“This is something very special”

adminonJanuary 10, 2022January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

What do cathedral vicars and master of ceremonies actually do at Cologne Cathedral?? Father Jorg Stockem will be solemnly inaugurated into his new office during Sunday's pontifical Mass and reports on his future tasks.

Interviewer: Now it is time for you to say goodbye to Bornheim. How do you feel?

Father Jorg Stockem (new cathedral vicar and master of ceremonies at Cologne Cathedral): Yes, it's been a few weeks since I left. I left at the beginning of September, but the move is still to come. I started this week in Cologne, that is, I am in transition. That is of course a special situation.

Interviewer: At the request of Cardinal Woelki, you will now be the cathedral vicar at Cologne Cathedral. What are your tasks there?

Stockem: At some point, the tasks will also consist of the ceremonial service. That is, one prepares important services and then conducts them. However, the cathedral vicar Hopmann will first take over this task and slowly introduce me to it. I will focus on the second important field, first of all on the pastoral care of the cathedral.

The cathedral is not a parish church like a normal parish church, but the cathedral is entrusted to the pastoral care of the cathedral chapter, so it is taken out of the normal pastoral care. And since the cathedral chapter consists of confreres who also have other jobs, there is the vicar general in it, there are the suffragan bishops in it and so on, there is the cathedral pastoral care, in which I now then cooperate.

And yes, in this cathedral chaplaincy there are a lot of things that you know from the parish as well. There is a first communion preparation, a confirmation, the normal liturgy. But of course there are also many things that run en passant, because if it's not just Corona lockdown, then up to 20 people are running.000 people in the cathedral. There is also a lot of confession in the cathedral. The cathedral is a pilgrimage church. That is something different from what I have come to know as a parish priest.

Interviewer: What experience can you draw on for your new tasks, then, or what is new for you then?

Stockem: I think that the classic catechesis, first communion, confirmation, the liturgy, the altar servers, which also exist in the cathedral, these are things that one knows, that one can also do. As a chaplain and pastor, I have already done quite a bit, I have been a priest for 15 years.

What is new, I think, is that which is connected with the function of the cathedral church, also the pilgrimage church, i.e. the Three Kings, to whom the great cathedral pilgrimage in September always leads. And also the special environment of the cathedral. Because the cathedral is not just a church like all the others, but is something like the center of Cologne, the center of the Rhineland.

Many people also identify with the cathedral, feel at home there. Your heart will swell when you see the silhouette from afar. That is also great for a priest. You know that you have been consecrated there. It is already something very special to be allowed to work at the cathedral.

Interviewer: You will also be the master of ceremonies. Not yet immediately, but then introduced. What do you have to take care of in your function?

Stockem: It is a matter of preparing important masses and high masses, especially with Cardinal Woelki, who as archbishop will of course also celebrate important masses. That means I get the procedures on my desk, have to approve them, perhaps also have to consult with the cardinal, would you like it this way or that, have to coordinate with the cathedral music. What is sung where? Which choir pieces will be inserted and how then?

Then there are procedure books, which have to be proofread. That is the whole preparation. Arrangements also with the sextons, with the altar servers and so on. And then you also have to stand in the cathedral and make sure that what has been prepared goes well. Well, you stand in the middle in this typical outfit of the cathedral vicars, with this black mozetta with the red buttons, and in case of doubt you have to wave to the people, give signals and tell them what's happening now and what's next.

Interviewer: In the future there will also be a connection to the cathedral music.

Stockem: Yes, the Dommusik is an institution of the Cologne Cathedral. There are quite a few choirs. However I heard now in the first discussion that the Domdechant Kleine there first of all the connections to takes over. But of course they will always meet and have to deal with each other. That is already correct.

Interviewer: Her inauguration will take place solemnly with a pontifical mass in Cologne Cathedral, of course under Corona conditions. How will you celebrate this day?

Stockem It is only possible in a very limited way, because the reception, which was supposed to be afterwards, unfortunately had to be canceled. And I've planned at least one more meeting with my parents afterwards, that we'll have lunch together. Unfortunately, that is all we can do at the moment. So I had to cancel all the relatives and friends and said, we'll do it when Corona is through.

The interview was conducted by Katharina Geiger.

Since the Middle Ages, travelers have been offered places of rest and devotion. Today we will make a stop at and in the highway church "St. Paul Wittlich" in the diocese of Trier with pastoral counselor Petra Jung of the Wittlich deanery.

Interviewer: Your church St. Paul is located in Wittlich in the Eifel and has a direct connection to a highway, namely the A1. But the church has another connection to the highway. Which is?

Petra Jung (pastoral officer of the Wittlich deanery): The interesting thing is that this highway church, commemorates those who had to create this highway in the period between 1939 and 1942 under inhumane conditions. These were the prisoners of Hinzert concentration camp. In Wittlich there were two satellite camps, one for men and another for women. They were forced to do this work at the risk of their lives. Then the sponsoring association looked for a way of remembering and came up with the Wittlich artist Sebastian Langner, who created a memorial next to the entrance door on the outside wall.
Interviewer: St. Paul himself has a troubled past, however, because it is a former monastery church and was saved, so to speak. But it was not officially built until 1969. How does this go together?

Young: Immediately next to the church you can see a large building almost like a castle. This was the former monastery of the Steyler missionaries. The small oratory was no longer large enough for the number of visitors, who also came from the surrounding area. The Steyl missionaries themselves ran a boarding school on the grounds, so I imagine that the space just wasn't enough anymore. Then around 1969-70 this modern church building was created, which is really very beautiful to look at.

Interviewer: The church is maintained by the sponsoring association with about 200 active people. What is the main task of the association??

Young: The association maintains this church of course. After the departure of the Steyler missionaries in 2004, the grounds, the monastery church, the monastery building and the fields became the property of a real estate company, which mainly bears the financial costs, while the sponsoring association receives a subsidy of approximately 1.400 – 1.500 euros a month to carry. Especially active is a group of about 50 people, who take over all necessary services. A highway church has to be open from eight in the morning until 8 in the evening. There is a closing service, there is a technical management, administration, floral services and liturgical services with sexton, organist and lector. The diocese has withdrawn completely from the financing and this must be carried now everything.

Interviewer: How often do you encounter travelers who take this time out from the stress of the highway?

Young: There is a lively life in the church. You can always see the tree of lights in front of the Taize cross, with lighted candles. It is also proved according to the study that the anonymity of these churches is appreciated. There are many visitors, including joggers, cyclists and hikers on the way. We simply want to offer a space for rest and spiritual impulses and thoughts. The crucial thing happens between God and man.

Interviewer: It is also a bike path church, not just a highway church. That is, is it located directly on a well-known bike path?

Young: It is the Maare-Mosel cycle path, which leads from the Maare in the Eifel down to the Moselle. This is a former railroad line, which now leads through scenic areas for cyclists, where you also pass through several tunnels.

Interviewer: You call your pastoral "passagere pastoral". What do you mean?

Jung: What is meant by this is that it is open to people who simply want to come in, receive impulses, take away suggestions, and sink into the art of this church. The reason for this is a large mural by the artist Werner Persy. In addition, a bookstall offers suggestions. Recently, we have a priest who is available. We are very grateful that the Steyler Missionaries always release a Father for this work, who can also be found for conversation in the churches.

The interview was conducted by Martin Molder.

She is known for her sometimes clear statements: former EKD Council Chairwoman Margot Kabmann. Now she has spoken out again and criticizes the dominance of men within the church.

Half a millennium after the start of the Reformation, a patriarchal spirit is still blowing through the Christian churches, and religions are dominated by men, said the Reformation ambassador of the Protestant Church in Germany this Saturday in Wittenberg.

"Men in huge robes still dominate the image of the church."

Qualities of both sexes needed

Male and female qualities are needed in the church, according to Kabmann.

"Only when men bake the cake for the church meeting and women leave the children with them for the afternoon has anything changed," the theologian said on the occasion of the Christian Women's Council's project presentation "Reformation is Everywhere – Women's Perspectives".

All baptized are priests, bishops and pope. Thus, he said, it is a sign of reformation that women are represented at all levels of church leadership.

However, not all Christian churches admit women to all ecclesiastical offices. "For many, this is and remains precisely the crucial question of gender justice and thus also of the equal dignity of women and men," Kabmann said.

Bishop Bode praises higher percentage of women in leadership positions

The Catholic Bishop of Osnabruck, Franz-Josef Bode, had recently pointed out the positive changes in the church because of women in leadership positions.

The number of diocesan pastoral office leaders is "a success in increasing the number of women in leadership positions," he said.

"I am pleased that at the federal level we now even have a 40 percent share of women in the leadership of a diocesan pastoral office." He hopes "that this will also encourage young women to take on responsibility and leadership roles in the church".

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