On the feast of Pentecost 2021, Lars Schlarmann and Christian Fechtenkötter were ordained priests at Paulus Cathedral in Münster. The special thing is that they had both served as committed pastoral workers and deacons in St. Lamberti parish, Coesfeld, for several years.
We sisters at Kloster Annenthal were very happy at the request whether the First Mass of the two priests could be celebrated in our park at this time of the coronavirus. An open-air celebration enables more people to participate. Since the weather was good (thanks be to God), a lot of people attended. Moreover, singing was allowed again. So nothing stood in the way of the festive celebration any more. Christian Fechtenkötter was the main celebrant.
In his homily, the spiritual director, Matthäus Niesmann, mentioned the Coesfeld Cross and its meaning for our two Coesfeld foundresses, Hilligonde Wolbring and Elisabeth Kühling. It was very appropriate that a small Coesfeld Cross was set up in front of the altar isle. As mission and consolation, he formulated a message that had accompanied him, too, since is ordination: “Jesus is not without the cross; the cross is not without Jesus”.
At the end, Lars Schlarmann thanked all those who had participated.
A special joy for us was the fact that the two newly ordained priests prayed the vespers with us in our chapel that evening and that they gave the sisters their First Mass blessing. May the two newly ordained priests with the power of the Holy Spirit be a sign of hope in the local church!
by Dreamhost