Austrian Bishops' Conference

The Austrian Bishops' Conference 2014 with the then Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz (center)

The Austrian Bishops' Conference is the union of all Roman Catholic bishops in Austria . The Bishops' Conference has been a public corporation since 1849 and the supreme organ of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria . It includes all diocesan bishops , the auxiliary bishops and the abbot of the immediate territorial abbey Wettingen-Mehrerau .

Their task is to state canonical representation of the Catholic Church against the Austrian state and treatment of common affairs, also she is a Roman canonical national Bishops' Conference , the supreme teaching authority ( can. 753 CIC ). She is a member of the Council of European Bishops 'Conferences (CCEE) and the Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE). The official Catholic news agency Kathpress is also subordinate to the Bishops' Conference .

The chairman of the Bishops' Conference is one of the diocesan bishops (since June 16, 2020 Archbishop Franz Lackner of Salzburg ), the General Secretary is currently Peter Schipka (since March 1, 2011, elected for six years and confirmed for another six years in 2016).

Tasks and legal bases

The tasks of the Bishops' Conference are:

• the study and promotion of common pastoral tasks
• mutual consultation and the necessary coordination of church work
• the joint adoption of decisions
• maintaining links with other episcopal conferences

The bases for these tasks are “the documents of the Second Vatican Council , in particular the decree on the pastoral task of the bishops (No. 37-38), the ecclesiastical code (especially canons 447-459 of the Codex Iuris Canonici ) from 1983 and the statutes of the Austrian Bishops' Conference from 2005 ”. The official and binding organ of publication is the Official Journal of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.

The basis of the legal status as a public corporation and as a representative body of the Catholic Church in Austria as a legally recognized church is the Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Austria .

Members

• Franz Lackner OFM , Archbishop of Salzburg , Metropolitan of the Salzburg Ecclesiastical Province , Chairman of the Bishops' Conference , responsible for the area of ​​"Marriage and Family" including the subject of "Protection of Life"; Agenda: Member of the Faith Commission and Finance Commission, universities and theological faculties.
• Manfred Scheuer , Diocesan Bishop of Linz , Deputy Chairman of the Bishops' Conference , member of the Faith Commission, agendas: Ecumenism and contacts to Judaism, Missionsverkehrsanstalt / MIVA , Mauthausen Committee for the National Fund for Victims of National Socialism , Pro Scientia .
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn OP , Archbishop of Vienna , Metropolitan of the Vienna Church Province and Ordinary for the Byzantine Believers in Austria , Chairman of the Faith Commission, member of the Finance Commission and the Catechetical Commission, agendas: Church and State, Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), media, Persecuted Christians, Religious Congregations, YouCat and YouCat Products. Member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Congregation for Catholic Education , the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Goods of the Church and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization .
• Alois Schwarz , diocesan bishop of St. Pölten , chairman of the finance commission, agendas: pastoral care, catechesis and evangelization (Austrian pastoral institute / ÖPI, pastoral commission of Austria / PKÖ, ARGE of the Austrian pastoral and pastoral care offices), economy, social affairs, agriculture and environment (incl. Alliance for the free Sunday), church and sport.
• Egidius J. Zsifkovics , Diocesan Bishop of Eisenstadt , member of the Episcopal Commission for World Mission, agendas: Europe / ComECE, flight, migration and integration.
• Benno Elbs , Diocesan Bishop of Feldkirch , member of the Episcopal Commission for World Mission, agendas: Caritas (Austrian Caritas Headquarters, Conference of Caritas Directors)
• Werner Freistetter , military bishop , chairman of the episcopal commission for world missions, member of the finance commission; Agenda: Police chaplaincy / rescue organizations, world religions, universal church ( Missio Austria , Pro Europa , Coordination Office for Mission and Development / KOO, Dreikönigsaktion / DKA), Working Group of Austrian Catholic Associations (AKV), Austrian Catholic Lay Council (KLRÖ), Austrian Catholic Social Academy (KSÖ) and Commission Iustitia et Pax
• Wilhelm Krautwaschl , Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Graz-Seckau ; Chairman of the Catechetical Commission, member of the Episcopal Commission for World Mission; Agenda: Education and school (religiousinstruction, Catholic private schools, Catholic kindergartens, day-care centers and boarding schools, adult education, library work), vocationalpastoral care, Canisiuswerk , Catholic Action Austria (KAÖ) with their branches (KABÖ / employees, KAVÖ / academics, KFBÖ / women, KMBÖ /Men)
• Hermann Glettler , Diocesan Bishop of Innsbruck ; Member of the Episcopal Commission for World Mission; Agenda: art and culture, church monument protection commission, church peace organization " Pax Christi Austria"
• Josef Marketz , Diocesan Bishop of Gurk
• Vinzenz Wohlwend OCist , Abbot of the Territorial Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau , member of the Catechetical Commission; Agenda: religious orders
• Franz Scharl , auxiliary bishop in Vienna and titular bishop of Ierafi ; Member of the Catechetical Commission, agendas: Pastoral work in other languages, Roma , Sinti and Yeniche , human trafficking , aid organization “ Church in Need ”.
• Anton Leichtfried , auxiliary bishop in St. Pölten and titular bishop of Rufiniana , agendas: clerical professions and church services, liturgy (including church music ), biblical works, theological courses / correspondence course.
• Stephan Turnovszky , auxiliary bishop in Vienna and titular bishop of Ancusa , agendas: pastoral care for children and young people, religious movements (including charismatic renewal)
• Hansjörg Hofer , auxiliary bishop in Salzburg and titular bishop of Abziri ; Representative of the Bishops' Conference on the Board of Trustees of the church “Victim Protection Foundation”; responsible for the professional group of sextons

Chairperson

The following bishops have presided over the 1933 Concordat :

• Theodor Cardinal Innitzer , Archbishop of Vienna (1933–1955)
• Andreas Rohracher , Archbishop of Salzburg (1955–1959)
• Franz Cardinal König , Archbishop of Vienna (1959–1985)
• Karl Berg , Archbishop of Salzburg (1985–1989)
• Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër OSB , Archbishop of Vienna (1989–1995)
• Johann Weber , Bishop of Graz-Seckau (1995–1998)
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn OP , Archbishop of Vienna (1998–2020)
• Franz Lackner OFM , Archbishop of Salzburg (since 2020)

former members

The following bishops have resigned from their functions, mostly for reasons of age, and are therefore no longer members of the Austrian Bishops' Conference (in alphabetical order):

• Maximilian Aichern OSB (born December 26, 1932), diocesan bishop of Linz 1982-2005
• Elmar Fischer (born October 6, 1936), Bishop of Feldkirch 2005–2011.
• Paul Iby (born January 23, 1935), Diocesan Bishop of Eisenstadt 1992–2010
• Egon Kapellari (born January 12, 1936), Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt 1982–2001, Bishop of Graz-Seckau 2001–2015
• Alois Kothgasser SDB (born May 29, 1937), Bishop of Innsbruck 1997–2002, Archbishop of Salzburg 2003–2013
• Helmut Krätzl (born October 23, 1931) Auxiliary Bishop in Vienna 1977–2008
• Klaus Küng (born September 17, 1940), Bishop of Feldkirch 1989–2004, Bishop of St. Pölten 2004–2018,
• Andreas Laun OSFS (born October 13, 1942), auxiliary bishop in Salzburg 1995-2017
• Kassian Lauterer OCist (born January 29, 1934), Abbot of Wettingen-Mehrerau 1968–2009
• Ludwig Schwarz SDB (born June 4, 1940), auxiliary bishop in Vienna 2001–2005, bishop of Linz 2005–2015
• Anselm van der Linde OCist (born September 24, 1970), Abbot of the Territorial Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau 2009–2018
• Christian Werner (born December 27, 1943), military bishop of Austria 1994–2015

Web links

• Austrian Bishops' Conference - official website
• Entry on Austrian Bishops' Conference on gcatholic.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Austria: Schönborn remains chairman. In: News archive. Vatican Radio (Ed.), November 9, 2016, accessed on February 20, 2020.
2. ↑ About us → General Secretariat. In: Website of the Austrian Bishops' Conference. General Secretariat of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, accessed on February 20, 2020.
3. ↑ ^{a b} About us. In: Website of the Austrian Bishops' Conference. General Secretariat of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, accessed on February 20, 2020.
4. ^ II. Laws and ordinances, number 1: Statutes of the Austrian Bishops' Conference. In: Official Journal of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, No. 40, October 1, 2005, pp. 4–7 ( full text online (PDF) on the website of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, accessed on February 20, 2020): “These statutes were adopted by the Austrian Bishops' Conference decided and approved by the Congregation for Bishops on March 24, 2001. The Congregation for the Bishops recognized the amendment to the Statutes carried out in accordance with the resolution of the Bishops' Conference in § 8 on June 18, 2005. "
5. ↑ Official Journal. In: Publications on the website of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, accessed on February 20, 2020.
6. ↑ Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Austria including the additional protocol StF: (BGBl II No. 2/1934); Entire legal text as amended in the federal legal information system .
7. ^ Nomina di Membri del Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione della Nuova Evangelizzazione. In: Daily Bulletin (00026-01.01; Italian), Holy See Press Office (ed.), January 5, 2011.
8. ^ Lackner new chairman of the Bishops' Conference. In: ORF.at . June 16, 2020, accessed June 16, 2020 . 

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 33.6 ″  N , 16 ° 22 ′ 23.9 ″  E