Stefan Oster

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Official portrait of the bishop (2014)

Stefan Oster SDB (born June 3, 1965 in Amberg ) is a German Roman Catholic theologian and has been Bishop of Passau since 2014 .

Life

Youth and Studies

After completing elementary school in Neunburg vorm Wald and graduating from high school in Neutraubling , Oster completed an apprenticeship as a newspaper and radio editor at Straubinger Tagblatt from 1984 to 1986 and then moderated the morning show for the Charivari radio station in Regensburg from 1987 to 1988 . There he was also the first voice to go on air on May 9, 1987. From 1988 he studied philosophy , history and religious studies in Regensburg , Kiel , at the University of Keele and the University of Oxford . From 1990 to 1991 he took part in the Erasmus program of the European Union and from 1990 to 1994 he received a grant from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung . He graduated from Oxford in 1993 with a Masters and in Regensburg in 1994 with a Magister Artium .

Church and academic career

In 1995, Oster decided to become a Salesian of Don Bosco , went to the Novitiate of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Jünkerath for a year and made his first profession there in 1996 . From 1996 to 2000 he studied at the Benediktbeuern Philosophy and Theology College theology . He made Perpetual Profession on July 24, 1999 . On June 24, 2001, Bishop Viktor Josef Dammertz ordained him a priest . He then worked as a chaplain in St. Don Bosco in Augsburg until 2003.

In the period from 1999 to 2006 he edited the fonts II – V by Ferdinand Ulrich . 2003 Easter at the Faculty of Theology was University of Augsburg in philosophy with a thesis on Ulrich, the Alois Halder supervised, PhD . For this work he received the Albertus Magnus Prize of the Diocese of Augsburg in 2003 and the University Prize of the Association of Friends of the University of Augsburg in 2004. Subsequently, he lectured at the Philosophical-Theological University Benediktbeuern in the subject of philosophy, in particular on epistemology , metaphysics , philosophy of language , philosophy of dialogue and philosophy of the person. He researched in particular on border issues between philosophy and theology.

In 2009 , Oster completed his habilitation in dogmatics at the Trier Theological Faculty . The habilitation thesis dealt with the relationship between person and transubstantiation and was supervised by the then Trier dogmatist Rudolf Voderholzer . Thereupon he was appointed full professor for dogmatics and dogma history in Benediktbeuern . As a dogmatist, he turned primarily to personal dialogical and theodramatic questions in systematic theology, especially in the areas of Christology , ecclesiology and Mariology .

With the closure of the Philosophical-Theological University in Benediktbeuern in July 2013, his professorship there ended. Oster also lectured at the Catholic Foundation University in Munich - Benediktbeuern Department. He also taught at the LMU Munich.

Episcopal coat of arms by Stefan Oster

On April 4, 2014, Oster was appointed the 85th Bishop of Passau by Pope Francis . His episcopal ordination took place on May 24th in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Passau by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising , Reinhard Cardinal Marx . Co- consecrators were Passau's former bishop Wilhelm Schraml and the retired Archbishop of Salzburg , Alois Kothgasser SDB, who had been Oster's predecessor as a professor of dogmatics in Benediktbeuern.

The motto of Bishop Easter is "Victoria Veritatis Caritas" (dt .: "The victory of truth is love"). His coat of arms is square in blue and silver with a heart shield . It shows the Passau wolf as a symbol for the diocese of Passau. The individual fields show the golden, crowned Maria von Altötting , a red St. John's eagle ready to fly , the slanted red martyr's palm with three stones , attributes of St. Stephanus , patron saint of the bishop and cathedral patron of Passau, as well as three golden conifers as a reference to Johannes Bosco ( Italian Bosco "forest"). The simple lecture cross is the bishop's coat of arms insignia. Bishop Oster does without the green galero with 12 tassels in his coat of arms .

Oster is a member of the Görres Society , the working group of Catholic dogmatists and fundamental theologians of the German-speaking area, as well as an advisory board member of the Förderverein Juwel eV for the preservation of the Benediktbeuern monastery . The members of the  German Bishops' Conference  elected Oster as chairman of the youth commission on September 20, 2016 .

Positions

Comments on homosexuality

Oster was often noticed by very provocative statements regarding homosexuality, which met with criticism in society and also within the Catholic Church.

As part of his interpretation of the sexual morality of his church, Oster rejects homosexual partnerships and their church blessing. For him, sexuality has its “only legitimate place in a marriage between exactly one man and one woman”. In this context, Oster's comparison of partnerships in the homosexual and criminal milieu caused a sensation: On Facebook he went into the values ​​of these two groups: "Even between members of a gangster gang, 'values' such as reliability, mutual care or loyalty are often highly valued". These values ​​alone are no reason to accept homosexual partnerships, although everyone who prays to God is welcome in his church. In a dispute with Stefan Vesper , General Secretary of the Central Committee of German Catholics , Oster explained why he is against church blessings from extramarital partnerships.

celibacy

Oster stated in March 2019 that he believed married priests were possible. Nevertheless, he considers a further development of sexual morality to be critical, since one then has to justify "why what was previously sin is no longer sin, but could possibly even be blessed". He himself believes that a celibate life is quite possible. "But it is possible that a larger proportion of the confreres will also come to the opinion that too frequent failure of celibacy will in the end be a counter-testimony rather than a testimony."

Intercommunion

In June 2018, Oster criticized the advance of some bishops to admit Protestant spouses from mixed-denominational marriages to the Eucharist. "It is right that we are not rejecting anyone from the communion bench," he told KNA. Nevertheless it is important to take the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist seriously. Oster rejects a practice that makes the exception the rule and that denotes marriages of different denominations in general as "severe spiritual distress for individuals".

Awards and honors

Publications (selection)

Web links

Commons : Stefan Oster  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Oster. Retrieved February 16, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Mittelbayerische.de: A bishop - close to the people . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . ( Mittelbayerische.de [accessed on February 9, 2018]).
  3. ^ History of the St. Don Bosco Church , last accessed on August 20, 2017.
  4. ↑ EXCELLENT RESEARCH - The award-winning dissertations of 2003/04. (PDF; 1.2 MB) In: Unipress 1 - 35 years University of Augsburg. Senate of the University of Augsburg, January 2005, p. 60 f , accessed on September 26, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Course catalog of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich winter semester 2012-13 . Website of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  6. ^ Nomina del Vescovo di Passau (Germania). In: Bolletino. Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, April 4, 2014, accessed April 13, 2014 (Italian).
  7. ↑ The coat of arms. Diocese of Passau, accessed on June 6, 2015 .
  8. ^ German Bishops' Conference: Press release of September 20, 2016 - No. 175
  9. ↑ Stefan Berg, Peter Wensierski: Catholic Church: Theologians make themselves strong for homosexuals . In: Spiegel Online . August 16, 2015 ( spiegel.de [accessed March 30, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Celibacy, Sex, Ecumenism: What Bishop Oster says about it. Passauer Neue Presse, June 29, 2014, accessed on September 4, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Gay wedding in Passau. Even Andi comes. Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 18, 2015, accessed on May 26, 2017 .
  12. ↑ What does the church say about sex?
  13. ^ Domradio: Pros and Cons of Celibacy
  14. ↑ The Daily Mail: The Daily Mail. April 2, 2019, accessed on August 4, 2019 (German).
  15. ↑ The Daily Mail: The Daily Mail. April 2, 2019, accessed on August 4, 2019 (German).
  16. ↑ Rudolf Gehrig / EWTN.TV: Bishop Oster: "It was not good that the letter became public". Retrieved August 4, 2019 .
predecessor Office successor
Wilhelm Schraml Bishop of Passau
since 2014 		-
personal data
SURNAME Oster, Stefan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oster, Stefan SDB
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Salesian Don Boscos, Roman Catholic Bishop of Passau
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH On the mountain