As of: March 10, 2024, 10:02 a.m
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To be sold: the Church of the Sorrowful Mother of God in Lispenhausen with its outbuildings.
© Silke Schäfer-Marg
Curious: A Catholic church in Hesse and its outbuildings are for sale.
The ensemble is offered online for 395,000 euros in classified ads.
Lispenhausen - It is simple, architecturally unusual and has towered over the Lispenhausen district of Rotenburg for 60 years: the Catholic Church of the Sorrowful Mother of God.
Now she has become a bargain on classified ads.
For 395,000 euros you can buy the church with its building-high, luminous Jesus mosaic made of broken glass blocks, including a former sexton's house and a small monastery building.
The offer will remain available on the online sales marketplace until mid-March, say Pastor Andreas Schweimer and the deputy chairman of the administrative board of the St. Franziskus Bebra-Rotenburg parish, Reinhold Kempf.
So far there have been 19 specific inquiries and several potential buyers have already viewed the structural ensemble on site.
Several people interested in church - inquiries via classified ads
They hope for a sensible future use of the church and its outbuildings: Pastor Andreas Schweimer, left, and the parish's deputy chairman of the administrative board, Reinhold Kempf.
© Silke Schäfer-Marg
Why do you offer a church for sale via a classified ad?
Reinhold Kempf reports on the positive experiences of other parishes when selling their buildings on the classifieds platform.
“We would also like to save on brokerage fees,” he admits.
That's why he simply advertised.
Pastor Schweimer points to bare numbers: there are currently 155 Catholics in Lispenhausen, only one woman from the largest district of Rotenburg attends the monthly mass in the white church on Schützenweg.
The remaining, very few believers who attend this appointment come from the surrounding towns.
It is a special feature of the actually young church: the Pieta dates from the 17th century and is in a small chapel in the church.
© Silke Schäfer-Marg
Those interested in classified ads church already have ideas for use
A total of 2,700 Christians belong to the parish, compared to 3,500 twelve years ago. “Most of them have died,” says Reinhold Kempf.
“There were fewer people leaving.” The sheep live on a large, widely ramified area: “From Heinebach to Hönebach, from Cornberg to Blankenheim,” is how Pastor Schweimer describes the area in which he works as a pastor.
There are church buildings in Bebra and Rotenburg as well as in Cornberg.
And in Lispenhausen.
Too many buildings for too few believers.
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The church for sale offers space for around 80 worshipers.
The associated former sexton's house, in which a large refugee family from Ukraine currently lives, is for sale.
Four older brothers from the Imshausen community live in a small connecting building that was built in 1980 and served as a monastery.
They also take care of the outdoor facilities and celebrate their services in the church in the summer.
In winter it is too cold for them there.
They don't want to heat the house specifically, as one brother explains.
It hasn't been used for a long time: the confessional of the Catholic Church.
© Silke Schäfer-Marg
Potential buyers who looked at the ensemble had different ideas for its use - the initial plans were as a practice for physiotherapy, as a living space into which a false ceiling would be installed.
Pastor Schweimer and Reinhold Kempf could also imagine using it as a gallery or artist's studio.
Maybe someone can also take advantage of the recognized good acoustics.
“But we deliberately did not mention any requirements or restrictions.
We are excited to see what ideas those interested come up with.” The sacred and art objects are to be brought to other churches after the so-called profanization, i.e. desecration.
The Way of the Cross was made of slate by the Bottrop artist Theo Worpenberg and consecrated in 1976.
© Silke Schäfer-Marg
The diocese has model contracts under which “immoral” use is excluded.
If the advertisement does not lead to the sale of the church and outbuildings, the board of directors will discuss what options can still be taken, explains Kempf.
Pastor Schweimer calls the sales process painful.
For him, the Lispenhäuser Church is the most beautiful in his area of work.
“There is also a historical connection to the place,” he knows.
Today we still know about the nuns of the Clarissen Capuchin Order and the school sisters, who lived next to and in the church for almost 40 years.
The community room in the basement of the church was used for a variety of purposes, including as a classroom in the former elementary school or as a youth room and for disco evenings.
Of course, the memories remain even after the sale.
In 1962 the snow-white building was designed by architect Josef Westermeier
Father Maurus Hackmann from the Catholic parish of St. Marien Bebra initiated the construction of the Catholic church in Lispenhausen.
The church was financed by the Bebra community, the Bonifatius Association, the Diaspora Children's Aid, a private foundation as well as the Guardian Angel Association and the diocese, according to a chronicle.
In 1962 the snow-white building was designed by architect Josef Westermeier (Hamm).
The Bebra company Witzel and helpers from the International Building Order of the Catholic Church began work in the spring of 1963.
On May 31, 1964, the building was consecrated by Cathedral Chapter Paul Purschel.
In 1976 the church received a new coat of paint inside.
The Way of the Cross designed by Theo Worpenberg was also consecrated this year.
The white church's works of art also include a Pieta from the 17th century.
(Silke Schäfer-Marg)