For years he was one of the most striking personalities of German Catholicism: Archbishop Johannes Dyba of Fulda, who died ten years ago today. With his positions on homosexuality and abortion, he did not only make friends – a popular head pastor he was nevertheless – or just because of it.
The huge space of the church was filled to the brim; even outside on the cathedral square, thousands were still crowding in. Ten years ago, many of the mourners furtively wiped a tear from their eyes when the sarcophagus of Fulda Archbishop John Dyba was laid to rest in the St. John's Chapel of the cathedral. Church, state and Vatican diplomacy took leave of one of the most striking personalities of German Catholicism. At the news of the completely unexpected cardiac death of the Chief Shepherd on 23. July 2000, even many who had been critical of the conservative felt that with the 70-year-old an important voice of German Catholicism had fallen silent.
An eventful life John Dyba – a life story as moving as German history. Born in 1929 in Berlin Wedding, childhood in the neighborhood, Hitler dictatorship, high school graduation in Eichsfeld, the Catholic island of Luther's Thuringia, post-war experiences with the "red-coated Nazis," the Communists, flight to the West, law studies in Bamberg. There he was a fraternity student, a campaigner for the CSU, a guest student in the USA, and after his return he passed his state exams and received his doctorate in law in Heidelberg: a model career, without question. But it should come quite differently. In the summer of 1953, Dyba asked to be admitted to the seminary of the Archdiocese of Cologne, in whose cathedral Cardinal Frings ordained him six years later. Only briefly, however, was his assignment as priest on the spot: Frings released the highly qualified jurist as well as theologian for service in the church leadership in Rome.
Traveled far for Rome But even there Dyba stayed only for a short time. Pope Paul VI. assigned the prelate from Germany new tasks in the diplomatic foreign service of the Holy See: Argentina, the Netherlands, Congo, Egypt, Guinea and Sierra Leone were Dyba's stations, to whom his "superior", Cardinal Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli, had in the meantime conferred episcopal ordination and the personal title of "archbishop" customary for nuncios. Especially in Africa, the 1960s and 70s were a wild time, in which Dyba once offered himself as an exchange hostage to rebels and thus saved human lives. It came as a great surprise to him that his diplomatic career did not last long either. The cathedral chapter of Fulda elected him as successor to Bishop Eduard Schick – an office he held until his death, as well as the additional one of military bishop of the German Armed Forces.
Controversial in Germany In Germany, after his absence, Dyba encountered a church and society that were under constant fire from secularism. In this situation, he even opposed his brother bishops in the Bishops' Conference when they made compromises that were forbidden to his convictions. This was particularly evident when he became, initially, the only chief shepherd in the country to withdraw from the state's system of conflict counseling for pregnant women, whose confirmation certificates for conflict counseling – despite the associated plea for the child's right to life – were, for Dyba, "licenses to kill". His position won out when Pope John Paul II became. ordered the exit. Again and again, the archbishop spoke out against the equal treatment of homosexual partnerships with marriage – and thus repeatedly provoked sharp criticism. His dream of a joyful but steadfast community in the faith has been rudimentary in the young churches of the world. He said that when he crossed the street in Liberia wearing a cassock, young people would often come up to him, shake his hand and say with pride and joy, "Father, I'm a Catholic too!"- "And here?", he added: "Here they change sides of the street, just to avoid having to look you in the face."