The Protestant parishes in the Würmtal have postponed their confirmation celebrations in the wake of the Corona exceptional situation - sometimes by one year. The Gauting Christ Church, on the other hand, held its confirmation at the beginning of July.
Würmtal - Like many other events, the confirmations in the Würmtal had to be postponed in the Corona crisis. Many visitors who sit closely together in full churches, the confirmands right next to each other at the altar and large celebrations in restaurants that are also full would not have been possible in Corona times. The Protestant parish of Graefelfing has therefore postponed its confirmation party to the first weekend in May of next year. “We wanted to avoid the uncertainty that would have resulted if we had only postponed the appointment to autumn or winter. Nobody knows what will be corona-dependent by then, ”says Pastor Walter Ziermann. So that the celebration in the coming year does not collide with that of the subsequent year of confirmands, it should take place a weekend later.
Lessons already advanced
The lessons of the young people of the current year were largely advanced, but not yet fully completed when the restrictions came. In February the confirmation candidates from Graefelfingen completed a weekend seminar. Pastor Ziermann said that there should be meetings and preliminary discussions before the new confirmation.
The Protestant parish of Planegg-Stockdorf would like to conduct a parent survey to find an appointment for their confirmation. "You can choose to split it up into a few smaller celebrations in late autumn or an appointment in spring 2021 when the situation is hopefully back to normal," says Pastor Thomas Krusche. The parish is based on the parents' wishes, provided that the corona situation allows them. The 63 confirmands of the parish were "shortly before the goal when the shutdown came, and of course we were all hanging in the air," said Pastor Krusche. However, the originally planned appointment was canceled early in order to give the parents a perspective regarding their plans.
Gautinger move to the Catholic Church
As early as Saturday, July 4th, the Evangelical Christ Church in Gauting would like to make up for their confirmation. “The lessons and all the preparations are not very long ago. We think that it would be a bit out of breath if we postponed the confirmation until autumn or next year and it would then simply be a little too late, ”said Anita Drexler, pastor's secretary. The celebration of over 30 confirmands is transferred to the Catholic Church of St. Benedict, which is larger.
As is common in the evangelical community, there are three services on Saturday, in which the confirmands are divided into three groups, each with about ten young people. In this way, the groups of visitors can also be kept smaller and the distance rules observed.
The Corona crisis has required a lot of flexibility from the churches.