Kaiserslautern/Metropolitan Region Rhein-Neckar.The parish church of Maria Schutz in Kaiserslautern has experienced a special asset.As the first church in the diocese, she is home to a columbarium.It was on 8.December, the high festival of Mariä Conception, blessed in a pontifical office of Auxiliary Bishop Otto Georgenens and officially opened.The new appearance of the church was amazed by the worshipers.After a six-month renovation and renovation phase, her inside showed up in a fresh shine.The paint in a broken white spreads together with a skilful lighting, a warm, warm atmosphere, which envelops the sacred space.The dark benches, which shorten a lot, leave a color contrast, leave more space and support the airy principle.The main focus was on the newly built columbarium that evening.Wherever the confessionals were previously, it presents itself in five niches after a conversion in the side aisles in the side aisles.Each of them seems to be a small chapel for themselves.The pointed arches and windows support this impression.The urn walls are installed on both sides of the niches.In contrast to many others, they do not come in gray, but take up the bright room concept.
Each urn chamber adorns a ceramic plate, manufactured in a factory.The design of the surface is modeled on the window rosette over the gallery.The personal data of the deceased can be engraved on a side brass sign.A round of hollow offers a precise space for a small vase that has the parish ready.The motif of the window rosette also takes up the metal construction, which connects the urn walls to the ceiling like an airy network.Even if the urn chapels are visible, they offer privacy and a bank to linger.They are named after saints who have a special meaning in the parish.Among other things, the patronage of all churches of the parishes belonging to the parish were taken into account.With the inclusion of the columbarium into the church room, the parish continues its pastoral concept.Auxiliary Bishop Otter Georgen also took up this, who blessed the columbarium as part of the service.“The dead preceded us in faith, but they still belong to us.Here in the Church of Maria Schutz, the celebration of the Eucharist of the living and the deceased is intended.“This commemoration has now found a spatial place through the columbarium.“May the columbarium be a place where we believe that the people who have already called away have found their homeland with God.May the columbarium be a place of hope that there is a quiet and lively power that holds living and dead together ', ”the Auxiliary Bishop quoted the philosophers of religion and theologian Bernhard Welte.
For Pastor Steffen Kühn, Dean of the Deanery of Kaiserslautern, the integration of the columbarium is a further coherent implementation of the vision that the parish follows with its pastoral concept.“In addition to baptisms and weddings, funeral celebrations are also held in the church and the deceased are recorded.This closes the circle because death is also part of life.“With the Columbarium, the parish of Maria Protection meets the increasing desire for urn burials.Around 1,600 urn chambers are available.On request, neighboring chambers can be reserved, some chambers also offer space for two to three urns.Depending on the category, which is based on the place of the urn chamber, the costs for burial in the columbarium are between 2900 and 4100 euros.
In the course of the construction of the columbarium, with which the Kaiserslauterer architecture firm Bayer + Uhlig was entrusted, a lot has changed in the church.It was given a fresh coat of paint, floor and windows, the copper holes polished to high gloss and the electrical systems renewed.The organ was also subjected to a general overhaul.The former baptism chapel is now to be used for devotions in the small circle.So the baptismal font has moved out of there and now has a prominent place in the middle of the entrance area.Confederated in the side chapel in the side chapel.The Pieta that stood there can be found in the chapel of the left side ship."In the future, relatives can light a candle and hang up a picture of the deceased," explains the dean.The bronze cross way, which the profaned church st.Norbert Schmücked, found a new home in Maria Schutz.
The measures that went hand in hand with the installation of the columbarium took six months.The costs amount to 1.6 million euros, to which the diocese contributes almost 300,000 euros, said Pastor Kühn, and thus correspond to the estimated amount.An investment that is worthwhile.“Because the church gained through the columbarium.“Pastor Tilmann Grabinski from the Friedenskirche, who conveyed greetings from the Friedenskirche, who conveyed greetings from the Protestant church district.
Information about the columbarium is available at www.Columbarium-Marischutz.de
Source: Text and Photo: Friederike Jung
