Report on Trip to 50 year Anniversary of Church and Peace Member „Basisgemeinschaft Wulfshagenerhütten“
30. May – 2 June 2024
Juliane Prüfert, General Secretary of Church & Peace
When I arrived at the base community Wulfshagenerhütten I realized that I had had a certain image in my head of this place without ever having been there. And I was wrong. It wasn’t a conglomerate of houses full of clutter or bungalows or a house of separate apartments. I arrived at a renovated manor that had chandeliers, a mirrored ballroom and an English lawn in the entry plaza. I was welcomed by Anthony and Tanja Gwyther who showed me to their guestroom and gave me a lovely little tour through the main house and the wood workshop where the community produces educational toys for kids all over Germany and Europe (I think). In the backyard, the community had put up a circus tent for the celebrations and every gathering was accompanied by bird song. They had created their own little paradise.
50 years is a long time for a community to exist. In one of the gatherings we listened to 4 different generations talking about their journey with Wulfshagenerhütten. Adelheid is over 80 years old now and still vividly remembers the birthing stage of the community in South Germany, the hardships of finding a house but also the passion for the witness of the gospel that moved people literally across the country. Tanja talked about finding a home for her family after having met the Catholic workers in Brisbane and wanting to find a similar sense of community in Germany. What impressed me the most was how several members took time to reflect on the consequences of their lifestyle for the children who grew up there and how hard it is to bring together this passion for community and the gospel with the creation of safe spaces for children to grow up.
I learned about the house squatting in Berlin in the 1990s that birthed the „city branch“ of the base community and about their international connections. The icon of Volodja played a crucial role in the celebratory worship on Sunday – it is monochrome except for the blood in Jesus’s side and the grape juice pressed from the vines into a chalice. It represents the suffering of the people that god shares with us. The icon was given to the community by a Ukrainian who survived the nuclear accident in Tchernobyl and spent some recovery time at Wulfshagenerhütten. Another strong connection exists with a sibling base community Zacamil in El Salvador. Several members had traveled to the north of Germany for the 50 year anniversary to send their greetings personally. Luis talked about their long-lasting partnership since the 1980‘s and about their missions with bishop Oscar Romero when they went from house to house to talk with the poor people from the countryside and ask them what they needed. It is this people-oriented peacemaking approach that runs through my experience with Church and Peace and it was so invigorating to experience the global history of Christian solidarity.
Of course, the highlight of the entire visit was meeting old friends (like Heidi and Bruno Sägesser or Dietrich, Birke and Uta from Brot und Rosen) and getting to know friends who most of you probably know much better than me: Margret and Martin Ellwanger, Marie-Noelle and Ernst von der Recke, Martin and Andrea Klotz-Woock, Daniel Hänel, Herbert and Anne Lorenz, Catherine Rox-Dornberg, Raja and many others who have welcomed me in their midst and made me feel like I belonged there. Apart from a few material items like a Herman (a sweet yeast dough) or a recipe for home-made ginger beer I took with me a sense of being connected to so many beautiful people that care for and tend to life of each other and our earth, none of whom are perfect. But as Marie-Noelle said in her sermon: „People don’t have to be perfect, they can even suffer from each other and with each other – but they are a sign for a better world that is possible. Just as Jesus is our sign for God’s dawning kingdom.“