About Tag des Herrn

Tag des Herrn

Tag des Herrn is the Catholic weekly newspaper for the eastern German dioceses, published in Leipzig by the St. Benno-Verlag. Appearing since 1951, it is the diocesan paper of the Archdiocese of Berlin and the dioceses of Dresden-Meissen, Erfurt, Görlitz, and Magdeburg, with a total circulation of 25,000 copies and a lineage reaching back to the St. Bennoblatt of 1926. Its lineage goes back to the St. Bennoblatt of 1926, and during the GDR era it was one of only three Catholic newspapers permitted in East Germany, holding its ground under censorship and repression. In 2026 it celebrated its 75th anniversary as the magazine for Catholic Christians in eastern Germany, and its editorial office remains at Stammerstrasse 11 in Leipzig.

Overview

Tag des Herrn appears weekly as the diocesan newspaper for five eastern German dioceses: the Archdiocese of Berlin, which joined in April 2014, and the dioceses of Dresden-Meissen, Erfurt, Görlitz, and Magdeburg, which it has served since the reorganization of church structures after the end of the GDR in 1994. The paper covers church life in the dioceses, the Vatican, and the wider Catholic world, alongside cultural, social, and ethical topics, addressing the Catholics of a region where they are a small minority and where the paper has long been one of the few Catholic voices in public.

The newspaper's identity is inseparable from its history. Founded in difficult times, it asserted itself in a dictatorial system, resisted censorship and repression, and gave believers support and orientation, as its 75th-anniversary coverage in 2026 recalled. After more than 35 years in democratic Germany and a series of thematic, visual, and stylistic changes, it remains the magazine for Catholic Christians in eastern Germany, a companion for a community that has lived through dictatorship, reunification, and secularization.

The editorial office is in Leipzig at Stammerstrasse 11 in the 04159 district, reachable at (0341) 46 777-29 for the editorial team and (0341) 46 777-13 for subscription service. The Berlin diocesan editor is Vinzent Antal. The paper's digital home is the aus.sicht platform at aussicht.online, where its articles appear alongside those of the platform's other church publications, in a continuously updated feed that extends the weekly rhythm online.

History

The paper's roots go back to 1926, when the St. Bennoblatt began appearing as the Catholic paper of the region. The Tag des Herrn itself was founded in 1951, in the early years of the German Democratic Republic, at a time when the Catholic Church in the East operated under the close watch of a state that regarded religion with hostility. Together with the Berlin St. Hedwigsblatt and the Katolski Posol for the Catholic Sorbs, it was one of only three Catholic newspapers permitted in East Germany, and its journalists learned to write without press freedom but with imagination, as the anniversary coverage put it, navigating censorship while keeping the faith community informed and connected.

The paper survived the four decades of the GDR as a lifeline for eastern Catholics, documenting parish life, reporting on the church under socialism, and preserving a Catholic public sphere in a state that sought to marginalize it, an achievement its anniversary coverage honored as resistance through imagination. The fall of the Wall and the reunification of Germany brought a new chapter: the reorganization of church structures in 1994 made the Tag des Herrn the diocesan paper of the newly configured dioceses of Dresden-Meissen, Erfurt, Görlitz, and Magdeburg, and in April 2014 the St. Benno-Verlag of Leipzig took over the Berlin diocesan edition, adding the Archdiocese of Berlin to the paper's remit.

Since then the paper has modernized thematically, visually, and stylistically, moving onto the aus.sicht digital platform and developing its online presence, while retaining its weekly print rhythm and its role as the institutional voice of eastern German Catholicism. The 75th anniversary in 2026 was marked with a series of retrospective articles recalling the founding in difficult times, the resistance to censorship, and the paper's continuing mission.

Coverage and Content

Tag des Herrn covers the life of the five dioceses it serves: parish news, diocesan events, personnel changes, and the work of Catholic organizations. Its pages follow the church year and the rhythms of parish life, from pilgrimages to parish festivals, and they give space to the people of the church: community workers looking back on decades of service, volunteers being professionalized in new diocesan projects, and religious orders such as the Franciscan sisters of Neuzelle.

Beyond the dioceses, the paper reports on the Vatican and the universal church, on the situation of Christians in different parts of the world, and on the ethical and social questions of the day. Recent coverage has included the debate over a new law for Germany's red-light milieu, with the paper interviewing the Renovabis head Thomas Schwartz on his advocacy of the Nordic model, the professionalization of volunteering in the Dresden-Meissen diocese, and the 900th anniversary of the Lebus diocese on the German-Polish border. Cultural coverage includes theater projects, book reviews, and interviews with religious educators, and the regular "Anstoss" column offers spiritual reflection.

The paper's anniversary coverage in 2026 looked back at 75 years of accompanying eastern German Catholics, from the founding under dictatorship through the transformation years to the present, presenting the paper as a companion that has given believers support and orientation across three political systems.

The St. Benno-Verlag

The St. Benno-Verlag behind the paper is itself a product of the GDR's confessional landscape. Licensed on 25 April 1951 as the Catholic Church's publishing arm in East Germany, it was the only Catholic publisher in the GDR, bringing out the Tag des Herrn alongside the Kirchliche Amtsblatt and, in Berlin, the St. Hedwigsblatt. Its shareholders remain the eastern German dioceses of Dresden-Meißen, Erfurt, Görlitz, and Magdeburg. Beyond the weekly, the house publishes around 150 book titles a year and runs the Vivat! confessional mail-order bookshop — the publishing infrastructure that has carried eastern German Catholic journalism from the dictatorship into the present.

Organization and Ownership

Tag des Herrn is published by the St. Benno-Verlag of Leipzig, the Catholic publishing house that has produced the paper throughout its history. The editorial office is at Stammerstrasse 11 in Leipzig, with the editorial team reachable at (0341) 46 777-29 and the subscription service at (0341) 46 777-13. The Berlin diocesan editor is Vinzent Antal, reachable through the St. Benno-Verlag's Berlin contacts.

The paper serves as the official diocesan newspaper of the Archdiocese of Berlin and the dioceses of Dresden-Meissen, Erfurt, Görlitz, and Magdeburg, a role it has held since the 1994 reorganization for the four dioceses and since April 2014 for Berlin. The total circulation is reported at 25,000 copies, with trade listings giving a figure of 26,500. Financial details of the operation are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

Tag des Herrn's digital home is the aus.sicht platform at aussicht.online, where the paper's articles appear in a continuously updated feed. The platform carries the paper's diocesan reporting, cultural coverage, and spiritual columns, with articles dated and archived, and recent content from June and November 2025 and the 2026 anniversary year shows an active operation. The platform also hosts the paper's anniversary retrospectives and its regular columns.

The paper maintains the website tag-des-herrn.de as its domain, and its Leipzig editorial office can be reached by email at tdh@st-benno.de. Social media activity for the title is not documented in detail in the sources reviewed; the brand's digital presence rests on the aus.sicht platform, its domain, and the subscription service that serves the dioceses' Catholic households. The combination of the weekly print edition and the digital platform keeps the paper in weekly contact with the Catholics of eastern Germany, continuing a companionship that began in 1951 and that has now lasted three quarters of a century.