Altena: the parish twinning of Vierville

The parishes of Saint-André de Vierville and Saint-Matthieu d'Altena, in Germany, formalized a friendly on a Sunday intended to develop exchanges and friendship. The day began with a bilingual mass. Abbé Tourquetil then blessed a bronze of Saint Matthew fixed in the church and offered by German visitors.

In the afternoon, the parishioners of Vierville and the Altena delegation signed the charter. Mireille Guilbert traced the origin of the ties: a group of German scouts had come sixteen years earlier; for eight years, the young people had been staying with a chaplain preparing the mass with the parish priest. In 1988, Jean Broxterman had facilitated the first receptions in French families for a snack. In October of the same year, a dozen singers from the Altena choir came to give a concert.

On May 1 prior to the signing, Father Tourquetil and four young people, Véronique and Jérôme Blaize, Karine Maris and Mireille Guilbert, had spent three days in this parish of Westphalia, about a hundred kilometers northeast of Cologne. They had prepared the terms of the text, then signed in the presence of most of the mayors of the municipalities served by the priest.

A management committee in each parish was to animate this fraternal community within the Church. After the friendship drink, the young people played a friendly football match.