Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality of the Diocese of Limburg

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Tower building of the church of the Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality
Logo of the Diocese of Limburg

The Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality of the Diocese of Limburg is a profile church of the Diocese of Limburg for church services , contemplation , meditation courses , days of reflection, retreats , spiritual discussions and other events such as concerts . The meditation church is located in Frankfurt - Bornheim in the housing estate above the Bornheimer slope in the rooms of the Holy Cross Church .

The Holy Cross Church houses one of five themed churches in the Limburg diocese. These are also the Center for Mourning Pastoral Care in the Church of St. Michael in Frankfurt-Nordend, also founded in 2007, and the three youth churches Crossover, founded in 2005, in the Church of St. Hildegard in Limburg an der Lahn , Jona in the Church of St. Bonifatius in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen and Kana in the Maria-Hilf church in Wiesbaden-Nordost .

history

Meditation area in the church crypt
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Löhr in 2012 at the center's five-year anniversary
Cretan Advent labyrinth made of 2500 burning tea lights on December 15, 2012 in the church
Creation and use of the advent maze 2013
"Tram of silence" 2013 M-carriage 102 of the VGF
Compositions of light, words and music during the Luminale 2014 in the Frankfurt Cathedral with the youth church JONA

In 2004, the then bishop of the Limburg diocese, Franz Kamphaus, carried out a visitation trip through the parishes in Frankfurt am Main. One result was that many people seek spiritual experiences and an encounter with God, but do not find access to a conventional church community.

On January 15, 2007, Bishop Franz Kamphaus signed the certificate for the establishment of a center for Christian meditation and spirituality in the Holy Cross Church in Frankfurt-Bornheim. This document came into effect on July 1, 2007.

Like the Church of St. Michael , in which the center for mourning pastoral care of the Diocese of Limburg is located, the Holy Cross Church is now a branch church of the parish church of St. Josef in Frankfurt-Bornheim.

The center is a pastoral institution of the diocese and reports to the department head for pastoral services of the episcopal ordinariate (status 11/2019: Hildegard Wustmans). The Franziskaner Helmut Schlegel ( German Franciscan Province ) was responsible for the offer until July 2018 as head of the center and until June 2019 as a priestly employee. In November 2018 Samuel Stricker took over the management of the meditation center and in August 2019 Olaf Lindenberg took over the position of priestly assistant. Helmut Schlegel was a priestly employee of the center until mid-June 2019. The team includes other speakers , including those from the Medical Mission Sisters . It was the first facility of its kind in Germany .

The centre's program had to be suspended in March 2020 because all church services in Germany and therefore all other events had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany . However, at certain times the church is open to a limited number of people for meditation. In May, services were resumed on Saturdays under special conditions.

program

The offer of the house is Christian , but is aimed at people of all denominations , world views and cultures . The team publishes a program every year. In and from the center there are usually services in various forms, including elements such as expressive dance , meditation courses, contemplative prayer, Zen meditation evenings, days of reflection, retreats , spiritual discussions , special events such as lectures by various guest speakers such as Anselm Grün , meditations with the Soto - Zen priest and veteran of the Vietnam War Claude AnShin Thomas , offered external events such as retreats on the North Sea island of Wangerooge or sailing retreats and other events. The meditation center also participates in the Ecumenical Church Congress in May 2021 in Frankfurt am Main.

These include or included a series of events such as training days of Christian mysticism , meditative singing , meditative archery , a men's discussion group, spiritual city walks, the topics Frankfurt tour guide with spiritual themes connect or pilgrims - walks with a common picnic and devotions . Individual events complete the program. For the first time in 2013, this included trips under the motto “Tram of Silence” with a tram - railcar of the VGF , the most important elements of which are silence with short, well-measured impulses to see, hear, feel and smell .

The dialogue between cultures and religions in the field of meditation and spirituality is another important element of the work of the center. So far, this has also included panel discussions with representatives of Buddhists , Hindus , Muslims and Christians on the art of meditation with personal reports from the various religions. Other examples are or were courses in Qi Gong , Yoga and Yoga Nidra or dance performances of a Father of the Indian Jesuits , the elements of traditional meditative dances such as Bharatanatyam from Hinduism as a kind of prayer goes to God.

To initiate the third Advent Sonntages on the preceding Saturday for the first time 2011 was Advent - Labyrinth of Cretan designed pattern of 2,500 tea lights, which was also part of a church service and could be committed.

At the Luminale 2014, the center, in cooperation with the youth church JONA in Frankfurt Cathedral, offered a meditation with words and music together with light and sound .

The concerts so far have included performances of the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms or meditative music from the Middle Ages by and after Hildegard von Bingen , Abelard and Hrabanus Maurus .

remodeling

Small changes were gradually implemented in the interior of the church until 2010. The previous pews were replaced by folding chairs, which enable more flexible use of the available space. The previous main altar is no longer in use and its function has been replaced by a small wooden altar that forms a circle with the folding chairs. For barrier-free access to the church interior or other rooms, stair lifts or wheelchair ramps were installed. The former crypt and the rooms of the former rectory were redesigned to be used as a meditation center. In the crypt, among other things, the floor was covered with parquet and the actual meditation area was delimited by sheets of linen and provided with a door frame made of wood as access.

Church and parish

The center is located in the parish of the Catholic parish St. Josef Frankfurt am Main , which has been a new type of parish since January 1, 2015, in whose parish there are four churches as so-called church locations and two churches as so-called profile churches . One of these profile churches is the Holy Cross Church, which belongs to the center and is used for the center's services and events. The buildings are administered by the Stadtkirche Frankfurt am Main. There is a lively cooperation between the parish of St. Josef and the center.

Since the restoration of the interior of the Leonhardskirche began , the services of the local international English-speaking congregation have been taking place in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche since May 7, 2011. This remains at home in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche even after the work is finished.

Transport links

The Holy Cross Church is from the tram terminus Ernst-May-place the line 14 in the Wittelsbacherallee in about a minute and from that of the light rail - U7 the Frankfurt U-Bahn approached Metro Station Eissporthalle / Festplatz in just a few minutes' walk away. The Frankfurt-Ost junction of the 661 federal motorway is also nearby .

Way of St. James

A branch of the German Way of St. James runs below the Bornheimer slope to the east of the church . This is based on the course of the historic long-distance trade route from Leipzig to Frankfurt am Main ( Des Reiches Strasse ). It starts in the Episcopal City of Fulda , via Schlüchtern , Steinau , Bad Orb , Gelnhausen , Langenselbold , Erlensee and Bruchkoebel and belongs to the network of the main routes of Jacob pilgrim in Europe after de Santiago Compostela for suspected grave of St. Jacob in the cathedral there. The route leads for a total of 116 km past the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche past the Frankfurt Ostpark, past the new building of the European Central Bank on the site of the former wholesale market hall, on to the banks of the Main in downtown Frankfurt , further along the Main to the Eiserner Steg , on the left Mainuferweg in the direction of Mainz and then on to Trier .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Meditationskirche (Frankfurt am Main)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meditation Church Holy Cross . In: wege mit Franziskus - magazine of the Thuringian Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth . March 2009, p. 22 .
  2. ↑ a b c Diocese of Limburg : Decree of Bishop Franz Kamphaus from January 15, 2007. Published in the Official Gazette of the Diocese of Limburg 2007 No. 2 from February 1, 2007 No. 449: Document on the establishment of the profile church "Heilig Kreuz - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality ”. In: Website of the parish of St. Josef Frankfurt . February 1, 2007, accessed February 18, 2018 .
  3. ^ Diocese of Limburg : Pastoral Services Department. (No longer available online.) In: Website of the Diocese of Limburg. October 31, 2017, archived from the original on February 18, 2018 ; accessed on July 22, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Schlegel, Helmut. In: Website of the Diocese of Limburg . Diocese of Limburg Episcopal Ordinariate , August 7, 2014, accessed on March 1, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Heidi Katting: Holy Cross - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality - Team - About us. Holy Cross - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality, June 6, 2018, accessed July 21, 2019 .
  6. ^ Medical Mission Sisters in Frankfurt am Main. In: website. Retrieved February 18, 2018 .
  7. ↑ All events until April 19. omitted. Holy Cross - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality, March 14, 2020, accessed April 21, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Simone Müller: Our doors are open. Holy Cross - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality, April 12, 2020, accessed May 20, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Free space - worship. Holy Cross - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality, May 7, 2020, accessed May 20, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Holy Cross Church becomes a gallery. (No longer available online.) Frankfurter Neue Presse , January 9, 2014, archived from the original on February 18, 2018 ; accessed on July 22, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Meditation with a Zen monk - Claude AnShin Thomas comes to Bornheim . In: Bornheimer Wochenblatt Volume 20 No. 42 . October 19, 2016, p. 8 .
  12. ↑ Tram of Silence - ride the tram in complete silence. Taron Antiquariat, September 12, 2013, accessed February 18, 2018 .
  13. ↑ P. Dr. Saju George SJ - Indian Jesuit and Bharatanatyam dancer. (PDF) kirche-und-dialog.de, March 5, 2009, accessed on February 18, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Appointment registration - meditation and design of an advent labyrinth. (No longer available online.) Holy Cross - Center for Christian Meditation and Spirituality, 2016, archived from the original on December 23, 2016 ; accessed on March 28, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Stefanie Matulla: The “little door” for the 3rd Advent. Department for Work with Girls and Women of the Diocese of Limburg , December 11, 2016, accessed on February 18, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Youth Church JONA : JONA ​​at the Luminale 2014. In: Picture gallery on Flickr . Youth Church JONA, 2014, accessed on February 18, 2018 .
  17. ^ Stephanie Haas, Christoph Haas: Ensemble Cosmedin. In: website. Retrieved February 18, 2018 .
  18. ^ Hermann Gille, Helmut Schlegel : Catholic Holy Cross Church Frankfurt-Bornheim . Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-6808-8 .
  19. ↑ St Leonhard's & St Mary's: International English-Speaking Roman Catholic Parishes Frankfurt am Main Area St Leonhard's & St Mary's. Diocese of Limburg , 2018, accessed on February 20, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Gernot Gottwals: Leonhardskirche is ceremoniously reopened . Refurbishment - After eight years, the work is complete - The bishop consecrates the new altar. In: Frankfurter Neue Presse . 13th August 2019.
  21. ↑ rmv.de : Rhein-Main-pleasure - St. James. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund , April 11, 2011, archived from the original on March 28, 2016 ; accessed on July 22, 2019 .
  22. ↑ rmv.de : Rhine-Main pleasure hiking map: The Way of St. James from the Fulda to the Main. Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund , 2014, accessed on February 20, 2018 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 37 ″  N , 8 ° 43 ′ 6 ″  E