Tourists accustomed to the beauty of English and French stained glass windows are often disappointed in Germany. Ancient church windows bomb-blasted out were dutifully replaced by stained glass of two varieties: the dull and cheap or the ugly and expensive. As for the medieval and baroque saints, they were stripped out of German churches and placed in diocesan museums, where they can be appreciated by culturati -- as opposed to Mass-goers.
Churches stripped bare of piety are de facto evidence of iconoclasm (in German 'bildersturm' or 'storm about pictures') which fits nicely with the ersatz "catholicism' propounded by today's well-paid German theologians. It's a kind of Arianism by another name -- they have pretty much decided that any intelligent person should be able to see that Jesus of Nazareth was nothing more than a particularly effective social reformer. In Germany, this is 'normal' Catholicism.
A Crippling Shortage of Priests
Predictably, a course of study about a nice guy in Jerusalem 2000 years ago draws few students; hence, Germany has few seminarians.This state of affairs has been the status quo for decades, and the priest shortage here is acute. Most German parishes must share; in some formerly Catholic areas there is only one priest for every 5-6 parishes
The shortfall is partly made up by priests 'borrowed' from poorer countries. Their paychecks are very much needed in their home diocese, and their lack of German language proficiency and vulnerable status insures that they will not rock the boat. (Any attempts to beg funds for their desperately poor folks back home are coldly rebuffed.)
This is not to say that Germany does not have some stellar priests. These few, faithful men work very hard indeed, in a country where wearing a Roman collar has not been 'done' for decades. (Those who dare risk hostile stares, if not outright aggression from Germans, in public.)
They must administer the Sacraments in parishes run by clueless laypeople who want to serve coffee and cake during Mass, show Powerpoint presentations in lieu of homilies -- or indeed, during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament -- or stage children's plays in the midst of the Mass. (We have personally witnessed each of these; the term 'liturgical abuse' is not known here.)
German laypeople are not wholly to blame, however, as the lack of basic catechesis is everywhere evident. Almost no one goes to Confession. Few genuflect before entering pews in German churches. Most Catholics have no clue about the Real Presence in the Tabernacle, which is often a strangely-decorated box set oddly to one side of an elevated platform.
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