Würzburg theology: Events at the Katholikentag

The Katholikentage are one of the largest regular events of church life in Germany. They usually take place every two years in different cities and offer space for exchange, encounters, prayer and socio-political discussion - open to people of all denominations and world views.

Under the motto "Have courage, stand up!", a quote from the Gospel of Mark, the Würzburg Katholikentag from Wednesday, 13 May, to Sunday, 17 May 2026, invites people to engage with current social and ecclesiastical issues.

These include topics such as peace and justice, climate protection, social responsibility, cohesion in a diverse society and the transformation of the church. The Faculty of Catholic Theology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg is organising several workshops on these topics at the Katholikentag.

The workshops organised by the Faculty of Catholic Theology

The theology workshops deal with urgent theological and socio-political topics:

• What perspective does Christian social ethics bring to the debate on environmental protection and climate change?
• How do we deal with extreme positions in the church community?
• How are views of God, man and the world changing and what position does current dogmatics take?
• How does the church deal with power and the abuse of power and what contribution must theology make to this?
• How is AI changing our perception and how should modern religious education respond to this?

The liturgy workshops will focus on current debates in liturgical science, such as the role of laypeople or shrinking congregations. Other questions to be discussed are: What does a liturgy that follows the idea of creation look like? Will the social media service come after the television service? And how can liturgy also reach young target groups?

The liturgy workshops will be followed by church services that put into practice what was discussed in the workshops.

Stand on the church mile

From Thursday, 14 May to Saturday, 16 May, a church mile will run through the entire city. The JMU Faculty will be sharing a stand with the Faculty of Catholic Theology, the umbrella organisation for all theological faculties and institutes in Germany. The association has been chaired by Professor Matthias Reményi, Head of the JMU Chair of Fundamental Theology and Comparative Religious Studies, since the beginning of 2026.

If you would like to visit the faculty stand, you will find it at Talavera. The stand number is: MW-Q-05 in the Lifeworlds section. All stands are marked on a map on the Katholikentag website.

Offer for students

In order to inspire not only theology students for theological topics, the faculty has set up an accompanying study programme: a group of 25 students from other subjects have dealt with specific topics in three preparatory sessions. The group will attend events at the Katholikentag and reflect on them critically.

To the programme

All formats with dates of the Faculty of Catholic Theology for the Katholikentag are compiled on the homepage.

The complete programme is available on the Katholikentag website. Day or season tickets are available directly from the Katholikentag (online and on site).