We’ll make a big fuss if some monarch comes to town. The king of kings is always here. In every church!
By Alexander of Schoenburg
That’s what Catholics believe (if they believe). Namely in the holy Eucharist, the bread changed into the body of Christ, which is kept in Catholic places of worship (in the tabernacle).
But where else do you see people kneeling in front of such a tabernacle? In quiet devotion. Today, city dwellers prefer to go to yoga. Or meditate with incense sticks.
But there is another place in Berlin where so-called eternal worship is practiced. The monastery of St. Gabriel in Westend.
The sisters here are completely committed to prayer. They never leave the monastery. They take it in turns to pray around the clock – for the city and for concerns that local residents write to them. You can watch them, separated by a grid. And get some rest. Or pray along.
Unfortunately, one has to say that it could. The monastery will be closed on January 29th. “Young people have problems,” says the leadership of the order in Bad Driburg, Westphalia.
Since 1936, the so-called Pink Sisters at Bayernallee 31 have prayed continuously on behalf of all of us. Hidden in the basement during the war years. Even when the man who had brought them here, cathedral provost Bernhard Lichtenberg, was arrested for preaching against the Nazis and died on the way to the Dachau concentration camp.
With the decision of the leadership of the order to close the monastery and distribute the eleven remaining nuns to the two other locations of the community (in Westphalia and the Netherlands), Berlin loses the most unusual monastery far and wide.
A sad farewell service was held in the church of the Order on Tuesday evening. Celebrated by the Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch (67). “It hurts,” he said, “I was afraid of this evening. Pain and melancholy arise.”
Is there still hope? Yes and no. No, because the leadership of the order has remained stubborn despite violent protests from local residents. Are you hoping to make money by selling the building complex?
Yes, because an initiative (“Pro Kloster Gabriel”), founded by Berlin tech entrepreneur Michael Schiessl (51), is fighting to ensure that this place is at least preserved as an oasis of devotion.
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The initiative does not get much support from the Archdiocese. “I’m bitterly disappointed about that,” says Gabriele Kreten-Nothard (62), who lives a few steps away and has “found comfort here” since her husband’s death, as she tells the BZ.
Archbishop Koch gave each of the sisters a cup as a farewell gift. It has the shape of the dome of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral. In it “excellent” Berlin chocolate. A little bit for 744,600 hours of uninterrupted prayer for this city.
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