Gloss of
Matthias Köpf
There are quite a few indications that the Catholic men’s association Tuntenhausen is a kind of rosary wing of the CSU or at least for a subdivision of the Christian Socials, although it has little or no overlap with the women’s union in terms of personnel. For example, the CSU Rosenheim recently invited people to the annual autumn pilgrimage of the Association to the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Tuntenhausen. This is of course solved pragmatically, because at least as far as the membership management is concerned, the Catholic Men’s Association is – to put it in church Latin – a bit retro. In any case, he didn’t know exactly how many of the 1,000 or more members in his card index are still alive. But if the CSU invites to the pilgrimage, then it will somehow reach most of the living members, and the dead will no longer come anyway. It is also clear to everyone that the autumn pilgrimage always takes place on the last Sunday in September. So this year on the day of the general election.
Such a pilgrimage to Tuntenhausen has often given “consolation and help” to this day, according to the chairman of the association, the former fire brigade commander and former Bavarian state chancellor and environment minister Marcel Huber. According to the latest polls, consolation could be needed for Huber’s party no later than 6 p.m. on election day, and the CSU could possibly need help a little earlier this time.
It is of course risky to encourage the most loyal of the faithful to go on a pilgrimage for election day, of all places. The service begins at 9 a.m., followed by the obligatory political rally. The choice of location for the rally is of course obvious with Gasthaus Schmid right next to the basilica. But after that the polling station could be difficult to reach for some well-traveled pilgrims. Perhaps it would have been safer for the CSU to include an invitation to the previous postal vote with the invitation to the pilgrimage. She shouldn’t fear that the cross would then be placed en masse by other parties.
© SZ from 09/23/2021