Hubertus Mass in Zurich: Pastor asks for vigil to be called off

On Sunday, 15 November 2026, at 10 a.m., the Reformed church of St. Peter in Zurich's old town will once again celebrate its Hubertus Mass. According to the pastor, around 400 people gather there each year, including the newly licensed recreational hunters and hunting wardens from across the canton of Zurich, together with their families. The organiser is JagdZürich, the association of Zurich recreational hunters. From 9.15 a.m. that morning, the animal rights group Hunt Watch will be standing in front of the church with a silent vigil approved by the City of Zurich. The pastor in charge would have preferred to prevent it.

What the pastor wrote

Hunt Watch had written to Pastor Cornelia Camichel Bromeis on 28 October; the group has made the correspondence available to IG Wild beim Wild, and it is in the editorial team's possession. The group pointed out that the Hubertus legend is not a story about moderate hunting but about stopping: after his encounter with the stag, Hubertus lays down his weapon. It asked the parish whether it would be willing to cover the City's permit fee of just under 100 francs for the vigil.

The reply came on 29 October and is unambiguous. The parish could not support the vigil 'financially'. It then noted that the St. Peterhofstatt above the steps is the property of the parish and that 'such events would have to be agreed with us'. And finally: 'Personally, I would welcome it if you refrained from holding a vigil in connection with our service.'

The pastor justifies her position by pointing to dialogue. In recent years she has had many conversations with recreational hunters and has come to know “a careful and responsible approach to hunting”. She does not consider excluding JagdZürich to be constructive.

In the view of IG Wild beim Wild, this impression says more about her conversation partners than about hunting: the pastor has had the wool pulled over her eyes. In the canton of Zurich, a total of 21,846 foxes were shot between 2015 and 2025, an average of around 2,000 a year and 1,675 most recently, with no kill quota planning and no benefit whatsoever to people or nature; the figures are set out in the dossier on fox hunting in the canton of Zurich. Added to this are the driven hunts driven hunts Canton of Geneva since 1974: there, state game wardens look after the wild animals, with no dogs chasing them, no misses by poor shots and none of the poaching, alcohol and violence cases that IG Wild beim Wild continuously documents in the section crime and hunting . This is precisely the practice that St. Peter's Church blesses when it holds a service for newly licensed recreational hunters.

According to the pastor, the collection at this year's service will go to the Arbeitskreis Kirche und Tiere (AKUT).

Hunt Watch remains

Hunt Watch acknowledged the refusal and replied that a peaceful vigil is “not a renunciation of dialogue” but a legitimate form of public protest. The vigil will take place at the authorised location, access to the church will remain open and the service will not be disrupted. The pastor ended the exchange with one sentence: “Then we'll see you on 15 November!”

The question of ownership remains open. What is publicly documented is that the church tower belongs to the City of Zurich and the nave to the parish. What matters for the vigil is the City's permit, and that has been granted.

The Church says dialogue and means recreational hunting

The dialogue argument has a catch. The conversation space of the Hubertus Mass invites recreational hunters, with hunting horns, a licensing ceremony and an aperitif. Anyone who quietly holds up a sign outside is preferably not to come. On its website, JagdZürich describes what the association wants from the Mass: it promotes “joint, responsible action for a socially important craft: hunting!”. Hubertus, it says, has changed “from a wild, unbridled hunter into a Christian, moderate hunter and warden”. It is precisely this reinterpretation of a conversion story as a seal of quality for killing wild animals that IG Wild beim Wild already criticised in October in its press release on this year's Hubertus Mass at St. Peter.

The licensing ceremony takes place in this church year after year. In 2021, the cantonal fisheries and hunting administrator welcomed the newly licensed hunters there into the “sworn community of hunters”. The hunting licence is issued by the canton. That the handover takes place during a church service lends recreational hunting an ecclesiastical blessing that no hunting act provides for.

Arlesheim did it differently

How the Church can also respond was shown by the Catholic Arlesheim Cathedral on 25 October. The municipal council approved the vigil by Hunt Watch expressly in the spirit of freedom of expression and assembly; the parish priest in charge welcomed the group personally with vegan refreshments, thanked every activist with a handshake and granted them the entire collection of the Hubertus Mass. IG Wild beim Wild reported on this, after having criticised the Mass beforehand.

Quite different in Möhlin AG: There, in 2024, the municipal council refused Hunt Watch a permit for a vigil outside the Christ Catholic church, and Olivier Bieli appealed the decision to the cantonal government. In Zurich the situation is clearer: the city grants a permit for the vigil for a fee, like any demonstration on public land. The parish of St. Peter cannot prevent it; it can only hope that nobody shows up.

Join us on 15 November

The Hunt Watch vigil begins on Sunday, 15 November 2026, at 9.15 a.m. in front of St. Peter's Church on St. Peterhofstatt in Zurich and lasts until 12.15 p.m. at the latest. It is silent, visual and permitted. Anyone who wants to send a signal against the Church's glorification of recreational hunting is welcome. Hunt Watch has set up a Facebook event “Vigil against the Hubertus Mass glorifying violence” through which you can register and recommend the vigil to others.