Heinrich Soffel is the new Protestant dean in the Oberland.
Now he was giving his first sermon - in a Catholic church.
Bad Tölz - His explicit invitation can be called challenging: The new Protestant dean and pastor Heinrich Soffel called on him to call, he always wanted to make a conversation possible as soon as possible.
In his first sermon in Bad Tölz on Sunday, he not only demonstrated his affinity for physics, but also his vision of the current challenges facing the church.
For reasons of space, Protestants move to the Franciscan Church
So that as many believers as possible could take part in the inauguration of the dean, the service was moved to the Catholic Franciscan Church.
So many evangelical clergymen have probably never moved in there.
The start of the “Soffel era”, as one speaker called it, was all about ecumenism.
Guests from Passau and Pfarrkirchen, his last stop, had come.
In the speeches held after the service it became clear that some of them were extremely reluctant to give Heinrich Soffel.
The others, i.e. the Tölz representatives from the clergy and politics, are looking forward to the new companion.
He briefly summed up the situation of his church: "There is a strong tendency to leave."
Heinrich Soffel affirmed his assumption of office in a loud, firm voice and had regional bishop Christian Kopp put down the decan's cross.
Visibly trusting and grateful, the new dean then accepted the blessings from five people he had asked for.
Among them was Stefan Seligmann from the Tölz church council.
Heinrich Soffel said in his sermon that he had moved ten times in over 50 years.
He wants to pass on his basic trust in the good.
“The common path begins with simple means, namely with the next step,” said the 55-year-old.
He briefly summed up the situation of his church: “There is a strong tendency to leave.
We have to change quickly. ”Because it is easy to be a Christian today without a church.
In doing so, he enumerated many religious communities into which the Protestant church was fraying.
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The new dean Heinrich Soffel wants to fight against the fact that more and more people are leaving the church.
© Botzenhart
His foresight was remarkable: it went back thousands of years and was light years away.
Heinrich Soffel showed great skill in planetary science and physics.
The symbol of his arrival was very catchy again, namely a small fish, Ichthys, the symbol of recognition of the first Christians, which was on every seat.
"Everyone fits together, in the end there would be a big carpet," he explained.
"Because we all belong together."
Trust is particularly important in times of change
The Catholic parish priest Peter Demmelmair, who participated alongside Peter Priller from the Old Catholics, said that the denominational unity is greater than the divisive.
But in therapy the difficulty triumphs.
He was open to find answers to the challenges facing the churches together.
The Catholic invited the whole Soffel family to a personal tour of the church through Bad Tölz.
District Administrator Josef Niedermaier and Tölz Mayor Ingo Mehner also looked forward to joint discussions.
The church has in common with local politics "that nobody really believes us anymore," said the district administrator.
But trust is particularly important in times of change.
Birgit Botzenhart
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