Ringing of bells disturbs residents: protest and signature campaign

Created: 04/08/2022 05:30

By: Charlotte Borst

Even at Christmas, local residents complained about the loud bells of the St. Ulrich church.

© Dieter Michaelek

Because the bells ring more frequently on Sunday mornings, residents of the St. Ulrich church in Unterschleißheim complain.

They even threatened to call the police.

Now they have started a signature campaign.

Unterschleißheim –

The residents are bothered by the fact that since the Corona period in the new St. Ulrich church, the bell has been rung twice for the service on Sundays.

The order of service was changed and the Sunday service at 8.30 a.m. was moved from the old to the new St. Ulrich church, because the church room is larger there and the risk of infection is lower.

Now the three bells in the bell tower Am Klosterfeld call for church services on Sundays at 8.30 a.m. and 10 a.m.

The church came first

Complaints were made via the parish office, the sacristan or by e-mail to Pastor Johannes Streitberger and the parish council.

Now local residents have given emphasis to the issue with a list of signatures.

The chairman of the parish council, Stefan Hofmann, proposes a return to the old ringing rules.

"I will bring this agreement to the committees and propose it to the church administration and the pastor," he says.

But one thing is beyond question: “The church came first.

Ortisei recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.”

Pastor disappointed that there was no discussion

Pastor Johannes Streitberger reacts openly: "The old ringing order has also been approved by the municipality." He does not want to start a fundamental dispute.

"I think we have bigger problems," he says calmly.

He thinks it's a shame "that no one addresses me personally, like you do among neighbors.

I don't even know the people who complain.

Before you collect signatures, you could have talked to each other sensibly.” Like a few years ago, when a mother asked to turn off the bell at 6 a.m. in St. Korbinian in Lohhof, “we did that too,” says Streitberger.

Local residents threatened pastor with the police

The question arises as to how much tolerance church bells, as a religious and cultural asset, can claim for themselves.

Complaints about church bells are no longer uncommon in other communities, says Streitberger.

"Even the ringing at 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve for Christmas mass was a reason for some residents of St. Ulrich to complain." Also a bell ringing for peace, to which the city of Unterschleißheim, like many other Bavarian cities and communities, also attended on a Friday at 6 p.m., caused protest: "A resident immediately stood in front of the door and threatened me with the police." In St. Korbinian in Lohhof, a couple who had moved from Bogenhausen and thought the new environment would have felt disturbed should be based on his ideas.

However, that came to nothing, reports Streitberger:

find a peaceful consensus

Those who felt disturbed were probably the exception, says parish council member Johannes Rohleder (22): "There are also many who enjoy the ringing of bells." He would welcome it if a peaceful consensus was found with the old ringing order.

After the summer break, the church administration and pastor will decide whether there will be no more church bells for Sunday mass at 8:30 a.m. or whether the service will be moved back to the old St. Ulrich church.

Until then, the bells of Ortisei will be silent anyway.

The clapper of the three church bells are being reworked.