„Kein Interesse mehr am christlichen Leben“: Liturgie, Seelsorge und sakrale Denkmäler im Bistum Litoměřice gemäß dem Fragebogen von 1973

The paper analyses data contained in the questionnaire completed by the Roman Catholic priests of the Litoměřice diocesis in 1973 when bishop Štěpán Trochta was once again its head. This source gives evidence of a strenuous pastoral activity in places stricken by the expulsion of German inhabitants including the clergy, the dismal state of sacred monuments, the contemporary state of the liturgical reform of Vatican II in individual churches and chapels, and the daily life of ecclesiastical administrators. The paper describes the transformation of the religious profile of the region after the Second World War, the relation of the largest religious organizations to the expulsion, and the efforts to resolve a pastoral crisis after 1945. It confirms the crucial role of the local ecclesiastical administrators concerning the access to the liturgical reform. Although there often occurred radical interventions into liturgical spaces, rarely was their course in accordance with conceptual and pre-approved procedures and in cooperation with the authorities of built heritage preservation.