At St. Marienkrankenhaus Berlin, as in other Catholic hospitals, it has been a long-standing tradition to organize a pre-Christmas celebration for the patients.
This was also the case on 12 December 2024, when a representative of the Archbishop of Berlin, Dr. Heiner Koch, always attends this Christmas party. This year, it was Cathedral Provost Prelate Tobias Przytarski who, together with the hospital’s Catholic and Protestant chaplains, brought the bishop’s greetings to the patients.
The Christmas celebration began in the hospital chapel with a short prayer service. Hospital staff, nursing staff, doctors, student nurses and also many nuns took part, before going to the individual wards together with the cathedral provost and the chaplains and performing Christmas carols for the patients.
The cathedral provost and the chaplains went to each individual patient and the surprise and joy of the patients was written all over their faces. Some cried, others sang along and this was a rich reward for all those involved in the organization, in the profound experience that he who gives receives it back a thousandfold.
In this joy, a dinner was then held for all those involved in the St. Augustine monastery and it was a happy conclusion to this successful celebration.