The beginning of this week is a time of reflection and celebration for believers in the major Christian churches. For Catholics, the first two days of November are dedicated to remembering the dead. November 1, All Saints’ Day, is an important Catholic holiday that draws many people home to visit the graves of their deceased relatives.
According to the name, All Saints’ Day is dedicated to the memory of saints, witnesses of faith and martyrs, All Souls’ Day the following day to the memory of one’s loved ones. For practical reasons – All Saints’ Day is a public holiday at least in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, All Souls’ Day is not – but many people prefer to visit their own family’s grave on November 1st. For example, the members of the Unterhaching parish association gather at 10.30 a.m. for a festive service in St. Birgitta, before the tour of the graves with the music band begins at 2 p.m. in the cemetery on Oberweg.
In Neubiberg there is an ecumenical blessing of graves
In Unterschleißheim, the brass section of the town band provides the musical accompaniment to the blessing of the graves. After the service for the living and deceased of the parish from 10 a.m. in the new St. Ulrich church, the pastors bless the cemetery on Nelkenstraße from 1.30 p.m., the graves in the cemetery at the old church from 2.30 p.m. and 3.30 p.m Watch the graves in the forest cemetery. In Graefelfing, in St. Johannes Evangelist (9.45 a.m.) and in St. Stefan (11 a.m.) there are festive services on All Saints’ Day, at 2.30 p.m. relatives are invited to the commemoration of the dead at the St. Stefan cemetery in front of the old funeral parlor. In Pullach, the parish association celebrates a service of the word from 2:30 p.m. in front of the funeral parlor in the cemetery, after which the graves are blessed.
The Catholic and Protestant communities in Ottobrunn and Neubiberg are organizing something special. There, on All Saints’ Day, the churches invite you to a joint, ecumenical blessing of graves with devotion. At 2.30 p.m. Pastor Olivia Palumbiny from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Michael and Pastor Stefan Füger from the Catholic parish of Rosencrantzkönigen are at the cemetery in Neubiberg. From 3.30 p.m. Palumbiny blesses the graves in the Ottobrunn Park Cemetery together with her Catholic colleague Martin Ringhof and Deacon Erwin Mühlbauer.
Even if the commemoration rite on this day comes from the Catholic tradition, Palumbiny sees the offer very positively. “Mourning doesn’t differentiate between denominations,” says the Protestant pastor. “Many people feel the need on this day to go to their deceased. We try to give some comfort on this day.”
For the members of the Evangelical-Lutheran churches in the district, however, another festival is in the foreground these days. This Monday, October 31st, Protestant Christians celebrate Reformation Day. The Reformation Festival commemorates Martin Luther, who is said to have nailed his 95 theses on penance and indulgences to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on the evening before All Saints’ Day in 1517. With this publicly effective impetus for the debate, Luther got the Reformation movement rolling.
The vice-dean’s office in Munich-Southeast, which includes a total of eleven congregations, celebrates a central service with communion under the title “God is our confidence and strength” in the Michaelskirche in Ottobrunn – from 7 p.m., since the Reformation Day in Catholic Bavaria is not holiday is. Dean’s cantor Christoph Demmler provides music for the service on the organ, accompanied by groups from the vice-dean’s office. The liturgy is led by Pastor Sebastian Degkwitz, Pastor Irene Geiger-Schaller, Dean Mathis Steinbauer and Pastor Verena Übler.