Reinhold Stecher
Reinhold Stecher (born December 22, 1921 in Innsbruck ; † January 29, 2013 ibid) was an Austrian theologian and bishop of the diocese of Innsbruck .
Life
After graduating from high school in Innsbruck and completing the Reich Labor Service , he entered the seminary in St. Michael in Matrei am Brenner in 1939 . After the Gestapo closed the seminar , he continued to study at St. Georgen Abbey on Lake Längsee in Carinthia . In 1941, Stecher was imprisoned in a Gestapo prison for two months because of a prohibited pilgrimage to Maria Waldrast . Originally intended for concentration camp imprisonment, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht instead . He served at the front in Karelia , Lapland and Norway . Stecher was wounded and entered the Canisianum seminary on his return in late autumn 1945 .
On December 19, 1947, he was ordained a priest in Schwaz . Activities as prefect , teacher and pastor followed . In 1951 he became a doctor of theology doctorate . Since 1958 he was a member of the Catholic student union AV Raeto-Bavaria Innsbruck in the ÖCV , which was founded in 1908 by his father Heinz Stecher. He was a member of other Innsbruck connections. From 1956 to 1981, Stecher was a professor of religion at the Innsbruck Teacher Training Institute and, from 1968, a professor of religious education at the Federal Education Academy. From 1965 to 1970 he was spiritual in the seminary of the dioceses of Innsbruck and Feldkirch.
The appointment of bishop took place in December 1980 by Pope John Paul II as successor to Bishop Paulus Rusch . He was ordained bishop on January 25, 1981 by Paulus Rusch; Co-consecrators were the bishop of Bozen-Brixen , Joseph Gargitter , and the bishop of Feldkirch , Bruno Wechner . His motto was "Servire et confidere" ("Serve and Trust"). In the Austrian Bishops' Conference, Bishop Stecher was for many years the departmental bishop responsible for the Caritas and Women’s departments . At the same time, Stecher was a representative of the Austrian Bishops 'Conference in the Faith Commission of the German Bishops' Conference . Alois Kothgasser was appointed as Bishop Stecher's successor on October 10, 1997.
As a bishop, Stecher advocated an "integrative leadership style". He emphasized that he wanted to lead his diocese "in a spirit of togetherness" and advocated the participation of the diocesan people in the various bodies.
In 1988, Stecher put an end to the legend of the alleged Jewish ritual murder of “ Anderl von Rinn ” by banning the cult in this regard; Pope Paul VI had already forbidden the worship of Anderl von Rinn in the 1960s, as the relics were a forgery. During his term of office, Johannes Paul II visited Innsbruck and the two martyr priests Otto Neururer and Jakob Gapp were beatified . In 1993 he signed the petition initiated by SOS Mitmensch against the stricter tightening of asylum legislation (by the FPÖ via a referendum).
Shortly before the end of his term of office in 1997, Stecher wrote in a letter (originally not intended for publication) on the occasion of a decree of the Vatican on restrictions on the participation of lay people in everyday pastoral life in the church, stating that Rome had “lost the image of mercy and that of representative and harsh rule increased ", and attested the church leadership" a theological and pastoral deficit ".
In 2011, Stecher spoke out in favor of the option of ordaining married people to priests and described the call for disobedience by the Austrian pastors' initiative as a “broad, nationwide concern” that cannot simply be ignored.
Stecher was an avid mountaineer, author and painter. Some of his works have graced Austrian Post's annual Christmas stamps in recent years , including Christmas 2012.
Bishop Stecher died on January 29, 2013 in an Innsbruck hospital. He was buried on February 2, 2013 in the crypt of Innsbruck Cathedral .
Awards and honors
- Decoration of Honor of the State of Tyrol (1981)
- Ring des Landes Tirol (highest award in the state) (1987)
- Honorary Citizen of the City of Innsbruck (1993)
- Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold with the Star for Services to the Republic of Austria (1993)
- Honorary doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Innsbruck "for his services in creating a climate of tolerance and dialogue" (1994)
- Honorary citizen of the municipality of Velipoja in Albania "for his services to village development, in particular church building and water supply" (2003)
- Sermon award of the publishing house for the German economy (2010)
- Grand Officer of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
- Honorary member of the Friends of Theological Courses
- Naming of the Bischof-Reinhold-Stecher-Platz in Innsbruck (2013)
literature
- Martin Kolozs : The Bishops of Innsbruck - Paulus Rusch , Reinhold Stecher, Alois Kothgasser , Manfred Scheuer , Hermann Glettler , Verlag der Wagner'schen Universitätsbuchhandlung, Innsbruck 2018
- Martin Kolozs : Tyrolean 'People's Bishop', writer and painter: Bishop Dr. Reinhold Stecher (1921-2013). Biography of the month as part of the Austrian Biographical Lexicon project (January 2018)
- Andreas R. Batlogg / Klaus Egger (eds.), Thanks to Reinhold Stecher. Perspectives of a life, Tyrolia Verlag, Innsbruck 2002, ISBN 3-7022-2413-0 .
- Manfred Scheuer, well builder and traveling preacher. On Reinhold Stecher's 90th birthday, in: Reinhold Stecher, Der Gletscherhahnenfuß. Hope and encouragement through a small flower, Tyrolia Verlag, Innsbruck 2013, pp. 111–117.
- Martin Kolozs: Bishop Reinhold Stecher - life and work. Styria Verlag, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-222-13490-6 .
- Martin Kolozs: To the higher honor - The Tyrolean priest poet Reimmichl, Brother Willram, Josef Weingartner and Reinhold Stecher , biographies, Wagner University Publishing House , Innsbruck 2017.
Web links
- Many ways lead to God. One over the mountains - On the 5th anniversary of the death of Bishop Reinhold Stecher von Martin Kolozs, in: Thoughts for the day on Radio Ö1 , January 29 to February 3, 2018
- Vatican Radio "People in Time: Reinhold Stecher" People in Time: Reinhold Stecher , interview with Martin Kolozs from December 19, 2016
- Literature by and about Reinhold Stecher in the catalog of the German National Library
- Entry on Reinhold Stecher in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Entry on Reinhold Stecher on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on January 30, 2013.
- Reinhold Stecher in a conversation with contemporary witnesses on November 30, 2013 (Part I) with Elmar Oberhauser (tirolertageszeitung)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dr. Reinhold Stecher. Predigtpreis.de website, archived from the original on February 21, 2014 ; Retrieved July 2, 2010 .
- ^ Biography of Bonifaz Madersbacher. Web presence of ordenonline.de, accessed on May 3, 2012 .
- ^ Former bishop for married people as a priest on ORF -Tirol from December 1, 2011, accessed on June 22, 2012.
- ↑ Speech on the 150th anniversary of the Austrian Alpine Club , given on October 20, 2012 in the Vienna City Hall. Retrieved December 5, 2012
- ↑ Entry on Christmas stamp 2005 in the Austria-Forum (as stamp representation)
- ↑ Entry on the 2006 Christmas stamp in the Austria Forum (as a stamp illustration)
- ↑ Entry on Christmas stamp 2009 in the Austria Forum (as a stamp illustration)
- ↑ Entry on Christmas stamp 2010 in the Austria Forum (as a stamp illustration)
- ↑ Entry on Christmas stamp 2011 in the Austria Forum (as a stamp illustration)
- ↑ Entry on Christmas stamp 2012 in the Austria Forum (as a stamp representation)
- ^ In memoriam Former Bishop Reinhold Stecher , Diocese Innsbruck, January 29, 2013
- ^ Last introduction for former Bishop Reinhold Stecher in the Tiroler Tageszeitung on February 2, 2013, accessed on March 18, 2020.
- ↑ THEOLOGICAL COURSES. Retrieved March 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Bischof-Reinhold-Stecher-Platz inaugurated. iPoint archive of the University of Innsbruck, October 25, 2013
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
Paulus Rusch |
Bishop of Innsbruck 1980–1997 |
Alois Kothgasser SDS |
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Engraver, Reinhold |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian clergyman, Roman Catholic theologian, Bishop of Innsbruck |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 22, 1921 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | innsbruck |
DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 2013 |
Place of death | innsbruck |