Edit: what was painstakingly rebuilt with much sacrifice after the war will disappear in a short while. The Diocese looks like a beneficiary of the end of a century of religious life in this locale. Spiritual capital frittered away...
What took generations to build will now be destroyed. The last thing the Pastoral Council implements is the bulldozer.
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| A Case for the Bull Dozer? |
(kreuz.net) For the people of Bochum it is gruesome to see, how a work, which has stood for a century will be destroyed.
It is the monastery church of the Redemptorists at Imbuschplatz in the town of Bochum.
It was erected in the years between 1868 to 1870.
Destroyed in the War
The Cloister church was completely burned in the confusion of war through the bombing of the Anglo-American air forces in 1943.
Immediately after the end of the war the rebuilding began immediately with greatest sacrifices of the remaining parishioners.
Dr. Ing Huber Vieth was foremost in the effort then.
In a blameless situation
Initially, 18 years ago the eastern front of the giant nave was completely sheathed in copper.
The windows were double paned.
The was in a intact condition and had no structural deficiencies.
Under the laws regarding monuments in the city of Bochum there was no inducement to put the newly completed construction under protection.
Consequently things took their course.
The Demolition Work Has Begun
The last eight Redemptorists under the leadership of Father Wolfgang Gerhards (71) have given up the cloister already in January of 2011.
The youngest of them was 60, and the eldest 91.
The order has suffered the loss of much of its dynamism since the Pastoral Council.
Bishop Franz Josef Overbeck of Essen clearly had no interest or possibility to hold the cloister.
Thus, the demolition work has begun.
The Lazy Fruits of the Council
Who knows, who hides behind the new bearer --- perhaps the Aachen Residential Building Association, that the Diocese of Essen has a 61 percent share in?
It was the case with other church demolitions in the Diocese of Essen.
In the Diocese of Essen more than 130 churches have been simply locked up already by the order of the Bishop.
Link to kreuz.net....
