Exerzitienzentrum der Göttlichen Barmherzigkeit für die Reevangelisation, Catholic retreat center in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Germany

The Exerzitienzentrum der Göttlichen Barmherzigkeit für die Reevangelisation occupies the St.-Clemens-Kirche at Stresemannstraße 66, a rear-courtyard church hidden from the street by the front building. The church is a three-nave basilica with carved wooden doors and organ, and neo-Romanesque round-arch elements; a large wall painting of Christ as the Good Shepherd dominates the area in front of the altar beside the tabernacle.

In 1907 Clemens August Graf von Galen, then a chaplain in Berlin, bought the plot near Anhalter Bahnhof with his inheritance share and gave 45,000 marks for a journeymen's hostel for 200 to 400 residents; the remainder paid for St. Clemens Church, consecrated in 1911. In 2007 the archdiocese sold the complex for 2.5 million euros to two British investors, one a Muslim Berlin businessman of Turkish origin. The St. Clemens support association rented it back, and on 15 March 2008 Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky re-established it as a retreat centre.

The centre is run by four Vincentian priests from Cochin in Kerala, India, together with a private support association. Its programme centres on deepening faith, new evangelisation, administering the sacraments, perpetual adoration and retreats, with a separate programme for young people. Since 2010 the St. Clemens church has hosted the annual Berlin Bible Conference, first held from 23 to 27 June 2010.

The church is set back from Stresemannstraße at number 66, hidden behind the front building, so look for the passage into the rear courtyard. St. Clemens is open around the clock for prayer; confession is heard from 9 to 12 and 15 to 18, and two masses are held daily.

Four priests from the Vincentian Congregation based in Kochin, Kerala, lead this German center and bring a rare cross-cultural perspective to the Berlin neighborhood. Leadership from South Indian clergy creates an uncommon link between European and Asian spirituality.