St. Josef (Steckelsdorf)

Exterior view

Sankt Josef is the Catholic church in Steckelsdorf , a district of the district town of Rathenow in the Havelland district in Brandenburg . The church, named after Saint Joseph of Nazareth , belongs to the parish of St. Elisabeth , based in Tangermünde , in the Stendal deanery of the Magdeburg diocese .

history

In 1538 Margarete von Treskow introduced the Reformation in the villages of her patronage, which included Steckelsdorf .

In the course of the flight and expulsion of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe , Catholics again settled in large numbers in Steckelsdorf. The Steckelsdorf Curate was founded on November 6, 1950 , at that time it had 1,134 Catholics.

Pastor Minnich's gravestone

The Kuratiegemeinde acquired a residential building in Steckelsdorf expansion on the property of a former chicken farm, in which Kuratus Franz Minnich (1913–1986) moved into an apartment in May 1951 . A chapel was set up in the basement of the house, but due to the high groundwater level it was soon moved to a shed next to the house. Larger services were held in the Protestant church due to lack of space.

In 1955, in exchange for arable land, the parish was awarded what is today the property by the council of Steckelsdorf. However, the council of the Rathenow district repeatedly refused the parish permission to build a church. The building permit was only granted in June 1961.

Property with rectory and church

With volunteers, a massive basement was built for the church in which community rooms were set up. A wooden church stored elsewhere was built on top of it. On September 22nd, 1962, the church and the altar were consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Friedrich Maria Rintelen from the Archdiocese of Paderborn , to which Steckelsdorf belonged at the time. In 1980 the rectory was completed next to the church . Pastor Franz Minnich, the builder of the church and long-time leader of the parish, died on September 4, 1986. After the rest period had expired , his tombstone was moved from the Rathenow West cemetery to the church. Various renovations and modernizations of the church have taken place since the 1990s, including replacing the electrical system in 1992 and the heating in 1999. On July 8, 1994, the diocese of Magdeburg was established, to which the church has belonged ever since. On February 9, 1997, the last Holy Mass took place in Schollene , which was one of the outposts of the Steckelsdorf Curate. In the year 2000 the church tower could finally be equipped with a bell that dates back to 1642.

In 2003 the last local priest left Steckelsdorf, and the pastor from Tangermünde has been looking after the church ever since. On July 1, 2006, the Tangermünde parish and the Klietz and Steckelsdorf curatorships were merged to form the Tangermünde – Klietz – Steckelsdorf community association, which includes, in addition to the Steckelsdorf Josefskirche, the Trinity Church in Tangermünde and the castle chapel in Sandau , as well as the now profane churches in Klietz and Schönhausen . At that time there were still 448 parishioners in the Steckelsdorf Curate. On November 28, 2010, today's parish of St. Elisabeth emerged from the community . In 2012 the church roof was renewed.

Location, architecture and equipment

Interior

organ

The church is located in the Steckelsdorf development residential area , on the Horstenweg 15 property. The church is accessed through the cross-crowned bell tower. Its interior offers seats for 72 visitors. The chancel is dominated by a crucifix on the back wall, its body is the work of the artist Robert Propf (1910–1986) from Koethen . The tabernacle was made in a goldsmith's shop in Burg (near Magdeburg) . The statue of Mary, in front of which sacrificial candles can be placed, comes from Großwudicke . The Way of the Cross , comprising 14 stations, was made by the Brigade Rosa Luxemburg of the state- owned Harzer Holzverarbeitungwerke in Ilsenburg (Harz) . At the rear of the church there is a confessional and the baptismal font in a wall niche . The organ with its five registers was manufactured by VEB Orgelbau Bautzen from 1975 to 1979 .