This cooperation is more than just accommodation for the language students – in the words of KAAD Secretary General Dr Nora Kalbarczyk, it also gives KAAD a spiritual place.
KAAD President Fr Dr Hans Langendörfer SJ and Father Jan Opiéla, Diocesan President of the Catholic Rural People's Movement in the Archdiocese of Cologne and pastor for Sinti, Roma and related groups on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference, celebrated a joint mass to kick off the event. Afterwards, Fr Hans Langendörfer blessed the scholarship holders' rooms and the newly created common room. For the KAAD scholars who live with the Benedictine nuns in Angermund, the community in their new surroundings is a crucial source of support – as Fr Hans Langendörfer SJ emphasised the importance of ‘being together, cooking together, in short: social life, because students are often isolated and we don't want that’. At a joint barbecue, the great internationality of the students from Egypt, Argentina, Indonesia, Kenya, Colombia, the Philippines, the Palestinian territories and Zimbabwe was symbolised once again in the many different dishes from the young people's countries of origin. Sr Emmanuela Kohlhaas OSB, head of the monastery, also described being together with the scholars as ‘enriching and uncomplicated’. They ‘network very quickly with each other, are very nice to be with as a group, help each other and are an enrichment for the community of Benedictine nuns. Fr Hans Langendörfer also emphasised the ‘freshness’ and ‘optimism’ on site. The fact that the church is alive manifests itself in the new cooperation between KAAD and St Catherine's Monastery.
