This best describes how welcoming and open our parish is. People who visit our parsonage garden or church feel welcome and experience the hospitality and warmth of the community and return regularly.
People occupies an important place in our religious community: everyone can be themselves with us, because without being yourself there is no room to be able to believe in the higher in complete freedom. This freedom is of paramount importance to us and we are happy to propagate it. Our community also provides a shelter for many where they feel protected and supported. With us you will find a safe place where you can talk freely without fear or just find peace and quiet.
By coming together every Sunday we strengthen the bond with God and with each other and for many people it is the start of a new week.
The history of the building of the Old Catholic Church in Culemborg goes back to 1624. During the Reformation in 1578, the Catholic community lost the St. Barbara Church to the Protestant community. The Catholics were then officially no longer allowed to hold church services. From 1624 onwards, they therefore held services in a clandestine church on the Varkensmarkt, which was tolerated. In 1723, the station joined the Old Catholic Church. The other station in Culemborg remained loyal to the Roman Catholic Church. Above the entrance is Pantocratori and inside the church Jesus is depicted as Pantocrator, all-ruler.
The current church was built between 1834 and 1836 on the site of the clandestine church from 1624, under the architecture of Van der Bie from Utrecht. The side wall, against the inner garden, is the only part of the old church building that remains. In 1900, a gallery was built in the church. The stained glass in the windows was installed in 1905 to replace the original frosted glass. The window in the apse dates from 1925. The image shows Christ with Mary Magdalene, whose brother Lazarus had recently died. The inscription reads: "I am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:25). The church was restored in 1994 and 1995.
The church has a rich and beautiful church inventory, many of which are older than the current church building. The pulpit and the statues of Joseph and Mary (left and right of the apse) come from the old clandestine church. The medieval St. John's Church in Culemborg was demolished in 1824, just before the construction of the current church. A 16th-century four-piece and a 15th-century wooden crucifix come from this church. The small ivory crucifix above the altar comes from Spain and was on the Silver Fleet that was captured by Piet Hein in 1628. The organ from 1900 was built by the organ builder Johan Frederik Witte.
Translated by Google •
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