Birthday celebrations and another move to Salzburg
Archbishop Alois Kothgasser will be celebrating his 85th birthday with festive services in his various episcopal cities in the coming days. Born on May 29, 1937 Salesians of Don Bosco directed from 2003 to 2013 Archdiocese of Salzburg and previously died 1997 to 2002 Diocese of Innsbruck. His successor in the city of Mozart, Archbishop Franz Lackner, invites you to a thanksgiving service on Pentecost Sunday (5 June, 3 p.m.). Pilgrimage basilica Maria Plain. A week earlier (May 29, 10:30 a.m.) there will be a thanksgiving service in Innsbruck Bishop Hermann Glettler in the Wilten Basilica takes place, which is also the diocesan prelude to the “Week for Life” once introduced by Kothgasser.
In a statement sent by Kathpress, Archbishop Lackner of Salzburg said he was “immensely grateful” for Kothgasser’s testimony. Lackner acknowledged his predecessor emeritus as a pioneer on a topic that is currently at the center of the worldwide preparatory work for a synod of bishops in the Catholic Church: “Both in research and in teaching he dealt deeply with the Holy Spirit; In doing so, he anticipated a topic that the church is preoccupied with more than ever before: synodality.” Kothgasser has “always testified to this vividly in his work as priest and bishop; his life and synodality are intertwined, in the service, both small and large “, according to the current chairman of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference.
The celebrant himself explained in an interview with the Salzburg church newspaper “rupert leaf” (current edition), the thought of his 85th birthday fills him “with amazement, with gratitude and at the same time with curiosity about what will come after the completion of this earthly existence”. After his retirement, Kothgasser continues to be present at many events in both the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Diocese of Innsbruck and is in great demand as a temporary priest.
In the interview, the archbishop emeritus also expected that he was planning to move to the seminary in Salzburg. In recent years, Kothgasser has lived in the spiritual center of the Don Bosco Sisters in Baumkirchen (Tyrol).
“Promote the sympathy of God”
Looking back on his CV so far, Kothgasser explained in the “Rupertusblatt” that he had never dreamed of a career, “but simply of how I could fulfill the tasks of my life as well as possible”. It was always important to him “to take other people seriously and to let them feel the devotion and sympathy of God a little through my existence and going with them”.
The archbishop described his move from Innsbruck to Salzburg in 2003 as his most difficult time. “In the young Innsbruck diocese I was the third bishop, but in Salzburg I was the 90th bishop or archbishop. Legatus Natus, the Pope’s deputy in Germany, seemed a size too big to me at first.” In view of the many challenges at the time, however, the “great history of the archdiocese” as well as the “excellent cooperation of many in the pastoral ministry” would have encouraged him.
Kothgasser also spoke about his intensive preoccupation with the Holy Spirit, which Archbishop Lackner mentioned. The third divine person has been using it since college. In Rome, I then got to know the charismatic renewal. For him, the Pentecost festival has become “year after year a focal point of my spiritual life and my preaching” as well as the Salzburg festival that started during his term of office Loreto-Youth meeting. It will depend on the life testimony of the people “how our societies, peoples, cultures and religions fare among themselves in order to seek and find the way of truth, love and life with and for one another,” emphasized the Archbishop Emeritus.
Farmer’s son with a shepherd’s staff
Alois Kothgasser was born on May 29, 1937 in St. Stefan im Rosental in Styria (district of Feldbach) into a farming family. At 18 he joined the Salesians of Don Bosco. Two years later he expects to graduate from the high school of the order in Unterwaltersdorf (Lower Austria) and completes it first in student hostels. This was followed by philosophical-theological studies at the Pontifical Salesian University in Turin, where he was ordained a priest in 1964. He completed his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, where he witnessed the last days of the Second Vatican Council. He taught at the same university from 1969 to 1982 and was then a professor at the philosophical-theological university of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Benediktbeuern and also rector from 1982 to 1988 and from 1994 to 1997.
On October 10, 1997, Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) appointed Kothgasser diocesan bishop of Innsbruck, the consecration followed on November 23. Exactly five years later, the cathedral and metropolitan chapter in Salzburg elected him the new archbishop from the three-person nomination submitted by Rome. The confirmation of the Pope took place on November 27, the assumption of office on January 10, 2003 and the ceremonial inauguration on January 19. His motto is: “Veritatem facientes in Caritate” (Do the truth in love).
The Archdiocese of Salzburg wrote of Kothgasser’s tenure that it was “characterized by a great bond with God and the believers”. The Archbishop took a lot of time for the worries and needs of the people and took up the “Open Heaven” week of meetings, in which he met thousands of people in a different region every year. The archbishop emeritus promotes cooperation with science and dialogue with other religions. The “Week for Life” also started on his initiative, during which more than 100 Salzburg parishes raise awareness of the importance of protecting life from conception to natural death. Kothgasser’s conflict with the Salzburg provincial governor, Gabi Burgstaller, who wanted to set up abortion clinics in the provincial clinics, which he strictly rejected, caused a stir throughout Austria.
man of togetherness
In the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, Kothgasser was considered a man of togetherness and reconciliation. During his years as diocesan bishop, he was responsible for the areas of liturgy, seminaries, theological faculties and universities as well as for lay theologians, belonged to the faith and finance commission and represents the Austrian church in the faith commission of the German Bishops’ Conference and at the theological talks in Mainz. In the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) Kothgasser was bishop for vocations ministry, and he was also a member of the Congregation for Worship at the Roman Curia. He was also General President of the Catholica Unio Internationalis until 2016 and Grand Prior of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem in Austria until 2017.
Numerous awards show how highly Archbishop Kothgasser is valued. Together with the diocesan office for schools, he himself has awarded the “Dr. Alois Kothgasser Prize” seven times – most recently at the beginning of May – for outstanding pre-scientific work by pupils who have graduated from the subject religion. Kothgasser published his autobiography in 2019 with Tyrolia under the title “My life in stations”.
Source: catpress