In Germany on April 21st, over 230 monasteries, convents, abbeys will open their doors for their second “Open Day”: coordinated by the Conference of Religious Orders (Dok) all over the Federation, it wants to give a chance to those who wish to “learn about, ask questions, see, have a snoop around, share”. “The wide variety of charismas and lifestyles must be shown. Many people have a restricted view: the nun goes around in a veil, the monk in a cowl. But the religious landscape is much more colourful than this, the nature of orders is really varied, and we often notice how our visitors’ perception changes”, Abbot Hermann-Josef Kugler, director of Dok, explains. This year’s theme is “Good. We are here”.
Guided tours, shared moments of prayer, singing workshops, exhibitions, films, art, entertainment and opportunities to meet people are the recurring factors of the programmes of the participating monasteries, which may be located in an interactive map (http://tag-der-offenen-klöster.de). Century-old contemplative monasteries and very young service-oriented communities will open their doors. Because, in addition to the wide variety, people should “be shown what living in a monastery in the XXI century is like”, Abbot Kugler goes on. There are 421 religious communities in Germany, with about 15 thousand nuns and 4 thousand priests living in them.