Despite all the diversity in the Jesuit parishes they have something in common: the situation has changed drastically everywhere, but the city pastoral could be an answer. The pastors and city pastors of the Jesuits from Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany have met for their traditional common exchange to share experiences and challenges. This time the meeting place was Nuremberg.

As always, much time was taken for the reports from the individual locations. Each place has its possibilities, but also its construction sites and challenges. While some have a relatively large amount of money at their disposal, others have to get by with little. Some have a comparatively large number of staff, while others have to rely largely on volunteers. Some locations have a social focus, others celebrate classical liturgies with an orchestra, and still others try to reach new target groups with avant-garde event formats. Sometimes the focus is on young families, sometimes on the upper middle class.

In principle, however, it is evident in all places that the situation is changing drastically and that it will no longer be possible to maintain the longstanding in this form. If only because of the alarming situation of the order and the church in general. The Provincial of the Austrian Province, Bernhard Bürgler SJ, also made this clear at the end of the three days. You don't have to be a prophet - a sober look at the numbers is enough to know: we can't "hold" everything anymore. The question is only: Where do we withdraw and where do we remain present?

Responding strategically to change

A highlight of the three-day meeting was the statement of the Regensburg pastoral theology professor Dr. Ute Leimgruber. She had carefully studied the internet pages of the SJ places and tried to cut a path into the "urban jungle": What does city pastoral mean? What are the possibilities and limits? The church is in a market situation. It is necessary to be present in space and time and to develop a clever, unobtrusive but effective mission strategy. It is necessary to "offer permanent opportunities", says the Regensburg lecturer. You have to be there reliably, knowing full well that fewer and fewer people are coming regularly. But when they do come, they have to find people to talk to.

The still dominant parochial territorial system is still taking effect, but less and less. We are still marked by the Tridentine Council: all Catholics belong to some parish and must be "provided for". "Do not try to save the parishes that are going down", was on the other hand to be heard from the round.

Instead, according to Mrs. Leimgruber, one could offer a pastoral care of the "third place": In order for people in the cities to be able to live well, they need a "third place" - besides their own home and workplace. This place could be the city churches with their offers. But they must first assert themselves against other providers (e.g. libraries, educational or sports facilities, etc.) and prove themselves. The orders have opportunities here which the diocesan church does not (no longer) have, because the securing of the pastoral basic service already demands all financial and personnel resources from them.

Citypastoral must be different

Ansgar Wiedenhaus SJ and his colleague, pastoral adviser Jürgen Kaufmann, showed how a city pastoral can look like in a modern city. There are already many Catholic parishes in Nuremberg - there is really no need for another one! Instead, they try to make additional offers which are not available in the standard parish: Fire artists illuminate the feast of Pentecost, a literary Good Friday or artists dancing on ropes in the middle of the nave! There are offers for mourners, memorial services for deceased drug addicts and their surviving dependents, alternative celebrations of saints (St. Patrick's Day, St. Andrews Day, Valentine's Day, Ignatius, St. Nicholas...), blues and soul for Bethlehem instead of classical Christmas mass, and much more. With many formats you can reach people who otherwise would never enter a church, according to the two theologians from Nuremberg. But of course there is also the normal standard program like masses and confessions! And the alternative city tour with the homeless man Klaus on Tuesday evening showed that commitment for the poor is also on the agenda there. He showed neuralgic points in the city centre, like the warming room with automatic cutlery machines, a public toilet, which is used as a sleeping place, or the Sleepin, in which young runaways can stay overnight.

Citypastoral of the Jesuits

How should the citypastoral of the Jesuits be arranged in the future? Here one did not agree. While Ludger Joos SJ from Göttingen advocates to focus on the empowerment and training of lay people for services in a post-priestly time, Andreas Leblang simply advocates focusing and concentrating on the Mass. "This is and remains the centre of our actions!" Opinions were also divided on the question of what is efficient and what is not: Can one play off the commitment in a school against that of a pastor and vice versa? Should one "sacrifice" large colleges in order to be able to tackle new projects or does the whole Order disappear from the public eye with the institution? With what do we do "the greater the service" for the local Church? Where are the spiritual focal points? These questions could never and probably never can be completely clarified. Many things remain open. One thing is clear: city chaplains are on the pulse of the times like few others. A very exciting field of work!

The pastors and city chaplains from Stockholm - St. Eugenia (Fr. Dominik Terstriep SJ), Hamburg - St. Ansgar / Kleiner Michel (Fr. Philipp Görtz SJ), Göttingen - St. Michael (Fr. Ludger Joos SJ), Frankfurt - St. Ignatius (Fr. Bernd Günther SJ and Fabian Loudwin SJ), Frankfurt - St. Canisius (Fr. Manfred Hösl SJ), Munich - St. Michael (Fr. Andreas Leblang SJ), Linz - Alter Dom (Fr. Fritz Sperringer SJ), Vienna - St. Rupprecht (Fr. Alois Riedlsberger SJ) and Lucerne - Jesuit Church (Fr. Hansruedi Kleiber SJ).