While the Synodalists synod, the Church is being demolished all around them

Parish and community buildings affected but increasingly churches

Report: Churches in Germany have to give up around 40,000 properties

According to a newspaper report, Germany's two major churches will lose around 40,000 properties by 2060 - increasingly including houses of worship. When it comes to the issue of subsequent use or demolition, the protection of historical monuments comes into play.

According to a newspaper report, the two large churches in Germany will each have to part with about a third of their buildings in the next 40 years. According to the report, the Protestant state churches and Catholic dioceses will lose about 40,000 properties by 2060, as reported by the "Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung" (Tuesday). Primarily parsonages and community centres are affected, but increasingly also churches. They are threatened with demolition if more freedom of re-use is not negotiated with the monument protection authorities.

According to the report, the background is the continuous decline in church membership in Germany. The newspaper refers to a joint position paper of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) and the Association of German Dioceses (VDD). It was written by Adalbert Schmidt, a member of the Higher Regional Church Council of the Protestant Church in Hanover, and Karl Schmiemann, the legal adviser of the Archdiocese of Hamburg. Schmidt is also chairman of the EKD's Building Law and Property Commission. Schmiemann is chairman of the VDD's legal commission.

The problem of monument protection

The problem with abandoning church buildings is the state's protection of historical monuments. According to Schmidt and Schmiemann, about 80 percent of the 42,500 sacred buildings of both major denominations are protected by the law on listed buildings. According to estimates, 1,200 churches have been abandoned since the 1990s. 278 of them have been demolished. This number is likely to rise considerably if the protection of historical monuments makes it difficult to use them for other purposes, for example as residential or cultural properties, they said.

However, according to the report, the monument protection authorities are willing to compromise. Christina Krafczyk, President of the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, told the newspaper that the state offices for the preservation of historical monuments were very interested in early cooperation. As many of the high-quality church buildings as possible should be preserved as cultural heritage. In individual cases, "options for further use with interventions that preserve the substance and resources" should be developed.

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