Uproar at Christmas mass: Freiburg Cathedral becomes an arena of protest!

Uproar at Christmas mass: Freiburg Cathedral becomes an arena of protest!

Another scandal shook Freiburg Cathedral on Christmas Day when visitors burst into prolonged and demonstrative applause after a song by the Cathedral Boys' Choir during Christmas mass on Christmas Eve. According to reports, they expressed solidarity with the dismissed cathedral music director Boris Böhmann, who was recently terminated by the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Archbishop Stephan Burger was forced to interrupt the liturgy several times while trying to continue the service, which at times put him in an embarrassing position, as some visitors laughed oe24 reported.

Böhmann's dismissal, which caused considerable resentment in the community, was not due to serious incidents such as sexual abuse, but rather to an internal power struggle between him and his deputy. A long-standing conflict between the two becomes visible, in which the deputy is accused of having delayed Böhmann's decisions about protection against abuse. Former church employee Ulrich Rausch described the termination as a “scandal” and questioned the allegations, reports katholisch.de.

Protests in church services

Even before the service, supporters distributed leaflets calling for a petition for Böhmann. During the Mass, the protests were criticized by the archdiocese as inappropriate because they drew many worshipers into a conflict they had nothing to do with. The archdiocese explained that the conflicts in the cathedral singing school had existed for a long time and remained unresolved despite several attempts to resolve them. The termination could not be revised under the influence of public debate, as there had already been labor law proceedings that were always decided against Böhmann's interests.