A festive service will be held on sunday, 16 sunday. June, at 9.30 o’clock the 25. Anniversary of the consecration of herzogenaurach st.-otto church celebrated. On 12. In june 1994, the then auxiliary bishop of bamberg, werner radspieler, consecrated the new church building and thus handed it over to its intended purpose.
The history of the parish of st.Otto begins construction of a kindergarten in theodor-heuss-strabe (foundation stone laid in 1974). Church services could be celebrated here in the basement’s sports room. An emergency church made it possible to celebrate mass for a larger circle from 1979 onwards. At an early stage, however, those involved were already interested in building their own church building. In 1986/87 a filial church foundation was approved by the ministry of culture and the archdiocese.
In 1989, parish administrator franz noppenberger from niederndorf presented the model for the future church; master builder and diocesan architect professor manfred ehrhardt was responsible for the design. The parish home and apartments are grouped around the church as the center of this model. The parish hall should receive youth rooms, a room for seniors and for adult education. A tent served as a model for the church, the octagonal central building was designed for 250 seats and 100 standing places. The altar was not placed in the center, but was slightly tilted to the east. Nevertheless, the churchgoers should be able to gather around this altar.
The bell tower was not integrated into the church building, but was jutted out to the west of the building. It was to be built in steel skeleton construction, but it was planned to cover the belfry with the dials for the clock. A covered passageway was intended as a link to the house of worship. At this early stage of planning, it was also intended to add the parish hall to the east. Since a sufficiently large area was available, 24 to 26 social housing units were to be built next to the church and the parish hall.-joseph foundation bamberg was built. The plan was a good solution in terms of urban planning and architecture, and the church would serve as the center of the district.
On 9. In june 1991, the first sod was finally turned for the company. Cathedral chaplain klemens fink and pastor franz noppenberger had previously celebrated a service and pointed out that the city parish church st. The church of st. Mary magdalene offered enough space for the churchgoers; however, it was still necessary that the church set architectural accents in the city and did not hide itself.
The makeshift church is shortened
The makeshift church had to be shortened by two meters before it was completed so that the new building would not be obstructed. The costs for the church with bell tower were planned at 6.67 million DM, 5.95 million DM were provided by the archdiocesan ordinariate, the remainder of around 700,000 DM were to be provided by the congregation. Architect helmut popp supervised the work.
Already on the occasion of the otto-festival in 1993, on 20. September, a service could be celebrated in the provisionally furnished church. Klaus-peter scherer created the altar. The stained glass windows were designed by christiane triebsch, the focus is on the representation of the word in the verbalization. Biblical reliefs and hebraic characters were depicted in silkscreen painting with leaded glass.
The completion of the furnishings progressed. On 15. April 1994 48 members of the parish were present with chaplain joachim kauer at the ringing of the church bells at the bachert company in kochendorf near neckarsulm. It is customary to ring the bell at the hour of jesus’ death, on fridays between 3 and 4 pm, here at 3 pm.30 o’clock, to be cut off. The largest bell weighing 950 kilograms bears the inscription "christkonig" and is with "e tuned, the second with 700 kilograms carries the inscription "johannes der taufer" and is marked with "fis intones. The 500-kilogram bell is dedicated to st. Peter. Otto" consecrated and inscribed with "gis the smallest, weighing 350 kilograms, the "hl". Josef" dedicated and voted "h intones. Company boss hans wormser donated three bells, helmut popp one. For the consecration on 1. May 1994 the bells were ceremonially transported from the parking lot of the old cemetery by the city to the st.-otto church driven. In order for the four bells to be able to call the faithful to mass, the bell tower was built from 38 tons of steel sections, with a height of 27 meters.
The new church presents itself to the observer as an octagonal central building with a tent roof made of stainless steel sheeting. A lantern gives light to the central space and is crowned by a gilded steel cross. A sacramental chapel, comparable to an apse, adjoins the building to the east. The altar of celebration is on a pedestal slightly shifted from the center to the east. 250 seats and 250 standing places are available for the worshipers.
Cross by egino weinert
The lighting is provided by two skylight bands under the base of the roof as well as vertical window bands, which are located between the offset eaves walls. At 12. June 1994, auxiliary bishop werner radspieler was able to consecrate the new church building and thus hand it over to its intended purpose. Chaplain joachim kauer was officially handed over the keys, as he would be in charge of the church in the future. During the consecration, relics of the catacomb saints faus-tus, amanda and clemens were inserted into the altar by auxiliary bishop werner radspieler. An altar cross by egino weinert completed the church furnishings. In 1995, the first communion was celebrated in the church.
At the otto festival of the parish on the 24. September 1995 the foundation stone for the parish center was laid. This was to consist of a parish house with apartments for the pastor, a pastoral worker, a housekeeper and the janitor. A parish and youth home was also to be connected to it. On 1. April 1996 the filialkirchengemeinde st. Otto elevated to a parish by archbishop karl braun.
After his appointment as pastor of the parish of st. Otto on 1. September 1996, the previous chaplain, joachim kauer, was replaced on 29. Inaugurated in the same month by dean josef dobeneck. The construction work progressed quickly, domkapitular klemens fink consecrated the church on the 20th. April 1997 the parish center of st. Otto. The consecration of the organ on 21. April 2007 archbishop ludwig schick completed the installation.