For more than ten years the Speyer Cathedral has offered a special service: nuns as well as members of the cathedral parish and the cathedral building society have acted as contact people for visitors. The goal of this service is to accentuate the cathedral’s religious function through the meeting of people and place.
The “base station” of the cathedral visitor service can be found in the southern nave aisle. Here there is information as to the activities of the cathedral parish and bishopric, as well as spiritual offerings such as retreats and temporary stays in monasteries. Additionally there are always at least two individuals somewhere in the cathedral, who act as “mobile contacts” for visitors. Their task is to engage the visitor at particularly remarkable locations in the cathedral, such as in the crypt, in the baptistery or at the ever-popular candlestand, and to take questions and provide answers. Spiritual content is also provided at 12.10 through a short “midday prayer” supplemented by meditative content and music. People visiting alone have the opportunity to personally engage in religious conversation.
Primarily responsible for this offer are three sisters from the St. Dominikus Institute. Members of the cathedral parish and the cathedral building society support the endeavour in a voluntary capacity. According to Sister Rosemarie Rinck, the coordinator of this service: “It is typically Dominican to approach people and to bear witness as to our faith. The father of our order sought people out and spoke to them directly in their own environment.” The former teacher at the Nikolaus-von-Weis-Hauptschule in Speyer places great importance on the cathedral visitor service’s role as a spiritual undertaking. “We are not here to give guided tours of the cathedral, rather we are here for the people, for their questions and hardships.”
