With a funeral pastoral center at the Ostfriedhof, the Archdiocese offers people of all religions and denominations pastoral care in the face of suffering. The new building, which costs 12.5 million euros, is scheduled to open in spring 2024.
Death and grief here, comfort and hope there: the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising want to bring these opposites together in the “Haus am Ostfriedhof”. Construction work has been going on since May on the no-frills, bright new building, which will be open to mourners and those seeking advice of all religions and denominations from spring 2024. “With the grief pastoral center we want to be present in a central place in Munich where suffering, death and grief can be seen and felt by the people and offer them pastoral care,” says Christoph Klingan, vicar general of the archdiocese. Supporting people in times of mourning and farewell is “an important task of the church, which it is important to continue to fulfill in the future in a contemporary way close to the people”.
Specifically, in the “Haus am Ostfriedhof” on almost 1200 square meters of floor space “a modern place of pastoral care for mourners and encounters” is to be created, according to a statement from the archdiocese. For this purpose there will be a cemetery café open daily on the ground floor as well as a hall for larger mourning parties.
Meanwhile, on the upper floor there are several farewell rooms from which funeral services can also be broadcast via live stream thanks to modern technology. As an artistic element, a column of light designed by Barbara Fuchs runs through the entire building – as a symbol for the situation of mourning people between darkness and hope.
According to the archdiocese, the construction costs for the “Haus am Ostfriedhof” amount to 12.5 million euros. Mourners should find pastoral care there – both in acute cases and on the further path of farewell. Lectures, rounds of talks and courses on the subjects of death and mourning are also planned in the bereavement center.
Volunteers can register as contact persons now
In addition to several full-time pastors, volunteers should also be available there as contact persons. Interested parties can contact the archdiocese at [email protected] and register for an information evening on January 16th.
The mourning pastoral center is located at the entrance to the Ostfriedhof on St.-Martin-Straße – that is, where the new crematorium was opened a few weeks ago. After completion of the construction work on the “House of the East Cemetery”, the two buildings will have a common entrance area including a forecourt. Arndt Schulte Döinghaus, head of the crematorium, explained at the opening that the crematorium and the funeral pastoral center would be right next to each other, making it possible to hold the entire farewell ceremony, from the funeral service to the urn burial and the funeral feast, in one day. This is an increasingly popular request. “We are also reacting to the changed mourning culture.”