A trio of women in the service of the lord
Karl-heinz hofmann kehlbach- their services are hardly noticed, but if something was missing during the service, every person attending the service would notice: in the marienkirche in kehlbach, a trio of women has been volunteering for decades. Regina welscher and her daughter marion buttner have been volunteering for the church in kehlbach for 50 years. Andrea kraus has been the altar server for two decades.
Long before the parish priest
What motivates mothers and grandmothers to get involved in the church?? The widowed regina welscher (mother of three children and grandmother of four grandchildren) has served as a sacristan in the marienkirche for over 20 years. Their daughter, marion buttner, has been a volunteer lector in the catholic church for over 30 years. The trio has one thing in common. It is busy in the sacristy and in the sanctuary with the preparations of the holy mass long before the beginning of the service and before the arrival of the pastor. Then regina welscher has to get the chasuble for the priest out of the closet and get it ready to wear. She also opens the gospel and the readings in the missal lectionary according to the liturgical cycle of the year and marks them with a bookmark.
The next task is to light several candles around the altar, to check the floral decorations and to agree on the sequence of songs with the organist. Without regina welscher’s care, the chalice, holy water bowl, and hostess bowl would remain empty.
Marion buttner (mother of two children and professionally employed as a pharmaceutical sales representative) is entrusted with the readings during the service. Her focus is on the meetings and the tasks of the parish council. The easter breakfast is planned, the corpus christi procession (who makes which flower carpet?)?), the christmas party for seniors, for thanksgiving the auction of the harvest, for certain festive occasions a champagne reception has to be prepared, as examples she mentions the first communion and the church consecration.
She would like to thank the many hard-working helpers who throughout the year take on other tasks at the cemetery, the flower decorations inside and outside the church, the lector service, and the preparation for first communion. Currently, the disinfection team has a special responsibility because of the corona pandemic. A special praise from the parish council chairwoman goes to organist leo froba, who reliably and punctually comes from the neighboring village of buchbach.
Variety in demand
The altar server andrea kraus is also the mother of two children and grandmother of two grandchildren. She is responsible for organizing the altar servers for the respective service. She also organizes the carol singers, the stations of the cross and a christmas bazaar. In addition, handicraft lessons, visits to the cinema and excursions are held. You always have to come up with something to motivate the boys and girls to serve at the altar, she says.
And what motivates the trio of women, what is their intention to get involved in the church community?? In unison they say: "our small church community should remain lively, the children and young people should also find fun and joy in the church and the faith, we are working on this together but also with other helpers, because church lives from mutual helpfulness!" And all three women are sure to continue their valuable service before, during and after church services for a long time to come.