A man, apparently a Muslim, breaks into a Düsseldorf church during a mass and disrupts the service with a loud call to Allah. The criminal offense of “disturbing the practice of religion” does not seem to be taken very seriously by the police.

During this Sunday evening mass in St. Antonius in the well-to-do Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany became urgent. When Monsignor Wilhelm Terboven says mass, the churchgoers get something to hear. The pastor – who has been (un)retired for years – is known for his open words in sermons and lectures.

In the synodal path, the monsignor said in his welcoming remarks, the actually central questions of religion, namely those about faith and God, played no role. They are pushed to the sidelines. And he is very concerned that faith will continue to be lost if Sunday is lost as a special day. “Dear people of God,” Terboven addresses the approximately 50 worshipers. He had previously reported that a woman had complained to him that he was talking about the people of God. Listening to Terboven, it becomes clear what the Christian churches are really lacking, what they should actually be there for.

The door of the neo-Romanesque church rumbles several times. And then suddenly, during a song, a man with an object in his fist – only later do I recognize it as a beverage can – comes behind us down the aisle to the front. It is frightening. While the congregation is still singing (or rather, listening to the organist), he sits down in the front row right in front of the singing Monsignor Terboven and says something. Now the organ falls silent. The intruder throws himself on the ground in front of the altar and shouts something, I only understand “Allah…”, several worshipers who were closer later confirmed this to me.

Monsignor Teboven says calmly: “You are disturbing our service. You are welcome to sit here, but you must be quiet,” and begins to recite the creed, the congregation joins in. Meanwhile, a burly, determined-looking man and then two others run towards the intruder. There is no discernible violence. But the determined parishioners make it clear to the intruder that he has to go, escorting him out through the aisle.

Later, in conversation with Terboven and the courageous man himself, I find out that he is the organist – and his main job is a police officer! He tells me that the troublemaker was clearly under the influence of alcohol and was possibly on other drugs. He said incomprehensible, confused stuff about Israel and the Mossad. “I don’t care, you’re going out of here now!” he made clear to him.

The calm of the old minister and organist/policeman is remarkable. There is good reason to be afraid: in July 2016, the priest Jacques Hamel was murdered with knives in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in his own church by two Islamic State supporters.

Monsignor doesn’t show anything on the outside; he continues the mass with dignity. He spontaneously adds one to the intercessions and says: “Many people from other countries live among us who do not find a home here. Like the man who just disturbed our service. The life of the migrants is very difficult.”

At the end of the service, the monsignor speaks again to the congregation about the incident. He says: “The leading heads of Muslims in Europe assume that they will be in power here in a few decades. That should make us think.”

A woman who had left St. Antonius Church with her children during the incident, frightened, went to the police station next to the church. She had seen that the troublemaker was still rioting in a nearby pub after he had been removed from the church. But there was only one officer sitting there who could not leave the station. So he called colleagues. One of them asks the witness from the church: “Did he commit a crime?” He obviously does not know Article 167 of the Criminal Code. It says: “Whoever intentionally and grossly disturbs the service or a service of worship of a church or other religious community existing in Germany or commits abusive nonsense in a place dedicated to the service of such a religious community, shall be sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment years or fined.”

But the troublemaker seems to be known to the police already. During the phone call, the police officer suspects that it is the same man who is said to have disturbed a church service in a similar way in the Heerdt district of Düsseldorf. Apparently he did not receive a prison sentence for this.

On the way home, I finally see a patrol car driving through the streets around the church.

The morning after, the press office of the Düsseldorf police did not know anything about the incident, nor did they know about any charges.