Christmas miracle: Pallotti Church Hietzing remains open until March!

Christmas miracle: Pallotti Church Hietzing remains open until March!

Things are boiling in Hietzing: the upcoming profanation of the Pallotti Church, originally scheduled for December 14th, has been postponed. The church community is affected, especially in the run-up to Christmas, when around 100 believers attend church services every week. Instead, the painful decision will now take effect on March 1st to give believers a proper farewell. Father Björn Schacknies, vice-provincial of the Pallottines, sees this as an opportunity for the community to spend the last few weeks and the contemplative Christmas season together. Alexander Kaiser, a member of the order and initiator of a petition in which over 1,000 signatures have already been collected, also expresses relief: “This means Christmas can be celebrated in church.”

The reasons for the planned profanation are diverse. In addition to financial challenges, there is also the possibility of dissolving the order's branch in Vienna. Currently only one fellow Pallottine brother lives in the city, which makes the situation even more difficult. The older community in particular is feeling the effects of declining demand and demographic changes, as already discussed in connection with the profanation of other churches. We Archdiocese of Paderborn makes it clear that the desecration of a church represents a serious change in the way sacred spaces are treated.

Resistance and new perspectives

Many community members are mobilizing to resist profanation. A petition shows how important maintaining the service in the Pallotti Church is for the local people. District leader Johanna Zinkl from the ÖVP emphasizes that the closure of the church would also represent a loss for the entire district. Discussions with the Pallottines about possible alternative uses for the church are already underway.

Alexander Kaiser also presented a concept for using the church as a multifunctional room for cultural events and church services in the future. However, whether this is feasible depends on the clarification of open questions regarding the financing of operating costs and the structural maintenance of the listed building.

Where the journey for the Pallotti Church will ultimately lead remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the congregation wants to use the last communal services and farewell until March 1st as a time for togetherness. A representative of the Pallottine Order will arrive on December 14th to inform the community about what is happening.

The Pallotti Church in Hietzing is therefore not just a building, but also a place of encounter and faith, which makes the changes all the more noticeable. A look into the future shows that the church spaces could also be used culturally - as long as the community and the order pull together.