Athanasius Schneider

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Arms of Athanasius Schneider

Athanasius Schneider ORC (born April 7, 1961 in Tokmok as Antonius Schneider ) is auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Astana in Kazakhstan .

Life

Antonius Schneider was born as the youngest of four children into a Black Sea German family. His parents Josef Schneider and Maria geb. Trautmann had been deported from Berlin to the Urals as Soviet internees after the Second World War . In 1969 the family moved to Valga in Estonia - where Antonius attended Russian school - until they were able to leave for Germany in 1973 and settle in Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. After graduating from high school in 1982, he joined the Order of Canon Regulars of the Holy Cross ( Order of the Cross) at St. Petersberg Castle near Silz in Tyrol, which was affiliated to the Engelwerk , and took the religious name Athanasius . From 1984 to 1990 he studied philosophy and theology at the order's own university in Anápolis, Brazil . He received the sacrament of ordination on March 25, 1990 by the Bishop of Anápolis, Dom Manuel Pestana Filho . He then worked for a year in pastoral care in Aparecida and at the same time spiritual of the monastery of the order there.

Father Athanasius Schneider studied patristics in Rome from 1991 to 1993 , obtained his licentiate at the Dominican University Angelicum in 1993 and then gave lectures on the church fathers at the religious school in Anápolis / Brazil. He obtained his doctorate in 1997 through his dissertation at the Augustinianum in Rome with Professors Prosper Grech and Vittorino Grossi on the shepherd of Hermas . From 1993 to 2001 he was a General Councilor in the Order's government in Rome. From 1999 he gave guest theological lectures at the seminary in Karaganda , Kazakhstan , where he moved in 2001 and became spiritual director and director of studies.

In October 2005 he took part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome on the Eucharist and spoke about his Eucharistic experiences in former communism. In addition to his native German, he is also proficient in Italian, French, English, Russian, Latin, Greek and Portuguese.

bishop

On April 8, 2006 Athanasius Schneider was from Pope Benedict XVI. Appointed Titular Bishop of Celerina and Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Karaganda . He received the episcopal ordination on June 2, 2006 by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Cardinal Sodano . Co -consecrators were Archbishop Józef Wesołowski , Apostolic Nuncio in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and Jan Paweł Lenga MIC , Archbishop of Karaganda in Kazakhstan. He celebrated his episcopal primacy on July 30, 2006 in the home parish of St. Pelagius in the old town of Rottweiler. His miter with cross, lamb and M for Maria was made for him by his biological sister Erika, who lives under the name of Sr. Maria Therese as a nun in the Poor Clare Monastery Maria Vesperbild near Augsburg and makes liturgical clothing. His shepherd's staff contains Christ the Lamb; his bishop's ring shows the miraculous medal . Bishop Schneider built small parishes (house churches) and churches in the Diocese of Karaganda and was at the same time diocesan chancellor and vicar general . He also acts as secretary of the liturgical commission of the Russian Bishops' Conference .

He has permission to celebrate the Slavic-Byzantine liturgy . In his liturgical book Dominus est he criticizes the current use of communion in hand in the Catholic Church and pleads for a revival of communion on the knees. He was a guest at the international congress Meeting Point World Church 2008 of the aid organization Church in Need . Even with the rank of auxiliary bishop, he was the author of texts that appeared in the catholic-conservative online magazine kath.net and the religiously catholic-traditionalist , politically right-wing extremist blog kreuz.net . Schneider's statements on various ecclesiastical and political issues are regularly published on the traditionalist blog Katholisches Magazin für Kirche und Kultur by Giuseppe Nardi.

Auxiliary Bishop Schneider and Archbishop Lenga were founded in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI. Released from the diocese leadership in Karaganda, Lenga retired at the age of 60, Schneider was transferred as auxiliary bishop to the Archdiocese of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Astana on February 5, 2011. In the internet portal of the Catholic Church in Germany kathisch.de this process is referred to as an “unusual personnel decision”; Schneider said that the reasons had never been given to him and "also not that important".

In an interview in June 2014, Schneider expressed his view that the Catholic Church is in its fourth major crisis since its existence. In his opinion, anthropocentric thinking divides the church, which is Christocentric . Liturgy does not represent a meeting of friends, but should correspond to the first commandment to only worship God, and that is how life should be shaped.

On February 11, 2015, he met the Superior General of the Pius Brotherhood , Bernard Fellay , in the Winona Seminary (USA) to discuss the authority of the Second Vatican Council , after having attended the Brotherhood's seminary in Flavigny on January 16, 2015.

Auxiliary Bishop Schneider regularly celebrates pontifical offices in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite , around 2010 and 2011 for the Feast of the Name of the Virgin in the Karlskirche in Vienna or on various occasions in Rome and in 2016 in Altötting and Constance, organized by traditionalist groups such as Pro Missa Tridentina or the Initiative of Catholic Laity and priests .

In 2018, Schneider explained in a post on kath.net that all " homosexual or lesbian acts" are "seriously sinful" because "practicing and unrepentant homosexuals" would lose their "eternal salvation". Catholics should defend themselves with "civil courage" against CSDs and pray for the "salvation of the pitiable people".

In November 2018, the Vatican State Secretariat restricted Schneider's travel activities. Future trips outside the diocese Astana allowed the canonically not exceed more limited to 30 days duration. Schneider stated that it was not a church sanction or a "muzzle"; there are no bans and he can continue to travel within the framework of church law. In August 2019 he sharply criticized the Vatican - it betrayed Jesus Christ as the Savior of humanity with the document on the brotherhood of all people .

Opponent of Pope Francis

In an interview with the cathedral radio of the Archdiocese of Cologne , the theologian Bruno Hünerfeld explicitly named Athanasius Schneider as a representative of a small group of opponents of Pope Francis , from whom there is a clear potential for church division. Hünerfeld said: "Especially when you listen to the Kazakh auxiliary bishop Athanasius Schneider, then you really have the impression that someone is talking about the Pius Brotherhood ."

The Archbishop emeritus of Karaganda, Paweł Lenga MIC, in whose diocese Schneider was initially auxiliary bishop, retired in 2011, has now been banned from speaking and appearing at the Polish Bishops' Conference in Poland, where he lives, after appearing on TV and publishing a book for controversies in Poland had taken care of. He publicly referred to Pope Francis as "Antichrist" and refuses to mention the reigning Pope, whom he calls "usurper and heretic", in prayer , as prescribed by the Church.

Reinterpretation of the corona crisis and public support for conspiracy myths

In April 2020, Schneider described the COVID-19 pandemic as "divine intervention in the Church's current unprecedented crisis"; He called state and church measures "hygiene dictatorship".

Athanasius Schneider, along with other opponents of Pope Francis, including Gerhard Ludwig Müller , Carlo Maria Viganò and Jan Paweł Lenga, was one of the signatories of an appeal on May 7, 2020 with the Latin title Veritas liberabit vos! ( The truth will set you free , according to Jn 8,32  EU ), which is described on the internet portal kathisch.de of the German Bishops' Conference as a “conglomerate of conspiracy myths and pseudoscience”. It complains that under the pretext of the Covid 19 epidemic, the rights and fundamental freedoms of many citizens are "disproportionately and unjustifiably restricted"; Public health should not become an alibi "to free civil authorities from their duty to act wisely for the common good". In the text, doubts are expressed about the actual risk of infection by the coronavirus and the reporting on the pandemic is referred to as " alarmism ". The containment measures taken promoted the interference of "foreign powers" with serious social and political consequences, according to the text signed by Schneider; “Supranational units” with “unclear intentions” strove to “create a world government” with the help of a corona fear.

The Essen Vicar General Klaus Pfeffer declared that everyone who signed this appeal is exposing themselves; He was stunned which “crude conspiracy theories without facts and evidence, combined with right-wing populist struggle rhetoric that sounds frightening”, are being spread in the name of church and Christianity and supported by Müller.

The German Bishops 'Conference distanced himself on May 10, 2020 from the group of signatories, explaining the evaluation of Corona pandemic by the Bishops' Conference differs fundamentally from the published call. Several German diocesan bishops criticized the paper, which Schneider also signed, sometimes sharply. The head of communications for the Archdiocese of Vienna and spokesman for the Archbishop of Vienna and then Chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn , Michael Prüller , described in the church newspaper Der Sonntag essential parts of the appeal as “unchristian scaremongering”. Opposition is "permissible and important", but it is "dishonest to claim a conspiracy without giving the facts to be raised and without defining the 'forces' that want to enslave us". “Without a single document”, the “politicians, scientists, media people and bishops are supposed to be assuming that they are not acting responsibly, but are either unsuspecting stooges or perhaps even world conspirators themselves”. The theologian Gunter Prüller-Jagenteufel, who teaches in Vienna, attested that the letter had a “destructive battle rhetoric”. He also criticized the introductory sentence, where the wording "In a time of the greatest crisis we shepherds of the Catholic Church, on the basis of our mandate, it is our sacred duty ..." was apparently intended to give the impression of an official church document. Prüller-Jagenteufel saw this as a " hubris " of the episcopal signatories and stated: "The pastors of the church are the local bishops, the bishops' conferences, the Pope."

Publications

  • Propter Sanctam Ecclesiam Suam: The Church as a creature, woman and building in the penitential lessons of Pastor Hermae (dissertation); ISBN 88-7961-030-9 .
  • Dominus est: Thoughts of a bishop from Central Asia on Holy Communion . SJM-Verlag , Neusäß 2008; ISBN 978-3-932426-44-5 .
  • Corpus Christi: Thoughts on Holy Communion and the renewal of the Church . SJM-Verlag, Neusäß 2014; ISBN 978-3-940879-33-2 .
  • Christ Vincit: Christ's Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age. Angelico Press, Brooklyn NY 2019; ISBN 978-1-62138-489-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Athanasius Schneider: “Propter sanctam ecclesiam suam”. The Church as a creature, woman and building in the penitential lesson of Pastor Hermae . Inst. Patristicum Augustinianum, Roma 1999.
  2. ↑ Catholic Bishop: "Homosexual acts cause spiritual death." Www.queer.de, May 19, 2018
  3. ↑ Articles on Athanasius Schneider on kathisches.info, accessed on May 23, 2017
  4. ↑ kathisch.de : Kazakh bishops contradict Pope Francis , January 2, 2018 [1]
  5. ^ Vatican / Kazakhstan: New Bishops
  6. ^ Bishop Athanasius Schneider: 'We are in the fourth great crisis of the Church' | CatholicHerald.co.uk . CatholicHerald website. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  7. ↑ Visit to Winona
  8. ^ Il tema è stato il Concilio e la sua autorità magisteriale
  9. ^ Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider: A gift for the church
  10. ↑ SE Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider celebrates pontifical office in the classical Roman rite. kathnews.de from February 12, 2016
  11. ↑ Servants of Jesus and Mary : 16th pilgrimage in the extraordinary form to and in Altötting (May 27-29, 2016). In The Call of the King , 1st quarter 2016, p. 34
  12. ↑ Catholic Bishop: Gays and lesbians have an "emotional disability" www.queer.de, August 2, 2018
  13. ↑ Bishop: Didn't get a "muzzle" from the Pope. kathisch.de of November 7, 2018
  14. ^ No house arrest for Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider! kath.net from November 7, 2018
  15. ↑ LifeSiteNews.com: EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Schneider says Vatican is betraying 'Jesus Christ as the only Savior of mankind'. Retrieved August 27, 2019 (American English).
  16. ↑ domradio.de: The Pope's critics and the allegations of idolatry: "They consider themselves particularly pious" , November 14, 2019.
  17. ^ Felix Neumann: Archbishop Viganò: From the Nuncio to the conspiracy theorist. In: kathisch.de , 8 May 2020 online
  18. ↑ kathisch.de : Ban on speaking and appearing for bishops from Kazakhstan , February 25, 2020 [2]
  19. ↑ Johannes Sinabell: Conspiracy Theories and Covid-19 , 2020
  20. ^ Felix Neumann: Archbishop Viganò: From the Nuncio to the conspiracy theorist . In: kathisch.de , 8 May 2020 online
  21. ↑ kath.net: Veritas liberabit vos! , May 7, 2020.
  22. ↑ katholisch.de : Vicar General Pepper: Bishops spread conspiracy theories , May 9, 2020 online
  23. ^ German bishops at a distance from Cardinal Müller's appeal , domradio.de , May 10, 2020 online
  24. ↑ Criticism of Vigano's appeal: “Unchristliche Panikmache”. www.kathpress.at, May 13, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Schneider, Athanasius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schneider, Antonius (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Kazakh theologian and auxiliary bishop
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokmok , Kyrgyz SSR