Josef Wilhelm (theologian)

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Josef Wilhelm, 2020

Josef Wilhelm (born June 27, 1947 in Innsbruck ) is an Austrian Roman Catholic theologian and former director of the Academic Gymnasium in Graz .

Career

Josef Wilhelm grew up as a farmer's son with his three siblings Siegfried (1949–1987), Gertraud (* 1950) and Anna (* 1953) in his home town of Obsteig in Tyrol . As a pupil he attended the Bundesgymnasium Carnerigasse in Graz . During this time he lived in the Salvatorian boarding school . After passing the matriculation examination, he began studying Catholic theology at the University of Graz , which he completed in 1975 with a graduation in theology and in 1977 with a doctorate in theology . His dissertation , written in 1976 at the Institute for Church History at the University of Graz under Karl Amon, was devoted to the topic of “A pastoral life in the Baroque era in Austria - Father Ignatius Querck SJ (1660–1743)”. In 1977 he passed the teaching examination for Catholic religious instruction.

Even during his studies, Josef Wilhelm was involved in the Catholic University Community of Graz (KHG), he became chairman of the Catholic University Youth Graz (KHJ) in 1970 and was a student representative in the diocesan council from 1972 to 1974 . In order to bring his commitment to bear more intensively and to better perform his official function in the Catholic University Youth Graz, he lived in the Münzgraben student house from 1969 to 1973 and in the Leechgasse 24 student house from 1973 to 1974, both student residences of the KHG.

Josef Wilhelm has been married to his wife Annelies since 1976. The couple has two grown children: Judith González, b. Wilhelm (born June 25, 1978, lives and works in Vienna ), and Klemens Wilhelm (born April 3, 1981, lives and works in Vancouver , Canada ).

Professional Activities

Josef Wilhelm during a study trip and pilgrimage with students, Rome, April 2003 (with school logo "The Owl" )
Josef Wilhelm on his last day of work as director of the Academic Gymnasium Graz (November 30, 2010)
Josef Wilhelm saying goodbye with a look at the school logo "The Owl on the Pillar" - showcase in the Academic Gymnasium Graz (November 30, 2010)
Farewell Josef Wilhelm - Showcase in the Academic Gymnasium Graz (November 30, 2010)
Josef Wilhelm with his friend Alfred Kolleritsch 2012

The hallmark of his professional life was and is a successful combination of full-time and voluntary functions. He started his professional life in 1973 as a religion teacher at the Academic Gymnasium in Graz, from 1976 to 1979 and 1981/82 he also carried out this activity at the Graz Federal High School for Working People (evening school).

In 1979 he was appointed general secretary of the Styrian Katholikentag 1981 by Bishop Johann Weber . This turned out to be a great success for him and brought about the fact that from 1982 to 1986 he assumed the position of General Secretary of the Catholic Action in Styria. In terms of content, he mainly dealt with socially relevant issues such as the environment, protection of life, economy, unemployment, art and culture and educational policy issues. From 1981 to 1983 he also acted as chairman of the diocesan committee of the Graz-Seckau diocese to prepare for the Austrian Catholic Day in 1983 with Pope John Paul II 's visit to Austria . The Styrian contribution was in the preparation of the “Culture and Faith” conference. From 1976 to 1983 Wilhelm was also a radio consultant, from 1979 to 2006 chairman of the Center for Public Relations of the Diocese of Graz-Seckau and from 1999 to 2006 chairman of the Advisory Board of the Office for Public Relations of the Diocese of Graz-Seckau.

On January 1, 1987, Josef Wilhelm was appointed director of the Academic Gymnasium in Graz as the successor to Rudolf Kellermayr and held this position until November 2010. During his 24-year term of office, among other things, the renovation and conversion of the school building on Tummelplatz from 1988 to 1990, the ongoing structural adaptations in the following years and especially the repositioning of the school orientation in the combination of education in a classical-humanistic way Tradition and the requirements of general education that meet the needs of the 21st century. Examples of this were the introduction of the course system instead of compulsory elective subjects in the upper level, the focus on “promoting talents and interests”, the “SPARKLING SCIENCE” project and much more. He set his goal under the motto: “The academic. The school with head, heart and hand ” .

The school logo of the Academic Gymnasium Graz "The owl on the pillar" developed by Josef Wilhelm together with his friend and colleague Hartmut Urban and graphically designed by him (see picture below right: "Josef Wilhelm with a view of the school logo") shows a Doric column as a symbol for the originally classical orientation of the school, as well as the owl as a symbol of wisdom (from Greek mythology ), and all of this in a slightly inclined position that could be interpreted in different ways.

Josef Wilhelm always managed “his” school unconventionally and with heart. B. expressed the fact that he knew all 600 students by name and personally gave each of them a small present on their birthday. The promotion of a positive working atmosphere among the students, in the teaching staff and an equally oriented contact with the parents characterized his work.

In addition to his work as director, Josef Wilhelm was President of the Catholic Action in Styria from 2000 to 2006 and a member of the Presidium of the Catholic Action Austria from 2001 to 2006. Furthermore, from 2000 to 2011 he was the district manager of the youth red cross for the Graz AHS . Since 2007 he has been a member of the board of the Association for the Promotion of the Catholic University Community of Graz (from 2007 to 2013 and from 2019 to 2022 as its chairman) and since 2008 chairman of the "Friedensbüro Graz". This function will end in autumn 2020. Until 2018 he was a member of the Human Rights Advisory Council of the City of Graz (since then an honorary member ) and from 2010 to the end of 2019 he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University Community of Graz.

Since 1982 Josef Wilhelm has been working on a voluntary basis in the parish of St. Johann am Graben in Graz in various functions (chairman of the parish council and the kindergarten committee, currently a communion donor ).

His long-time colleague and friend, the well-known writer, poet and philosopher Alfred Kolleritsch , put it this way:

“You did not and do not live the Catholic as a narrow one, you were always on the edge of encounters with others. I found it remarkable that you succeeded in living faith as a modern person, as an ethical mandate, to connect it with the sensuality of our existence, as a source of joy. It was a very wise consideration to nominate you for the director's post of Academic, to be eligible for this position. For some, that was surprising, but the teaching staff soon became convinced that you are the right man, pedagogically stable and unspoilt, shaped outside of school. It was a delicate matter to enter a tradition in which the old, according to the old definitions of the humanistic, was the measure in many minds, which your predecessor had already deservedly corrected. It didn't take long and you got your concept through. As the director, you remained fearlessly yourself, and that made it easy for you to head your former, no, your colleagues. You did not go to work with no big words. You have reduced fear and, in the sense of my house philosopher Heidegger, practiced letting go as letting yourself be involved in something. Some who have specialized in hearing the grass grow said that your school had got into a crisis, they overlooked the fact that this crisis was general, that a humanistic high school can no longer be an island of timeless education. Living foreign languages ​​and dead languages ​​made dead languages ​​collided. With a lot of sensitivity you have had a balancing effect and, to the advantage of the school, pointed out the contradictions and thus released them to deal with. So you have become committed teachers who gradually confront the experienced teachers with a decision. "

- Kolleritsch on the 50th birthday of Josef Wilhelm

“The rejuvenation of the faculty enabled them to become more fatherly in their dealings. That made his teaching staff more compact, positively more familiar. He lets his teachers be, but in such a way that he gets involved with them, but does not deviate from his point of view in his tolerance. He shows his most human side when it comes to the fate of a student at school. Nothing like a senior teacher plays a role here - he is not aloof and respect-producing among his students like others. That we know or have known. He does not suffer when the phantom of the PISA study penetrates the school as calculated prior knowledge. The level of knowledge is not his only yardstick by which he can be measured. When his teachers are with him in his Tyrolean homeland, you can feel the familiar get-together without fraternization and leveling. He is also a strengthened family man, cooking at times, concerned father. With his children who transcend their home borders, he lives on a global level. Sometimes I warn him not to think too much about his successor in school. He left enough traces that no one can cover up so quickly. "

- Kolleritsch on the 60th birthday of Josef Wilhelm

Josef Wilhelm was and still is a very communicative person who has and maintains good contacts with a large number of people in the traditional way. In addition, he is also open to new, additional forms of communication, is a safe user of the new technologies and has maintained hundreds of Facebook contacts for years , especially with his former students, of course. This fact was even reported in the Styrian media.

When he left the director's office on November 30, 2010 after 24 years, he said goodbye to “his” students with 600 picture cards of guardian angels (pictures by Marc Chagall ) and handwritten personal farewell wishes.

Josef Wilhelm's successor in the management of the Academic Gymnasium Graz took over on December 1, 2010, Hildegard Kribitz , the first female director in the history of the school.

The diocesan art and film award goes back to the initiative of the art and literature enthusiast. The then Styrian Vicar General Heinrich Schnuderl emphasized in his laudation on the award of the Gregorius Order of Knights to Josef Wilhelm on July 8, 2011, that he was "as a Catholic and religious teacher always a credible advocate of the church".

Effective December 2, 2017, Josef Wilhelm was appointed by the diocesan bishop of the diocese of Innsbruck Hermann Glettler as his representative as a member of the University Council of the Church Education University - Edith Stein .

honors and awards

  • 2007: Great Decoration of Honor of the State of Styria
  • 2011: Knight (Cavaliere) of the Papal Order of St. Gregory ("De Ordine Equestre Pontificio di San Gregorio Magno Classis Civilis"), one of the highest honors that the Pope bestows on laypeople
  • 2019: Honorary member of the Human Rights Advisory Council of the City of Graz

literature

  • Akademisches Gymnasium Graz (Ed.): Annual reports of the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz. Self-published by the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz. Graz, annual publication.

Web links

Commons : Josef Wilhelm  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Page of the homepage of the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akademisches-graz.at
  2. ^ Page of the homepage of the Academic Gymnasium Graz
  3. ↑ Page of the homepage of the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akademisches-graz.at
  4. ↑ Page of the homepage of the Akademisches Gymnasium Graz ( memento of the original from December 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akademisches-graz.at
  5. ↑ Akademisches Gymnasium Graz: advertising slogan for the open day, flyer, Graz 2007/2008.
  6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.loidl-art.com
  7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grazerkunstverein.org
  8. ↑ galerie-schafschetzy.com
  9. ^ Written information from Wolfgang J. Pietsch, classical philologist, Germanist and former teacher of Latin and German at the Graz Academic High School, June 13, 2013.
  10. ↑ friedensbuero-graz.at
  11. ↑ khg.graz-seckau.at
  12. ^ A b Alfred Kolleritsch's speech on the 50th birthday of Josef Wilhelm. Written original in private ownership.
  13. ↑ facebook.com
  14. ↑ kleinezeitung.at
  15. ↑ kleinezeitung.at
  16. ↑ Hear the message. (No longer available online.) In: Kleine Zeitung . November 27, 2010, archived from the original on October 12, 2014 .;
  17. ↑ a b Women who go to school ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kleine Zeitung . November 29, 2010.
  18. ^ Page of the homepage of the Academic Gymnasium Graz
  19. ^ Page about the award of the Order of St. Gregory to Josef Wilhelm on www.sonntagsblatt.at , accessed on December 4, 2013.
  20. ↑ Sunday newspaper, July 17, 2011, p. 15.
  21. ^ University Council - KPH Edith Stein: Members of the University Council , website of the KPH Edith Stein, accessed on January 10, 2018.
  22. ^ Page about the award of the Order of St. Gregory to Josef Wilhelm at www.obsteigaktuell.info ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 4, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Wilhelm, Josef (theologian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Catholic theologian
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH innsbruck