Rumänisch-Orthodoxe Kirchengemeinde “Heiligen Konstantin und Helena“ Straubing e. V.

My wife (Orthodox) and I (Catholic) were godparents in the church 2 years ago and everything was great. The pastor was nice and accommodating. For this reason we decided to baptize our child in this church as well. We made an appointment by phone. During this conversation he wanted nothing more than that we absolutely have to sign a contract and pay monthly. Every time he emphasized that it was voluntary and that he did not want to force us. But if you try to remind someone every few minutes that it is important to pay monthly, then it is no longer voluntary, it is called "urging". Well we said we would think about it and wanted to make a specific date for the baptism. We did that, but he really wanted us to come back to his church before the baptism to take part in a "Katachesis". My wife and I knew what that was roughly. Katachesis is the preparation for receiving a sacrament and the theoretical and practical introduction to the faith. We transferred the money for the baptism but did not sign a contract. 2 weeks after the first conversation we were standing in front of the church, 5 minutes too late because our child still had to be changed. The door was closed. We called the pastor's number and his wife answered the phone, she told us that she was trying to reach the pastor so he could unlock us. We knocked and waited and wanted to leave after 10 minutes. Then I hit the door harder and finally the door opened. The pastor then explained a lot about religion from his point of view, but he kept deviating from the topic and made a few unfriendly comments. For example that a baptism is not a service, but it is! I give someone money to do something for me. Is that a service or not? He knew exactly that I was a Catholic and explained to us: "I once had a baptism, so the couple wanted me to baptize the child with just a little bit of water over my forehead like the Catholics. We are not Catholics but Orthodox, we either baptize right or not at all. "He asked us why we didn't baptize our son Catholic, we didn't want to go into that and said that it was our decision and if our son wanted to change religion later in life, he could decide for himself. A short time later he said something again: "You only get baptism once in a lifetime, baptism is not a commodity that you exchange at your own discretion, you cannot exchange and later belong to a sect." He said that even though he knew I was a Catholic. My patience was slowly running out, but I figured I shouldn't take it personally. But then he broke the barrel. He said: "You have to imagine, there were godparents who only wanted to give me 10 €! I also have expenses, I have to drive here from Regensburg! I come especially for the baptism. 10 € is not fair!" My wife replied: "But € 10 is also money, not everyone has that much to give." Then it was over. The pastor freaked out and was very unfriendly afterwards. He said that my wife can't interfere and he'll give us the money back and won't baptize our son if it goes on like this. Then I said that we were going, I won't go to this level! Although he speaks German, he deliberately only spoke Romanian during catechesis. I have to honestly say. I've never seen a pastor so angry. No matter what religion. So rude and arrogant. So two years ago I would have recommended the pastor, but definitely not now! Immediately after the baptism, we called another city and the pastor gave us an appointment for baptism without stupid sayings, without filling out a contract. I would have expected such a nice pastor in this church!

Very open and nice