A monastery in the world. The world in a monastery. The Weltkloster in Radolfzell.
The Weltkloster (“world monastery”) trusts in the peacebuilding power of interfaith and intercultural dialog on the level of shared inner experience.
Its work is guided by monastic virtues such as serious study, mindfulness, empathy and hospitality which serve as a bridge between different spiritual traditions.
The Weltkloster is a forum in which people of different faiths can share their experiences and knowledge and engage in contemplative reflection. It enables a deeper insight into one’s own religious roots and promotes an understanding and appreciation of other spiritual traditions through encounters with other world religions.
Reconstruction drawing of the former Capuchin monastery in the 17th century (drawing by A. Pfannendörfer)
The goals of the Weltkloster are:
- to promote peaceful, sustainable international relationships between people of different religions and cultures,
- to create a network of projects and initiatives for interfaith and intermonastic encounters and cooperation,
- to establish an interfaith community living within a quasi-monastic structure for a period of time,
- to promote awareness of global ethical behavior on the basis of the Global Ethic declaration of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions.
