The Church in Germany is shrinking : the number of withdrawals is at a high level, very few men want to become priests and many parishes are merged.
These developments will remain and shape the Church in the future. Their previously great importance will parish and Catholic associations will no longer be represented nationwide.
But who takes their place? There are many indications that to a large extent monasteries and religious communities will be important ecclesiastical lighthouses.
Religious have played an important role since Christianization in today's Germany. They brought the Christian faith to the people in their respective lives, founded mission stations and monasteries, cultivated land and created a cultural network of libraries and schools, which sometimes shapes our culture to this day.
And not only that: the communities of prayer and a holistic faith have always been places of rest and provocation in history. The simple way of life for God made many rulers look old, monastery walls were places of retreat for the persecuted and meaningful seekers. For these reasons, fruitful impulses for the whole Church were repeatedly presented by the Order.
The developments of the Church in this country are not passed by the Order; vocations and conventions were also lacking in their lack of vocations and conventions. Nevertheless, religious are still present in many parts of Germany.
Monasteries are not only places for convinced Christians, but also at-contact points for the general public.
The Benedictine nuns in Dinklage, Lower Saxony, with their contemporary kind, attracting monastic life believers from all over northern Germany. The youth vespers in Kloster Wechselburg in Saxony offer an important meeting place for many young Catholics in East Germany. There are many examples like this.
In order for monasteries and other branches of orders to be able to radiate as spiritual centres in their environment, they should remember their maidens: they must be places of a credibly lived faith that emphasize the challenger of Christianity – and thereby counteract the shrinking of the official church in Germany.