In order to give as many believers as possible the opportunity to attend a church service at Christmas, the parishes are breaking new ground.
The Christmas masses and nativity scenes are streamed, cut up or moved outside.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
- The Parish Association of Bad Tölz offers no less than seven day nursery celebrations, four Christmas masses, two elderly masses and two devotions on Christmas Eve.
"The idea was to offer many smaller ones instead of one big event, so to split up the services, so to speak," says Pastor Peter Demmelmair.
Some of the nativity scenes and devotions take place outdoors - everything to offer the believers at least a bit of normalcy in times of the pandemic.
In the Lenggries parish of St. Jakob, Pastor Josef Kraller and his team have agreed on a different path.
The Christmas mass at 10 p.m. in the parish church, for example, will be broadcast live on the Internet in image and sound.
“So that there is the possibility of attending Christmas mass at least from home,” says pastoral advisor Christoph Freundl.
Due to the distance rules, there is only room for a little more than 100 believers on site.
Interested parties must register in the parish office.
“There are only very few places left,” Freundl knows.
From the point of view of the pastoral officer, the greatest challenge will be to transport the solemn atmosphere in the church into the living room at home.
To ensure that this succeeds, a test run took place last Sunday.
The three volunteers Peter Kiesel, Christopher Odemann and Jakob Fischer filmed the Sunday service with two cameras and streamed it to a few selected test subjects.
The result: "The focus must be on the quality of the music being transmitted," says Freundl.
The speakers have already been understood very well.
Such a live stream is out of the question for the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Bad Tölz.
"We have neither the technical possibilities nor the necessary know-how," says Pastor Urs Espeel.
Instead, the parish relies on open-air worship services in front of the Kurhaus.
Five church services are planned between 2.30 p.m. and 11 p.m., which Pastor Espeel will hold alternately with Dean Martin Steinbach.
Registration is not required.
“Anyone can come,” says Pastor Espeel.
But everyone must also adhere to the hygiene and distance rules that apply then.
Many other evangelical clergy in the region also rely on open-air worship services, says Pastor Espeel.
In Bad Heilbrunn, for example, Pastor Johannes Schultheiß will celebrate a family service with a nativity play in front of the Christ Church at 3:30 p.m.
At 5 p.m. there is a Christmas vesper, also in front of the church.
If the weather doesn't cooperate, they'll come up with something.
"It is unthinkable that there is no worship service," stressed Pastor Espeel.
It is not yet clear whether one of the Christmas masses will be streamed in the Bad Tölz parish association.
“I'm not against it,” says Pastor Demmelmair.
“But there are limits.” From the clergyman's point of view, it is different whether you are sitting in church on Christmas Eve at 11 p.m. or on the couch at home.
Especially since there are corresponding offers on television nationwide.
"And streaming is not environmentally friendly," says Pastor Demmelmair.
In addition, there are enough opportunities to attend a church service on Christmas Day and Christmas Day - provided the anti-corona measures are not tightened even further.
In Benediktbeuern there are already the first deviations from the original plan.
"The Christmas mass at 10 p.m. does not take place in the monastery courtyard, but in the basilica," says Pastor Heiner Heim from the parish of St. Benedict.
The crib celebration at 4 p.m. also does not take place in the monastery courtyard.
The new location has not yet been determined.
Heim promises that the congregation will be informed in good time about this and the entire service program via the local media, the homepage and the showcases.
The other parishes want to act in a similar way.
Also read:
Slipped into poverty due to illness: Elderly lady hopes for donations from the Christmas campaign
Violation of corona requirements: "Fischerwirt" in Schlehdorf receives several advertisements - and causes heated discussions on the Internet
Music school presents annual report: "You can only rely on change"
