Institute St. Philipp Neri

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High altar in St. Afra

The Institut St. Philipp Neri (ISPN) in Berlin is a traditionalist society of apostolic life under papal law, founded in 2003 , which celebrates the liturgy in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite and sees its task in maintaining the Catholic tradition.

Self-presentation

The ISPN sees itself as an organization that opposes an “obvious decline of faith in society and church and the increasing polarization between different inner-church schools of thought”. The institute does not want to give in to the “zeitgeist and its banalizing tendencies” and instead “wants to combine the care of the Catholic tradition with pastoral care in keeping with the times”. The institute specifies its self-imposed tasks as follows:

“Programs for the spiritual care of the elderly and the sick as well as information and educational events on a Catholic basis are being developed. Step by step it becomes clear what that means: contemporary pastoral care in a neo-pagan city, where you more often see a Muslim woman in a burqa than a priest in a cassock. "

history

founding

The Institute of St. Philip Neri was founded in 2003 and established on May 26, 2004 by Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos on behalf of the Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei .

The name of the institute refers to the oratorio founded by St. Philip Neri . The ISPN's provost and superior is the founder Gerald Goesche , who previously served as a guest for six years as a pastor of the St. Peter's Chapel in Berlin-Kreuzberg, which is part of the traditionalist Brotherhood of St. Pius X. The other founding members of the institute had belonged to the brotherhood as deacons or seminarians. The celebration of the liturgy with the liturgical books from 1962 was until the publication of the Motu proprios Summorum Pontificum Pope Benedict XVI. in autumn 2007 was only possible with an indult for institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. Benedict XVI. supported the establishment of the institute in his time as cardinal and later.

In the founding phase, the institute was financially supported by the papal aid organization Church in Need . It does not draw any direct funds from church taxes and is dependent on income from its own work and donations. Catholic journalists such as Paul Badde and Martin Mosebach support it in their work for the old liturgy.

In addition to the headquarters in St. Afra , members of the institute also celebrate holy masses in the extraordinary form in Trier (daily mass), Potsdam (weekly Sunday mass ) and Jauernick near Görlitz (monthly). On behalf of the then Bishop of Trier, Reinhard Marx , the institute also temporarily took over the pastoral care of the St. Martins parish in Püttlingen in 2007 , which also celebrates the liturgy in an extraordinary form.

Baronius Academy

On November 1, 2012, Gerald Goesche set up the Baronius Academy at the institute for the training of priests, which, in close cooperation with papal universities in Rome, is to organize studies for seminarians at its own institute as in-house studies. According to its own statements, it is based on the scholasticism in the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas with a focus on metaphysics and natural philosophy as well as on the spirituality of St. Philip Neri in order to enable the graduates to be “committed Christians in the intellectual debate in a pluralistic society ”against“ a 'dictatorship of relativism' of ideologies and a 'culture of death' ”and“ to be able to represent and defend the point of view of a Christian philosophy ”.

Legal action before the Berlin administrative court

In April 2020 Gerald Goesche sued on behalf of the Freundeskreis St. Philipp Neri for an order to be allowed to celebrate public services with up to 50 participants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany . The Catholic Church in Germany distanced itself from the lawsuit. Constitutional lawyer Christian Hillgruber, on the other hand, described Goesche's approach as justified. The religious freedom was "created like no other fundamental right to exercise Community and instructed". Therefore, exceptions would have to be allowed to a limited extent for masses and church services, especially during the Easter period. The constitutional lawyer Horst Dreier also assessed the blanket ban as "very problematic". He wondered why church services should not be organized differently, for example by introducing distance rules and holding several services a day with a limited number of participants. Online church services are no real substitute.

The complaint was dismissed by the Administrative Court in Berlin on April 7, 2020 on the grounds that the interference with the fundamental right of religious freedom was justified by conflicting fundamental rights and constitutional values, such as the protection of life and health and the maintenance of a functioning public health system. On April 8, 2020, Goesche filed a complaint with the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg . Particularly incomprehensible is the finding of the first instance that the state can determine the type and scope of religious practice by allowing quiet retreat in churches but forbidding religious celebrations. Here one wants to "achieve a clarification, because the state is not entitled to dictate the forms of religious practice."

The archbishop of Cologne , Cardinal Rainer Woelki , said on the same day to the actions of individual municipalities against the ban on public services, such bans are constitutionally possible, according to information a constitutional lawyer, and expressed concern that infringements of the regulations', encourages local leaders to close churches that are still open ”.

The Higher Administrative Court rejected the urgent application on the grounds that the divine services that the applicants wanted to celebrate during Holy Week and Easter would "harbor a considerable risk of further infections". On April 10, the Federal Constitutional Court also confirmed the ban on assemblies, stating that the protection of life and limb takes precedence over freedom of belief , even if it is severely interfered with.

As a result of the media coverage of the legal proceedings initiated by the institute, according to Probst Goesche, there were not only positive reactions but also serious hostility towards the ISPN.

Institute Church of St. Afra

In 2006, the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Elisabeth acquired the St. Afra Church at Graunstraße 31 in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen . In 2008, the St. Philipp Neri Institute also bought the associated monastery building. According to the institute, the staff community gathering around this center numbered several hundred people.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kathisch.de : Court rejects application by traditionalists , April 7, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d institut-philipp-neri.de; History and self-image of the Institut St. Philipp Neri
  3. ↑ Newsletter of the institute, 2005 , p. 4 f.
  4. ↑ Newsletter of the institute, 2013 (PDF; 1.8 MB), p. 9f
  5. ↑ institut-philipp-neri.de; Baronius Academy .
  6. ↑ Markus Grill , Georg Mascolo , Nicolas Richter : Coronavirus: Catholic community in Berlin takes action against ban on worship. Süddeutsche Zeitung from April 4, 2020
  7. ↑ D: Tradition-oriented congregation complains against the ban on worship. Vatican News , April 5, 2020
  8. ↑ https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/starker-eingriff-in-die-religionsfreiheit-berliner-gemeinde-klagt-gegen-verbot-von-gottesdienst/25717310.html
  9. ↑ https://www.presseportal.de/pm/30621/4565961
  10. ↑ domradio.de: Administrative court confirms ban on worship due to Corona , April 7, 2020. kathisch.de
    : Ban on worship confirmed - traditionalists file a complaint , April 8, 2020.
  11. ↑ http://www.institut-philipp-neri.de/index.php
  12. ↑ domradio.de: We have a great responsibility. Cardinal Woelki warns of violations of the ban on worship , April 8, 2020.
  13. ↑ Church services remain prohibited even at Easter Article from rbb24.de from April 9, 2020, last accessed on April 9, 2020
  14. ↑ Karlsruhe confirms ban on worship. Frankfurter Allgemeine from April 10, 2020
  15. ↑ Julia Weiss: Congregation complained against the ban on worship: "We were wished to have the corona virus on our necks". In: tagesspiegel.de . April 16, 2020, accessed April 16, 2020 .