Too few staff, too expensive real estate and declining church tax revenue: Because these three factors do not allow "business as usual" in the opinion of Mainz bishop Peter Kohlgraf, the diocese wants to break new ground.

Specifically, the "Pastoral Way" envisages reorganizing the 134 parish groups and parish associations that still exist, so that by 2030 there will be 46 large parishes.

Together with other "church places" such as Caritas, daycare centers and schools, they should grow together to form a "living network".

In return, the currently 20 deanships are to be dissolved by August and replaced in the future, among other things, by a regularly meeting advisory pastoral room conference.

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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Basically, the renewal of the church, which according to Kohlgraf by no means only has to do with savings and giving up, should take place throughout the diocese from "bottom up" and through teamwork between volunteers and full-time employees.

"The time of the national church, in which many grew up emotionally, is coming to an end or has already come to an end," said the message of the 55-year-old bishop, who, according to his own statements, has been dealing with the questions since taking office in 2017 engaged in reorganization and reorientation.

Because it doesn't help "to mourn for a seemingly good golden world".

Rather, it is about the here and now.

So it's about adapting the structures "so that they correspond to our mission and our possibilities".

In fact, in the diocese of Mainz, which includes large parts of Hesse, it is expected that the number of Catholics will decrease by around 100,000 members from the current 680,000 believers by 2030.

At the same time, the number of pastoral workers, i.e. pastors, deacons and community and pastoral advisors, is likely to fall from currently just under 600 to around 360 people by then;

so about 40 percent.

First major parishes in 2024

In order to reduce the diocese's structural deficit, it will also be necessary to sell expensive real estate quickly, according to the specification from Mainz.

What must be specified and put into practice by the parishes organized in the 46 newly created pastoral rooms, as Wolfgang Fritzen, head of the coordination office for the pastoral path, explained in a press conference on Wednesday.

Roughly speaking, the parishes are asked to reduce the usual expenses for their parish rooms by 50 percent and those for the churches by a third.

Giving up a vicarage that is too large is certainly not the problem, said Kohlgraf.

The also foreseeable sale of churches rather.

It is conceivable to agree with other partners, specifically: for example the Protestant church or the respective local community, on the joint use of buildings that would otherwise often be empty for half the day.

It is undisputed that the expenses for building maintenance and, most recently, energy costs must be noticeably reduced in many cases.

The first newly formed large parishes are to be founded as early as the beginning of 2024: for example in Ingelheim in Rhenish Hesse, but also in Viernheim, Langen-Egelsbach and Einhausen-Lorsch.

Whether this will also be possible in the city of Offenbach, the largest of all the pastoral rooms belonging to the diocese, cannot yet be said with certainty.

In Mainz, the center of the diocese, there should only be five large parishes for the city at the end of the intended mergers, whose branches, which will then be spread over several parts of the city, should, according to the previous concept, retain a lot of independence and say.

The "pastoral path" that has been taken is a new beginning that, according to Kohlgraf, offers everyone involved the chance to make their mark.

In Mainz, for example, the cathedral could become a musical focus, the bishop said in an interview with "katholisch.de" a few days ago.

Other churches, meanwhile, should perhaps pay more attention to social, spiritual and liturgical issues.

In any case, it doesn't have to be the case that there is a high mass in every church in downtown Mainz on Sundays from 10 a.m. "where only a few dozen people come together".