It may be that this Easter will leave the same impression as December 24, 2022: everything as usual. As if nothing had happened. Anyone who still wanted to get a seat in the mighty parish church of Leiden Christi without any restrictions since the outbreak of the pandemic would do well to poke through the portal three quarters of an hour before the start. Just five minutes later, the last free spot on the long wooden pews in the Catholic church on the north-western outskirts of the city was occupied. Those who came later had to stand.
The Obermenzinger parish family is one of the liveliest in Munich. In 2022, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ, the fact that the faithful were only allowed to celebrate Mass for three years, sometimes only after registering with pre-ordered place cards and temporary conditions – “Singing along together is no longer allowed” – was hardly noticeable.
The community can count itself lucky: the sheep remained loyal to it throughout the Corona period. It’s not a trend. “The assumption that the pandemic is intensifying existing developments more like under a magnifying glass is apparently not wrong,” says Hiltrud Beauty, chairwoman of the Catholic Council for the city and region, to whose home parish of Menzing the parish of Leiden Christ belongs. Nevertheless, it is difficult to assess how the number of churchgoers has changed during this exceptional situation. The influx had already decreased.
The number of Catholic churchgoers collapsed by 50 percent
The archdiocese of Munich and Freising keeps statistics on the number of churchgoers on “normal” days, as a spokeswoman for the ordinariate, the administrative center, emphasizes. In 2019, there were still almost 51,000 church service participants among around 517,000 Catholics in the Munich city area. In 2021 – there are no more recent figures – it was only half with almost 26,000 and a good 498,000 Catholics. The reading of the archdiocese: The decline in the number of believers in the service is clearly related to the corona pandemic.
During the pandemic, going to church was characterized by hygiene measures.
(Photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa)
“Certainly believers stayed away from the services out of caution,” says the Catholic administration center. The commitment of many volunteers made it possible to celebrate them in compliance with the changing requirements. At the same time, many community members “patiently” accepted the restrictions. “After all, after the complete lockdown around Easter 2020, we were the first and for a long time the only ones who were able to make such a gathering of people possible.”
But it is also true that members are leaving the Christian churches in droves – the district administration department recorded more than 26,000 people leaving the church in 2022 – both denominations are only recorded together here. The abuse scandals play a significant role for Catholics.
State Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm recently referred to a study for the Protestant Church. “In today’s differentiated society,” the Christian faith is no longer passed on in families as a matter of course. Conversely, this means that those who left were not eager churchgoers before.
At a concert service, the church is “boomful” again
“I would immediately put a question mark on the much-cited declining number of churchgoers,” puts the Protestant city dean Bernhard Liess into perspective. He could not confirm dramatic burglaries. “We have congregations with exactly the same number of worshipers as before Corona and we have congregations that say we have a slight decrease.” The type also plays a role: “If it’s a concert service, then it’s boomy again!”
Any examples? A clergyman from Baldham, which, like parts of the neighboring districts, is still part of the city deanery, has moved his Christmas Vespers to the stadium in Vaterstetten. “1,500 people came. Then you think, wow, something’s going on!” In the university community of St. Markus, when Corona was high, they transferred the service on Christmas Eve outside in front of the Pinakothek der Moderne, “where this UFO is located. They all think it’s great and want to keep it”. Bernhard Liess tends to sense a willingness to change.
In general, many communities developed new formats after the initial state of shock. “Incredible creativity has spread. How can I bring a children’s church service into the living room or create spirituality on the screen?”
The outgoing evangelical regional bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm at a TV service in the almost deserted Matthäuskirche.
(Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa)
In the ordinariate of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising there is also talk of the “digitization push” that the corona crisis triggered. Since March 2020, a service from the Liebfrauendom has been broadcast online almost every day, and a real online community has formed. The transmissions reached between 4,000 and 8,000 people on weekdays and between 10,000 and 15,000 on Sundays and public holidays. The offer ranges from interactive Easter offers including Good Friday liturgy to the so-called “Mutmacherei”, a “personality school” for young people on Instagram.
Hiltrud Beauty dampens the euphoria a little: some of the virtual services offered in the congregations are “highly professional”, others “rather hand-knitted – which made little difference in the limited pandemic period, as long as personal commitment was noticeable”.
This Easter, the trend in the churches is towards the tried and tested
Rather, she sees the so-called house church as a new form of worship that developed over time, where small groups of believers often sought spiritual exchange in private homes and this variant would possibly develop further. “Outside the communities,” Beauty emphasizes. “In this respect, the pandemic has also led to self-empowerment.”
As far as Easter is concerned, the representatives of the Catholic lay people, the archdiocese and the Protestant city dean agree that the trend is clearly going towards the tried and tested: “I think that this year it’s simply the turn of the year, similar to Christmas, to find the familiar formats “says Bernhard Liess. The spokeswoman for the ordinariate speaks of the longing of many to want to celebrate Easter as the highest Christian festival with its rich liturgical traditions – without “the desire for something new”.
The “Resurrection of the Lord” is also celebrated in the proven form in Christ’s Passion. Nobody will come three quarters of an hour earlier: the celebration of the Easter Vigil traditionally begins at 5.30 a.m.