St. George's Chapel

On Saturday, May 13, 2017, all eyes were on the sky - after all, storms had been forecast. But apart from a heavy downpour at midday, St. Peter had mercy and sent some glorious sunshine to the 400 or so guests on the Eulenspiegel. They had traveled from all over the diocese and beyond to attend the blessing of St. George's Chapel.

Thanks to the help of volunteers, the three supporting blocks of the chapel have been clad and wired inside and out in recent years. The exterior is slowly blossoming and visitors will see the chapel come to life in the coming weeks and months. When handing over the keys, the diocesan board - Anna Werner, Patrick Höckelmann and Tobias Hasselmeyer - particularly thanked the three main builders Hans-Josef Marx, Georg Werner and Jörg Gastel, who supported the numerous volunteers in their work with great commitment. Simon Schwamborn, former diocesan curate, and Managing Director Ulrich Weber were also honored with the Georg Medal for their services. Back in 2007, when Hurricane Kyrill cleared the forest area, the diocesan assembly had already voted in favor of building a chapel. The foundation stone was laid in November 2013, and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated a year later.

The highlight of the day was the church service with Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker, Vicar General Alfons Hardt and Diocesan Curate Tobias Hasselmeyer. With combined forces, the altar slab in the shape of a cross was finally installed, thus completing the construction.
The diocesan association presented itself throughout the day with various hands-on activities: Printing jute bags, creating name tags with branding irons and burnet, exploring baptism, "St. Hüpf" bouncy castle. Many took the opportunity to sign the tables, chairs and stools they had previously purchased in the chapel store.
The team from the diocesan center catered for the physical well-being of around 80 guests who had pitched their tents.
The evening ended in the yurt castle with a concert by Samuel Harfst.

The 2018 NRW Timber Construction Award was presented as part of the 11th European Timber Construction Congress at the Gürzenich in Cologne's Altstadt. Zimmerei Hüske from Rüthen submitted the construction project for St. George's Chapel. It was responsible for the majority of the construction work and supported the scouts with their enormous personal contribution. During the planning and construction phase, which lasted over ten years, more than 150 scouts actively helped to build their chapel. In May 2017, the chapel was blessed by Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker and Vicar General Alfons Hardt. Since then, it has been an integral part of the DPSG diocesan center in Rüthen.

The expert jury praised the special architecture of the building and the use of timber from the Rüthen forest. The chapel consists of three cube-shaped rooms. The entrance cube stands vertically, while the other two cubes lean against it at an angle of 15 degrees. The large multi-purpose room offers space for 100 people and is connected to the chapel cube so that larger services can also be celebrated there, but can also be used independently.

Photos: Sebastian Humbek

Further links: https://www.erzbistum-paderborn.de/870-Religions-unterricht/913-Missio-canonica/1260-Kurznachrichten/23921,25-10--Holzbaupreis-NRW-f%FCr-Kapelle-St.-Georg.html?cookiesaccepted=true

https://www.dpsg-paderborn.de/kapellenbau/

https://youtu.be/opJv919hCFY Film of the consecration of the chapel