Why the ZöFra?
There are a lot more priests having
love-affairs than the public is awrae of.
For the women concerned, that means :
a lot of open questions moral conflictssense of guilthidden life and love Fear from being discovered Loneliness
Fear from the future
Wat for ?
Twice a year, we offer discussion groups in a protected environment.
We would like to encourage women in this difficult situation to put an end to their silence and loneliness.
We would like to help each other to let go of the fears and feelings of guilt, so that a new self-awareness can grow.
Part of the group is also acting outwards, supporting our issues in the public.
In 1987, Katharina Thomas-Kanka, who had first been a German member of the "Initiative for women victim of the priests' celibacy" for 5 years, moved to Switzerland and tried to build a network there.
From 1994 on, Gabriella Loser Friedli took responsibility for the coordination. 1995 was a turning-point, as the bishop Hansjörg Vogel was recognized to be a father. Large parts of the public became more aware of the issue of the celibacy of priests then, and a structure could be established. In May,1997, Katharina Thomas-Kanka resigned from her post of president for health reasons. On the 23rd of September, 2000, the ZöFra formed into an association.
0n the 9th of March,2001, the ZöFra was granted the Herbert Haag-Stiftung price for "Liberty within the Church".
On the 17th of May, 2001, the ZöFra became member of the Schweizerischen Katholischen Frauenbundes and was welcomed by its Delegate Assembly.
The ZöFra is a self-help group for women who find themselves in a difficult
situation because of their love-affair with a priest or women who are still
suffering from the aftermath of their relation.
Because these relation were oft kept secret for a long time, women are happy
to be able to talk to each other in a safe environement.
It is then possible to encourage them to put an end to their silence and
loneliness, to break down their fears and feelings of guilt, so that they
can allow a new self-awareness to grow and, maybe, so that they can
find solutions to master their difficult life situation.
The group's action is directed toward the public, on the one hand, with the aim to make known the issue of the celibacy of priests to the largest audience and, on the other hand, to the clerical decision-makers, so that human solutions can be found for couples who infringed the vows of celibacy and who then lose any subsistence base [all the more because many women were working for the church] as soon as they publicly stand up for their relationship .
The Zöfra is
especially keen to keep an eye on the legal field.
As, for understandable reasons, most of the women concerned have to stay off
the public life [and, therefore, cannot go to public offices and advice
centers, for example], they are always really afraid to try and find out
what options they have.
And if their life situation is difficult on top of that, from the emotional
point of view, they often lack the courage to make legal arrangments.
The ZöFra would like the priests to be able to freely chose whether they want to take the vows of celibacy or not in the long run and is devoted to smooth away the ambiguity of the clerical hierarchy.
Organisatory Structure of the Zöfra
The organisatory structure of the ZöFra is threefold :
intense network of communication between the individuals concerned [there are regional contacts in the German speaking part of Switzerland in Aarau, Basel, Bern, Winterthur, Luzern, Zürich]
bi-annual conventions in the German speaking part of Switzerland
The comity is composed of 4 women, who meet aprox. 6 times a year to accomplish an efficient, a qualified and a targeted work, both in term of structural matters and public relations.
The commitment is voluntary. The money put up for administrative tasks comes from the contributions paid by the people concerned as well as from donations.
Publications by the ZöFra
The ZöFra is producing thematic brochures since 1998, amongst which: "Who are we?", "Legal issues?" and "Books & Videos": french or german.
Psychological help
further informations are available at: ZöFra-Schweiz, Postfach 26, 1746 Prez-vers-Noréaz, or E-Mail: zoefra@kath.ch
Links to other groups:
The ZöFra is in contact with the following groups: