Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park

Our Council president this year, Katja Della Libera, grew up in the southwest of Germany, in a rural part of a state called Baden-Württemberg. Like everyone else around her, she was an automatic member of the state Lutheran Church as soon as she was born. Her parents did not go to church very often, but they brought her and her twin sister to the children’s church – and dropped them off. “It was as big as Augustana,” Katja said, “but just for children.” There was time together, then time in age groups, much like the church and Sunday School experience in the United States, with confirmation in 7th grade and a transition to ‘adult church’ with confirmation. Katja described the process of preparing for confirmation as “life-changing.” One change that confirmation brought was the ability to share communion with the congregation. 

Katja had a recollection of being in the church with her whole family and being invited to place a €2 coin in the cash box in the back of the church. Her sister placed the other on behalf of the family. The cash box collection was always dedicated to a charitable cause, because offerings did not support the church, taxes did. Every German still pays a 9% tax on income, unless they formally leave the church. “You can opt out, but then you can’t have anything like a baptism or a wedding,” Katja said. Her congregation was large by our standards, with 4,000 members and 300 worshiping on a Sunday. 34% of the population of Baden-Württemberg are members of a Lutheran congregation but many never set foot in church. The congregation had a council, elected by members, but they did not collect money, they only spent it. Still, the elections were a “big deal,” Katja said. Swabians (the inhabitants of her region of Germany with their own dialect and culture) are often characterized as being very careful with money, and people wanted to know that their tax money was being wisely spent. “Frugal is the nice way to put it,” Katja said with a laugh.

In high school, as her world expanded, Katja began to realize that her congregation was quite conservative. There were no women pastors, although there are many in the German Lutheran church, and the homophobia was open. After the pandemic and a financial scandal in the wider church, her parents and sister formally withdrew from membership. Since coming to Augustana, Katja found that it took awhile to become comfortable in a church again. She is still on a student salary (as a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago) so “giving sometimes feels hard.” As a student, the ideal of giving ten percent of your income to the church feels impossible. But believing in the mission of Augustana and serving on Council has made a big difference in her engagement, she said. “You see what it takes to make church happen.”