Cfcricafism anb Cowrnunaftsm in German Catfjoftcism

Two central characteristics of Catholicism in Southwest Germany were clericalism and communalism. Clericalism meant, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that German Catholics demanded that priests, especially resident priests, perform and sanctify church rituals. Communalism meant that village communes played a central role in the supervision of the rural clergy and in the organization of village life. These two aspects of rural Catholicism reinforced each other, especially since the desire for more, and more active, priests led communes to press for the creation of new parishes and benefices. Once new benefices were created, communes consciously retained influence over the behavior and duties of the clergymen. The clericalism and communalism of rural religion both reflect the popular appeal of "baroque Catholicism" and provide a window on the popular role in the development of modern German Catholicism.