At a large memorial service followed by a state ceremony in the packed Frauenkirche in Munich on Saturday, people said goodbye to the late CSU politician Alois Glück. She bows to a highly esteemed parliamentarian and great politician “who did Bavaria good,” said state parliament President Ilse Aigner (CSU) in her funeral speech. Glück was a “courageous thought leader and peacemaker”. He worked for the good without much fuss and was able to mediate like no other – even between the churches. His program was to save and protect lives and to give life meaning.
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) described Alois Glück as one of the most important Bavarians in post-war history. He stood up for the weaker people and for those who could not help themselves on their own. In addition, he was already committed to environmental policy in the 1970s, when it was not yet a central policy area. He had a deep commitment to homeland and the preservation of creation. He bows to a “very great life achievement,” said Söder. “I was also impressed by his faith and his social empathy.”
Alois Glück died on February 26th at the age of 84 in a Munich clinic. The trained farmer was a member of the Bavarian state parliament from 1970 to 2008 and as its president from 2003 to 2008. From 1988 he was the leader of the state parliament CSU for a total of 15 years. Glück has been active in the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) since 1983 and was its president from 2009 to 2015. Until recently, he was also involved in numerous honorary positions, for example as honorary chairman of the Bavarian Mountain Rescue Service or in the Southeast Bavaria Hospice Network.
The President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp, said in her eulogy that Glück was a prominent, sovereign representative of Catholic civil society in Germany. “Luckily we were lucky!” This sentence was said often in the ZdK. “Because Alois Glück was competent, strategically skilled, upright in his thoughts and actions. You could rely on him.” He campaigned for the protection of unborn life, for a sustainable family policy and a dignified death with hospice and palliative care.
The Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, said in the service: “Dear Alois Glück, thank you for your testimony of life, for your testimony of faith, thank you for your service in the church, in the family, in society.” Glück was involved in a variety of ways and inspired many people with his faith and testimony. It was important to him to renew the Catholic Church. The cardinal admitted that he had to endure a lot, including a loveless tone in the church and from senior shepherds. But despite all the annoyances, Glück always carried on; he always wanted to fill up ditches and not open them up.
Numerous representatives from politics, church and society took part in the mourning ceremony in Munich’s Frauenkirche, including cabinet representatives and the Bavarian state parliament presidium. Many political companions from state and federal politics also came to the Frauenkirche, such as the former CSU chairmen Edmund Stoiber, Erwin Huber and Theo Waigel as well as the former Bundestag Presidents Norbert Lammert and Rita Süssmuth (both CDU) and the former Federal President Horst Köhler.