Church prefers to invite people to the pub rather than the Mass

While the number of people leaving the church keeps reaching new highs, the Catholics in Schleswig-Holstein are breaking new ground. Instead of going to the service, a parish invited people to a pub. Also present: a prominent guest.

A muggy summer evening. The restaurant terrace is well filled. Under normal circumstances, nobody would be drawn inside in this kind of weather. In addition to menus, pens and paper are also available there. The former Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Peter Harry Carstensen (CDU) has taken a seat at a table in the middle. Gradually, the other seats fill up.

While the number of people leaving the church keeps reaching new highs, the Catholics in Schleswig-Holstein are breaking new ground. Instead of a church service, the Eutin parish of Sankt Vicelin invited for the first time to a relaxed evening of talks in the restaurant in Plön in East Holstein. Under the motto "Church goes pub", the Protestant Carstensen, as a prominent guest, is supposed to talk about his life and also about his faith.

Finding new ways to connect with people

"One of my tasks is to find new ways to get in touch with people," says pastoral officer Michael Veldboer, who organized the evening. "'Church goes Pub' is for people for whom sermons are often too theoretical, for whom church pews often feel cold and hard and for whom bed on Sunday morning is closer than going to church."

A good 30 people came – mostly middle-aged and elderly. Some are there by accident. A vacationing family from North Rhine-Westphalia became aware of the event when they sat down for dinner on the restaurant terrace. A 79-year-old was invited by a friend in the afternoon to accompany her to the event. She has nothing else to do with the church. "My Church is more in the forest," she says.

Cathcon: that will not save her!

"I know there is a God." - Quote: Schleswig-Holstein's former Prime Minister Peter Harry Carstensen

At the beginning, an a cappella group sings lively rock and roll songs. Then Veldboer interviewed Carstensen. First it is about his career and his political career. The 79-year-old, who is considered down-to-earth and wordly, cracks one joke after the other and gets lots of laughs and applause. Quick-witted, he answers short questions like "coffee or tea?" – "If the tea is without anything, then coffee is better." "Sweet or savory?" - "Both." And "Facebook or Tiktok?" - "Both not."

Later, Veldboer asks more in-depth questions, some of which are submitted by the audience. While the participants eat Holstein sour meat and bruschetta with tomato and mozzarella, Carstensen says that he prefers to pray in the woods than in church because he doesn't like the same liturgy. That he is thinking about leaving because the evangelical church is too political for him. And that he actually only stays in the church "because I definitely don't want to be buried like the people who aren't in the church".

One looks in vain for Christian symbols on this evening

When asked if he believes in God, the former father of the country replies: "No. I know that there is a God." He has his problems with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. "But I am convinced that even before evolution there was a God who made the drawing for the house of the world." Meanwhile, a cooling shower is falling outside.

One looks in vain for Christian symbols on this evening. There is neither a prayer nor a sermon. At best, the candles on the tables are remotely reminiscent of a church atmosphere. Similar formats are now available in several places in Germany. The model for "Church goes Pub", which is supported by the Archdiocese of Hamburg with 2,000 euros from an innovation fund, is a free church series in Magdeburg of the same name. In Hamburg, the Evangelical North Church recently celebrated weddings in a pub on St. Pauli.

"Such offers come from Anglo-Saxon countries," says pastoral theologian Matthias Sellmann. In the USA, "Theology on tap" has been a catechesis format for young adults for several decades. In England, the "Fresh Expressions of Church" movement promotes new forms of expression of church, for example in ice cream parlors, on farms or in hairdressing salons. Such concepts of "mobile pastoral care" were initially adopted on a larger scale in Germany, primarily by the Protestant Church and around five years ago by the Catholic Church.

"Church goes to supposedly non-church places to meet people in their living environment," analyzes Sellmann. "If it's done well, it can be a real opportunity for the church," says the theologian. "Participants may recognize that ordinary people are active in the church, that ordinary subjects are involved and gain new confidence." In addition, church employees in particular could learn at such events how people tick outside the church bubble.

"I don't want church to be marginalized"

However, the formats are not suitable for bringing people back to the community and the service. "Showing yourself fancy in order to get people excited about the traditional offers would be a sham," says Sellmann. In Plön, the participants mostly react enthusiastically. "I've never experienced church like this," says one woman. For a man, however, the questions were a bit too uncritical.

Organizer Veldboer is satisfied and is already planning the next event in November. "I'm quite sure that if we don't take different paths, we'll lose even more people," says the 59-year-old. And adds: "I don't want the church to become marginalized."

Cathcon: The direct consequence.  Francis demands that people should be met where they are.  They are then left there.