The Einsiedeln Abbey Has Surrendered

In the depths of divine wisdom rests an eternal truth: Humanity was not created as a neutral mass, but as man and woman – two poles of a sacred polarity, Animus and Anima, which only in their distinction reveal the fullness of what it means to be human. This distinction is not a defect, but a radiant sign of beauty, truth, and goodness.

The Order of Creation: Man and Woman as Complementary Images of God

It points toward the wholeness that is found only in the love that leads to union: in the sacrament of marriage, in the healthy family with father and mother, in the turning back to the symbolic Father in Heaven. Where this order is honored, life flourishes. Where it is blurred, the divine countenance in man grows dark.

The Separated Seating – An Ancient Sign of Reverence

In former times the churches dared to make this truth visible. In cathedrals, basilicas and monastery churches men and women sat apart – not out of mistrust or devaluation, but out of profound reverence before the mystery of creation. The separation created space for interior prayer, for the gathering of the heart, for the acknowledgment of each one’s proper vocation. It reminded every individual that the path to wholeness leads through distinction, not through its dissolution. It was at once a bulwark of reason and of religion: boldly the Church set herself against what today is praised as “progress,” yet in truth mocks the divine order.

The Example of Einsiedeln Abbey – A Bulwark That Grew Weak

Until recently, the venerable Einsiedeln Abbey offered a radiant testimony to this sacred order – pilgrimage site of the Black Madonna and treasury of Benedictine mysticism in the Swiss Alps. It possessed a women’s entrance and a men’s entrance – symbols of the separated approach to the Holy. These entrances were no mere architectural peculiarity. They spoke of the rediscovery of the Divine: man and woman, each on his or her path, yet united in the gaze toward the Cross and the Mother of God. They recalled the great Catholic truth: the sexes are complementary, not identical. Their separated approach strengthens the family, strengthens society, strengthens the Church herself.

The Corona Period as Pretext – and the Failure to Return

Then came the time of great trial. For reasons of safety, so the justification ran, the passage was opened – a temporary concession to the need of the hour, to guide the flow of pilgrims. No one could seriously contest that in those months. Yet what followed is the true sign of weakness: after the end of the pandemic this change was not reversed. The Einsiedeln Abbey, that mighty bulwark of tradition, remained silent. It retained the mixed entrance. It bowed to the spirit of the age that tolerates no more distinctions. A small detail – and yet a deep tear in the symbolic order. Where once the sacred separation protected the mystery, there now reigns the current of arbitrariness.

The Spiritual Sickness of Our Time: Fear of the Judgment of the World

Why do the churches today scarcely dare any longer to let men and women sit or enter apart? The answer lies in a profound spiritual illness: the fear of the judgment of the world. The spirit of the age preaches a false unity that erases differences and thereby empties divine love of its content. It calls this “equality,” yet it is the denial of creation. Church leaders and communities fear ridicule, media criticism, state requirements or the loss of favor. They forget: the Church is not called by this world to imitate it, but to transform it. Where courage for truth is lacking, the beauty of the liturgy fades, morality loses its footing, religion loses its mystical power.

Hope Through Conversion – The Rediscovery of the Divine

Yet there is hope – a radiant, optimistic hope that springs from the rediscovery of the Divine! The teaching of the great Carl Gustav Jung reminds us: Animus and Anima must be recognized and honored in their own essence if wholeness is to arise. The healthy family with mother and father is the living image of this union. The Catholic tradition has always known this: the separated seating was never oppression, but protection of the mystery – a path to true love.

It is time to rise with courage. Not in anger, but in fatherly love and motherly goodness. The churches can and should return to the sacred order. Einsiedeln and all other bulwarks may become strong again. Let us pray that the Spirit of Truth may enflame hearts! Let us rediscover the beauty of tradition, bear witness to the truth of the Creator, and multiply the good in the world.

For where man and woman approach the altar apart in reverence, there they unite all the more deeply – in Christ, in the family, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The divine love waits. It is stronger than every spirit of the age. Let us turn back to the Father in Heaven. Then the Church will shine again – mystical, alive, unconquerable.