St. Gereon (Vechelde)
St. Gereon is the Catholic church in Vechelde , a municipality in the Peine district in Lower Saxony . It belongs to the parish of the Holy Spirit with its seat in the Braunschweig district of Lehndorf , in the Braunschweig deanery of the Hildesheim diocese . The church was named after St. Gereon of Cologne and is located in Wahler Weg 4.
history
As Catholic expellees had also settled in the Vechelde area as a result of the Second World War , the Vechelde parish vicarie, which belongs to the parish of St. Joseph in Braunschweig, was founded. The villages of Alvesse , Bettmar , Bodenstedt , Köchingen , Liedingen , Sierße , Vallstedt , Vechelade , Vechelde and Wahle belonged to it . In May 1946 a priest from Silesia was the first Catholic pastor to settle in Vechelde. The services initially took place in a private apartment, in the hall of the Geldmacher inn or in the Protestant church.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on November 9, 1955, and the foundation stone was laid on December 11. At that time, about 1,600 Catholics belonged to the parish vicarie. On December 12, 1955, the parish vicarie Vechelde was joined by Denstorf , Groß Gleidingen , Klein Gleidingen , Sonnenberg and Wierthe . On 12 August 1956, the carried blessing of the church by Vicar General William Offenstein . The patronage of St. Gereon of Cologne was chosen because the male youth of the Archdiocese of Cologne had donated a considerable amount of money for the construction of the church. Additional patronage are Hedwig von Andechs , Maria Königin and Bonifatius . In 1956/57 the parish hall was built. On January 1, 1958, the parish vicarie was elevated to an independent parish. In December 1958, the newly built rectory was occupied. On November 13, 1970, the villages of Alvesse, Bodenstedt and Vallstedt changed to the parish of St. Marien in Lengede . From February 1, 1974, the pastor of the St. Elisabeth parish in Wendeburg was also responsible for pastoral care in St. Gereon . In 1976, following the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, the chancel was redesigned and a new popular altar was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Pachowiak . In 1981/82 the parish hall was expanded, and in 1986/87 the church was enriched with a bell tower.
On March 1, 1996, the parishes in Braunschweig-Lehndorf, Vechelde and Wendeburg were merged to form a pastoral care unit, which merged on November 1, 2006 to form the parish of Heilig Geist . At the time of the parish merger, the parish of St. Gereon had around 1,500 Catholics. Today the Friends of St. Gereon Vechelde eV supports the preservation of the church.
Architecture and equipment
The church, located around 81 meters above sea level , was built according to plans by Josef Fehlig . Franz Pauli , among others, was involved in the artistic interior design . A statue of St. Gereon has adorned the church since 1992. The organ , built by Gebrüder Hillebrand Orgelbau , was consecrated in 2006 and expanded in 2013; a harmonium had previously been in use since 1958 . The three bells Elisabeth, Gereon and Margareta were cast in Gescher in 1986, and have been ringing in the 21-meter-high bell tower since 1987.
See also
literature
- Festschrift 40 years of St. Gereon - Vechelde. Vechelde 1996.
- Festschrift on the occasion of the consecration of the organ in the Catholic Church of St. Gereon in Vechelde on January 15, 2006. Vechelde 2006.
- Willi Stoffers: Diocese of Hildesheim today. Hildesheim 1987, ISBN 3-87065-418-X , pp. 56/57.
Web links
- Internet presence of the parish
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 20, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 39.4 " N , 10 ° 21 ′ 51.7" E