Gudrun Kugler

Gudrun Veronika Kugler, née Lang, also known as Kugler-Lang (born 12 November 1976, Gmunden, Upper Austria) is a Roman Catholic theologian, jurist and ÖVP-member of Austria's National Council. Kugler teaches theology and is active in the anti-abortion movements[1][2][3] and works against same-sex marriage[4] and social discrimination and Persecution of Christians in Europe and worldwide.

Gudrun Kugler

Political and business activities

Kugler holds master's degrees in law and women's studies and a doctorate in International Law. In 1999 she earned her Master’s of Theological Studies on Marriage and the Family.[5][6]

From 2001 to 2004 she worked in Brussels as the first director of the World Youth Alliance-Europe[5] representing 1.5 million young people from 100 countries at the EU and UN.[7]

In January 2005, she and her husband founded Kairos-PR, a consulting company based in Vienna which focuses on charitable initiatives.[8][9]

In 2005 Kugler ran as an independent candidate for the Austrian People's Party at the Vienna municipal elections and earned the most votes after the top candidate Johannes Hahn (currently Austria's EU Commissioner).[5] In this context, abortion advocates and pro-life activists accused each other of fundamentalism.[10]

In April 2010, Kugler was elected a member of the Advisory Panel[11] of the Fundamental Rights Platform (a form of co-operation of EU Fundamental Rights Agency with NGOs), for a period of two years.[12]

In 2015 she was elected to the Viennese municipal council for the ÖVP due to 1.652 preference votes received.[13]

In October 2017 she stunned political observers when in the legislative elections her electoral district Vienna North, a traditional social-democratic stronghold, returned the highest increase in votes with more than +9%. As the top candidate for this district, Kugler won a direct seat in the National Council. She also received the second-most preference votes of all regional ÖVP-candidates in Vienna.[14]

Christian activities

Together with other Christian intellectuals Kugler founded "Europe for Christ!", an initiative to encourage Christians to be aware of their responsibilities in the political forum. She also established the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe, www.intoleranceagainstchristians.eu.[5][8][15][16]

Kugler attended the first meeting of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on "intolerance and discrimination against Christians" as a representative of the Documentation Centre.[12]

Kugler has stated that "intolerance against Christians by negative stereotyping and discrimination by denial of rights are on the rise".[17]

Since 2008 Kugler has taught as an adjunct professor at the International Theological Institute in Vienna, Austria.[5][18] She founded and ran the youth academy of the Dr.-Karl-Kummer-Institute.[5] In 2010, she and Denis Borel edited the book "Entdeckung der Freundschaft" (German: the discovery of friendship) in honor of the 65th Birthday of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.[19][20]

Together with her husband, Kugler founded the catholic marriage bureau "kathTreff".[21][22]

In 2019, Kugler held a speech at the event of "Awakening Austria" in which she hinted at same-sex marriage being "something arbitrary" (German: "etwas Beliebiges").[23] The event was held during the election campaign of ÖVP-chancellor Sebastian Kurz and received public attention as Ben Fitzgerald (founder of "Awakening Europe") called the thousands of attendants to pray for Kurz' election.[24][25][26]

Sociopolitical stance

Kugler wants registrars in Vienna to be able to refuse the establishment of registered partnerships with reference to their Christian faith. She is a supporter of the American officer Kim Davis who refused to issue marriage certificates to homosexual couples due to her Christian faith. Davis temporarily had to go to jail for this. For Kugler, Davis is a prime example of modern day Christian persecution. Kugler further argues that the authentication of same-sex marriage would consequently lead to marriage among siblings.[27]

Awards

Kugler received the Leopold Kunschak Prize for her dissertation, and the prize of the foundation "Ja zum Leben" (German: "'yes' to life") for her work in Brussels.[5][7]

In 2018, Kugler received the "Thomas More Award" by the International Catholic Legislators Network.[28]

Private life

In the early 2000's, Gudrun Kugler's husband was the former spokesperson of the Austrian branch of the conservative catholic association Opus Dei.[29][30]

Gudrun Kugler has four children.[31]

Publications
  • Kugler, Gudrun; Borel, Denis (edited for the international theological institute): Entdeckung der Freundschaft : von Philia bis Facebook, 2010, Freiburg, Br. ; Basel ; Wien : Herder, ISBN 978-3-451-30343-2
  • Kugler, Gudrun; Beller, Tilman: Hat Gott auch einen Plan für mich, KathTreff.org, April 2009[5][20][32][33]
  • Kugler, Gudrun: Family – Answer to Many Questions, World Youth Alliance, August 2004[34]
  • Lang, Gudrun V.; Strohmer, Michael [Editor]; Klestil, Thomas [Preface]: Europa der Grundrechte? : Beiträge zur Grundrechtecharta der Europäischen Union ; mit einem Geleitwort des Bundespräsidenten der Republik Österreich, Februar 2003, Bonn : Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, ISBN 3-932829-61-1
  • Lang, Gudrun V. [Editor]; Symposium im Gedenken an die Widerstandsgruppe Weiße Rose zum 60. Todestag von Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst München 2003 ; European Youth Alliance: Helden der Menschenwürde : Texte zum Symposium im Gedenken an die Widerstandsgruppe „Weisse Rose“ zum 60. Todestag von Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, Bonn : Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft: Edition pro mundis ; Bd. 11, 2003, ISBN 3-932829-75-1
  • Essays and Articles

References
  1. "Pro-Life-Aktivistin kandidiert für Wiener ÖVP - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  2. "Behindertenanwalt Buchinger: Abtreibung von behinderten Kindern unerträglich – Gudrun Kugler" (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  3. "Die Presse: Mein Leserbrief zur „neuen Debatte über Abtreibung" – Gudrun Kugler" (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  4. ""Christliche Aktivistin" in Wiener ÖVP sorgt für Aufregung - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  5. "MMag. Dr. Gudrun Kugler, MTS". Kairos Consulting. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  6. "The Battle for Human Dignity". Internationales Theologisches Institut. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  7. "Preisgekrönter FAZ-Redakteur" (PDF). Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle e. V. (ALfA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  8. "Der Kampf um die Menschenwürde". Internationales Theologisches Institut. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  9. "Dr. Gudrun Kugler, Biografie". www.parlament.gv.at (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  10. Gudrun Kugler-Lang (2006-02-14). "Das "F-Wort" mit dem langen Bart". Wiener Zeitung. Archived from the original on 2006-02-23. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  11. http://194.30.12.221/fraWebsite/networks/frp/advisory-panel/panel_en.htm
  12. "Closing of the 3rd Fundamental Rights Platform meeting with civil society organisations (16/04/2010)". Facebook. Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA). 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
  13. "Wien: Korosec bleibt dank Vorzugsstimmen im Gemeinderat". 2016-10-12. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  14. "Grundmandat geschafft!". Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  15. Hedwig von Beverfoerde (2009-06-23). "Wachsende Diskriminierung von Christen in OSZE-Staaten". Sven von Storch; Freie Welt. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  16. "Report of OSCE/ODIHR Roundtable" (PDF). OSZE. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  17. APA (2009-05-28). "250 Millionen Christen wegen ihres Glaubens verfolgt". Die Presse. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  18. "Gudrun Kugler curriculum vitae". Internationales Theologisches Institut : Hochschule für Katholische Theologie. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  19. "Kardinal : Die Brüder Schönborn". Bayerischer Rundfunk. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-05-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. "Partnersuche auf katholisch – in Zeiten der Isolierung - Vatican News". www.vaticannews.va (in German). 2020-04-21. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  22. Pühringer, Marco (2019-06-18). "Religiöse Radikale beten für Kurz - das ist nicht der einzige Kontakt zum rechten christlichen Rand". Kontrast.at (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  23. "Meine Rede bei Awakening Europe – Gudrun Kugler" (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  24. "derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  25. "Interview mit Gudrun Kugler". GLAUBE.at (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  26. Prüller, Dr Michael. "Kommunikationschef Prüller zu "Awakening Austria"". www.erzdioezese-wien.at (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  27. ""Christliche Aktivistin" in Wiener ÖVP sorgt für Aufregung - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  28. "Kugler erhält Ehrung des International Catholic Legislators Network – Gudrun Kugler" (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  29. Fabian Schmid, Katharina Mittelstaedt (18 June 2019). "Mails und Gebete beschäftigen Kurz". Der Standard. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  30. "Opus Dei - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  31. "Dr. Gudrun Kugler, Biografie". www.parlament.gv.at (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  32. https://www.kathtreff.org/impressum.html
  33. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-05-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  34. https://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.katalikai.lt%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D6%26nid%3D1673&sl=lt&tl=de
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