Wednesday, April 8, 2015

What the Heck Happened


What the heck happened to the FSSP seminary's church in Wigratzbad? It was never exactly a beautiful temple of God, but someone has thoroughly wreckovated the place: neutral colored stone floors, a stone ambo in place of the old wooden one, the icons of Christ and the Virgin gone (not just covered), the high altar gone atop a step gone, a stone table put where the altar was, a giant steel canister akin to the ones used to store rations during wartime used as a tabernacle, and a thinly veiled Crucifix like the ones seen in diocesan American churches crowns the dome. 

13 comments:

  1. I don't believe that is actually their seminary chapel but a local retreat house or diocesan building that is loaned to the seminary for large events like Holy Week liturgies and ordinations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be a relief, but it's still darn ugly!

      Delete
  2. Wait, do you mean this place wasn't a beautiful temple of God? You are kidding, right?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thxkUgvqfzE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The FSSP were granted the use of the beautiful Ottobeuren Abbey (seen in the Video, mentioned) in February 2014 for a particular Ceremony.

      It is not the FSSP's Seminary Chapel (unfortunately).

      Delete
    2. Zephyrinus is right, this a different location which, thanks be to God, still looks that way today, at least as far as I know. The good thing is that they usually don't touch the cultural patrimony of Bavaria, which would drive the tourists away.

      Delete
    3. The good thing is that they usually don't touch the cultural patrimony of Bavaria, which would drive the tourists away.

      Sadly, this is usually the decisive reason why there has been relatively little wreckovating in Bavaria (and some other parts of Europe). Not because it's in bad taste or worse theology.

      Delete
  3. This seems to be the same location as this: http://www.tigitalarchiv.com/archiv/watermark.php?i=1738
    So it seems to have been wreckovated quite a bit.

    But their seminary church looks like this, I believe: http://www.fssp.org/album/VS2014W/dsc_4577.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pictures in your link show a small chapel in a hamlet about a quarter mile from the seminary. Their real seminary chapel is within the seminary building and looks like this (scroll down):

      http://www.blog-frischer-wind.de/2012/01/neuer-kardinal-aus-den-reihen-der.html

      Obviously, it's in dire need of a makeover.

      Delete
  4. They have been using churches in the area for major liturgical functions for some time now, which is much better, since apart from the Novus Ordo altar, most of these churches haven't been wreckovated. The thing is that this new setup basically says "not welcome". How would you celebrate a Pontifical Mass there? That this is absolutely impossible has also been confirmed to me by a FSSP priest and professor at the seminary (well, basically you just need your eyes to make that judgement). Unfortunately, the real seminary chapel isn't necessarily a work of architectural restoration either.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would like to add that this is the "Sühnekirche" or literally "Church of Reparation", the main church of the prayer center Wigratzbad which shares its venues with the FSSP. The two organizations are independent of each other. I didn't want to allude that there is some type of bullying campaign going on there to kick out out FSSP, but one has to admit that it's not really very welcoming to anybody who doesn't celebrate the Rite of Paul VI.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm more concerned that this is a missa cantata (a good ol' Deutsche Singmesse, actually) and that a seminarian is reading the Passion gospel in German while the priest reads it at the altar. Could they really not manage to have a solemn liturgy?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Btw the FSSP will be building its own church near the seminary. They have already purchase a piece of land, but since the seminary is rather poor, it will probably take some time until they have the necessary funds to build it.

    ReplyDelete