From the outside, the Catholic church in Mannheim's Neuostheim district appears to be a typical 1950s church building: a relatively simple structure, nothing particularly remarkable about it. Yet St. Pius is truly unique. In this place of worship, Catholic and Protestant Christians celebrate services sharing the same space and taking turns in gathering around the same altar for Communion and the Eucharist.
"It actually began in the early 1970s," Annette Hübner, a Catholic parishioner, told DW. The 57-year-old has lived in the district with her family for more than half a century and is a member of the parish team. At the time, the parish priest of St. Pius was committed to fostering cooperation with the Protestant community and began holding ecumenical services in 1970. Then, at the end of 2009, the nearby Protestant St. Thomas Church sustained extensive water damage, and the building was found to be beyond repair.
What began as a temporary arrangement gradually evolved into a lasting solution. That lasting solution, in turn, grew into a genuine ecumenical friendship.
"It became increasingly clear that it made sense to continue working together," Hübner recalled. A banner on the facade of St. Pius proclaims: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." What may sound like a theological phrase from a Sunday sermon is part of everyday life here, on weekdays as much as on Sundays.
