Research Updates

Brigitta Sassin, theologian and pastoral worker for religious immigrant communities in Frankfurt/Germany, introduced the project ‘International Stations of the Cross’ at the Dialogue Conference of the ReCoVirA-Project Germany on June 24^th. This perspective expanded the projects’ findings and understanding of the transnational experience of religious communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contact: sassin@stadtkirche-ffm.de

Frankfurt has always been a melting pot of people from many nations. Currently, we count 180 nationalities in the city, as well as different religions and religious denominations, all kinds of possible languages, and a seemingly endless variety of cultures.

Looking back at the painful months of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of us can effortlessly remember the feelings of solitude and isolation, the fear of a still unknown virus, and the yearning for life’s normal rhythms to return. How did Catholic immigrants experience those weeks and months? How did they cope under the new laws mandating isolation and enforcing bodily distance?

Catholic immigrants painfully felt the burden of strict isolation during those months. When religious gatherings provide the weekly comfort and strength needed to get through a long week of work, one feels the absence of Sundays spent in community. Priests, pastoral workers, and very creative lay people worked hard creating new spaces that enabled community in the digital age. Choir rehearsals were held via zoom – but please ensure that your microphone is turned off when you start singing! Churches were kept open for the faithful, who could come and sit at precisely marked seats, leaving enough distance to hopefully remain protected. A true discovery was the digital Mass, the celebration of the communal Lord’s Supper in the isolation of one’s living room. In spite of all the hardship, people took great zeal to get Sunday Mass broadcasted, and were delighted to discover new connections. All of the sudden, it was possible to overcome the geographical distance between continents (while respecting the different time zones) and celebrate together – even together with family members and loved ones living in different countries! This was a truly transnational discovery, nurturing in a new and unexpected way.

It is necessary to acknowledge all the feelings of helplessness: for quite some time, travel was not possible. No human touch was felt via screen, no smell of your old mother’s kitchen, no meal at a common table. People could not attend the funerals of their loved ones. The pain of these losses cannot be wiped away.

In Frankfurt we have tried to give a voice to those in these very painful situations, to be present in the contradictions the virus had caused, and to pray for healing. A traditional prayer, the Stations of the Cross, has become an inspiring and touching testimony of those weeks in 2020. 14 language communities sent in a short description of their experiences during the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, and have tried to connect it with the suffering Jesus. These resulting ‘International Stations of the Cross’ have been published on our website (https://geistlich.net/kreuzweg-der-welt-in-zeiten-von-corona-2020) and have become a testament of new transnational connectedness in spite of bodily separation.