die Humane Religionsgemeinde. Nach einer Amnestie konnte er 1861 nach Deutschland zurückkehren, setzte sich für die Schaffung einer liberalen Nationalkirche ein und versuchte auch die jüdischen Reformgemeinden für den Gedanken einer allgemeinen freien Religion zu gewinnen. Ronge war Mitglied in der Freimaurerei.
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