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"Unworthy years under Pope Benedict": The critical pastor of Abtwil steps down

He is a sceptic, critic and cultural pessimist. And has already triggered many a controversy, in and outside the Church. Now the Catholic priest Heinz Angehrn is retiring. However, he is not retiring.

Father Heinz Angehrn always tried to separate preaching and politics. During 26 years in Abtwil, he did not always succeed. 

Pale skin, light trousers, dark slippers. Alone in the Church, Father Heinz Angehrn stands in contrast to the lush surroundings. Behind him, the figures of the saints are resplendent in rich colours, the stucco glitters like gold, flowery ornaments entwine along the pointed arches. Much about him doesn't really want to fit in with the stately nave of which he was captain for 26 years.

His words don't want to fit either. Not to him and not to the church. They are bold and attacking. And they have already triggered many a controversy. With the Church, with its followers or with politics. Even today, shortly before retirement, Angehrn does not hold back. On the contrary.

Would the world be better off if there were no religion? He asked this question in an interview three years ago. It is still justified today, he says. If religion becomes an ideology, it makes people intolerant, fundamentalism causes conflicts. Whether Orthodox Jews, Salafist Muslims, Evangelical Christians or arch-conservative Catholics is irrelevant to him.

Rome initiated two proceedings against him

Angehrn sits at a wooden meeting table, a crucifix hanging above him. The fact that as a pastor he questions the religion that sustains him is not a contradiction for him. Rather, it is consistent. He began studying theology 42 years ago, and for that long he has been constantly examining his own actions and those of the church. Twice the Church dealt with him, twice proceedings were initiated against him in Rome. Both times, Bishop Markus Büchel stood up for him. Once, 20 years ago, he himself seriously considered quitting. At that time it was Bishop Ivo Fürer who urged him to stay. And made him understand: "We can stand you the way you are".

Today Angehrn distinguishes between religion and ritual, between faith and piety. He said:

"I am religious. But I am not pious."

For him, religion offers support in everyday life because it provides rituals, prayers, services, ceremonies. Rituals that the majority of people need. Some find them in the church, others - more and more - in substitute religions.

Angehrn experienced a steady shrinking of the church during 37 years of service, 26 of them in Abtwil. And a farewell in instalments to the belief that the church as an institution is moving forward. He calls the time since his studies in the late 1970s, when optimism and a spirit of optimism prevailed, "years of regression". "Back then we had the feeling that we were experiencing something great."

"The title priest doesn't suit me".

Theology, journalism or theatre studies, the 19-year-old Angehrn had to choose between these three studies. He chose theology, although not entirely of his own accord. "The pressure also came from outside." Today, he says, he would probably decide differently, more boldly. Because: "The title priest doesn't suit me."

He was not able to fulfil all the expectations attached to this title, he will say at his farewell service. He could not "be all things to all people", as it says in the Bible. A pastor is expected to be involved in society, but he feels uncomfortable in crowds. That's why he's not looking forward to his farewell and the hype surrounding it.

Retirement in a Ticino mountain valley

So it's not surprising that he wants to take it easy in retirement. Instead of living in Abtwil between the cemetery and the church, on his 63rd birthday he moves to a mountain valley in Ticino, where fruit trees, vines, a piece of forest and a Bergamasker puppy await him. But he does not leave his work behind completely.

He also never completely left behind theatre and journalism. One became his great hobby, he has been to the theatre 630 times in his life. The other was a sideline. Every Wednesday morning, at 6 o'clock sharp, his blog entry appears on the kath.ch website. He keeps up this work. He was also elected President of the Editorial Commission of the Swiss church newspaper. The Bishops of German-speaking Switzerland, even the one in Chur, have given their blessing to this, despite his reputation as a critic.

No Church on a cuddly course

He wants to remain a critic, a cultural pessimist, a fighter. He feels comfortable in this role. The member of the Green Liberals says:

"I expect a pastor to be politically engaged as well."

Only in the sermon, he says, the political events of the day have no place there, and certainly no slogans. Even if he can't help scolding the SVP and its style now and then. He himself takes criticism calmly, he even loves it, he says, as long as it is good - intellectually and argumentatively.

Heinz Angehrn has experienced three popes as a pastor and three bishops. The current Pope Francis, with him everything is possible. "Unworthy years" preceded him under Pope Benedict, with his velvet slippers, pomp and pageantry.

The fact that the Catholic Church is increasingly being pushed to the margins of society cannot be changed. But it should not make itself comfortable in this "cosy corner" again. Rather, Heinz Angehrn wants to see it in the role that he himself has taken on for decades: "As salt in the wounds of society"

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