In the prelate's house of the Wieskirche, the house blessing is hanging crooked.
There was radio silence between Wieskurat Florian Geis and his predecessor Monsignor Gottfried Fellner.
The latter is now moving out of the shared flat on a trial basis after a good six months.
Steingaden - It could all have been so beautiful: Wiespfarrer Florian Geis and his predecessor Monsignor Gottfried Fellner together in the Prälatenhaus.
Eating together, good conversations about God and the world.
A very special residential community from which both benefit equally.
A wishful thinking that has now been shattered: Gottfried Fellner is not only moving out of the prelate's house next week, he is also leaving his years in Steingaden - after all, almost ten - behind him.
“This decision to leave here is a difficult one for me.
My dream of a community of priests in the prelate's house: It burst," Fellner explains sadly in an interview with the Schongauer Nachrichten.
“I had thought that we could celebrate together here, pray together, exchange ideas.
But this community of priests doesn't work.” A clear rejection of Florian Geis.
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Florian Geis is the current Wieskurat.
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Would he have thought it would end like this when Fellner actually wanted to spend the rest of his life in the prelate's house?
Fellner looks back at how the WG experiment started.
"My successor has asked me to remain in the great prelate's house.
I would have had a different apartment.
But I stayed - even though the diocese is very clear that the predecessors should not reside locally.” A mistake?
"It was a mistake that I didn't do that."
Fellner seems touched.
What specifically went wrong in the cooperation, in living together in the prelate's house?
He doesn't want to publicize that too much.
Just this much: “There are different pastoral concepts that repeatedly lead to conflicts.
I do not want to say more."
Fellner has not held any services in the Wieskirche since mid-March
Such “conflicts” apparently also led to Fellner not having held any services in the Wieskirche since mid-March.
"Some people ask me why.
That doesn't mean that I no longer celebrate church services, on the contrary.
In the last few weeks, I've often been assigned to the dean's office.” Only in the Wies, in consultation with Geis, did that apparently no longer work out for Fellner.
This Saturday he will hold at least one last May prayer before he says goodbye.
(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Schongau newsletter.)
Fellner looks ahead to his new home in Oberauerbach near Mindelheim.
"Where I'm going, I've already signed up for a few services.
There I can again take a position on current events in my services.
That's what believers want. And I want to give that to them.
That too has its reasons.”
Farewell is always a new beginning.
That is now in the foreground for Fellner.
Even if he doesn't want to deny: "The farewell to the people here who have become friends: It hurts me a lot.
I had very good connections here.”
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The former Wieskurat Gottfried Fellner turns his back on Wies.
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Wieskurat Florian Geis also dreamed of good relationships when he took up his post here in autumn 2021 and moved into the prelate's house with Gottfried Fellner.
Geis no longer understands the world: "There was no argument, nothing.
When I came to the Wies, Gottfried Fellner asked me if he could stay here.
Of course he can!”
Fellner moved downstairs in the prelate's house, Geis lived upstairs.
The apartment below has been remodeled.
Geis was all the more surprised by Fellner's termination.
"I found out about this from a third party." Radio silence then.
"It's a shame, I could have used him here again"
Geis emphasizes that he has always included Fellner, "I have done everything to show him that he is very welcome here".
We talked, also about how things were going in the Wieskirche.
Geis emphasizes that he celebrates normal trade fairs – without any extravagance.
Of course he has been in service for 33 years.
"I'm not a chaplain, I have my own style.
Maybe I'm a bit more baroque than him.” That in turn is a question of taste.
Geis says that he would have given Fellner every opportunity to develop as a retired pastor in Wies: looking after the pilgrims, baptisms, weddings, masses.
Fellner would have always done that great.
"It's a shame, I could have used him here."
"I'm the last one who wanted to push Gottfried Fellner out.
But of course I'm a different guy than him.
At 56, I'm a different year.
And I'm sure I have one or two quirks too." Geis regrets the current mood, which he still can't explain: "If my predecessor doesn't feel comfortable here, then I'm really sorry.
He has done well-deserved work here.”
A detailed interview with Gottfried Fellner on his farewell to Wies follows.
You can find more current news from the region around Schongau at Merkur.de/Schongau.
