Shouting “Allah” in the St. Antonius Church in Düsseldorf, Germany

In this Sunday evening Mass in St. Antonius in wealthy Oberkassel district of Düsseldorf, the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany was dramatically highlighted. When Monsignor Wilhelm Terboven reads mass, the churchgoer gets to hear something extraordinary. The priest is known for his frank words in sermons and lectures.

In the synodal path, said the Monsignor in his welcome address, the central questions of religion, namely those about faith and God, do not play a role. They are pushed to the margins. And he was very concerned that faith would continue to be lost if Sunday were to be lost as a special day. “Dear people of God,” Terboven addressed the 50 or so people attending the service. A woman had complained to him that he was talking about the people of God, he had reported earlier. Listening to Terboven, it becomes clear what the Christian churches are really lacking, what they should actually be there for.

There are several rumbles at the door of the neo-Romanesque church. And then, suddenly during a song, a man with an object in his fist – only later do I recognise it as a drink can – comes forward behind us through the side aisle. It is frightening. While the congregation is still singing (or rather, listening to the organist), he sits down in the front row right in front of the singing Monsignor Terboven and says something. Now the organ falls silent. The intruder throws himself to the ground in front of the altar and shouts something, I only understand “Allah…”, several participants in the service who were closer confirm this to me later.

Monsignor Teboven calmly says: “You are disturbing our service. You are welcome to sit here, but you must be quiet,” and begins to recite the Creed, the congregation joining in. Meanwhile, a stocky, determined-looking man and then two others run towards the intruder. There is no apparent violence. But the determined congregation members make it clear to the intruder that he has to leave, they escort him out through the side aisle.

Later, in conversation with Terboven and the courageous man himself, I learn that he is the organist – and a policeman in his main profession! He tells me that the troublemaker was visibly intoxicated and perhaps also under other drugs. He had said incomprehensible, confused things about Israel and the Mossad. “He told him, “I don’t care, you get out of here now!

The calmness of the old clergyman and the organist/police officer is remarkable. There is every reason to be afraid: In July 2016, the priest Jacques Hamel was murdered and stabbed in his own church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray by two followers of the Islamic State.

Outwardly, Monsignor does not show any signs, he continues the mass with dignity. During the intercessions, he spontaneously added one and said: “There are many people from other countries living among us who have no home here. Like the man who just disturbed our service. The life of migrants is very difficult.”

Also at the end of the service, the monsignor speaks to the congregation again about the incident. He says meaningfully, “The leaders of the Muslims in Europe assume that they will be in power here in a few decades. That should make us think.”

A woman who had left St. Anthony’s Church with her children in fear during the incident went to the police station next to the church. She had seen that the troublemaker was still rioting in a nearby pub after being removed from the church. However, there was only one officer present who could not leave the station. So he called colleagues. One of them asked the witness from the church: “Has he committed a crime?” He obviously doesn’t know section 167 of the penal code. It says: “Whoever intentionally and grossly disturbs the worship or an act of worship of a church or other religious society existing in the country, or commits insulting mischief in a place dedicated to the worship of such a religious society, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or with a fine.”

But the police seem to know the person who disturbed the service. During the phone call, the police officer suspects that it is the same man who is said to have disturbed a church service in a similar way in the Heerdt district of Düsseldorf. Apparently he did not receive a prison sentence for this.

On the way home, I finally see a patrol car driving through the streets around the church.

The morning after, the press office of the Düsseldorf police did not know anything about the incident, nor did they know about any charges. The press officer later got back to me and said that the police were in contact with the parish about the matter.

https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/allah-ruf-in-der-st-antonius-kirche-in-duesseldorf/