Salzburg/Innsbruck, December 27, 2022 (KAP) The former Archbishop of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser, has moved to the Salzburg seminary after his return from Tyrol. Now the Salesian Don Bosco is focusing on pastoral care, as he told the ecclesiastical newspaper “Rupertusblatt” of the archdiocese of Salzburg (current issue). “Pastoral care is important to me: at home and wherever help is needed”. He had already lived like this in the diocese of Innsbruck and in the Tyrolean part of the archdiocese. He no longer has direct responsibility for Sunday services or feast days in the parishes and can be there as parish priest. “That has always been crucial to me as a priest,” Kothgasser said.
In any case, he wants to hire temporary workers and “in the meantime, if Archbishop Lackner needs anything, I’ll be there, of course.” Archbishop Kothgasser would like to allow himself more time in the future for his books and above all to read the biographies. He made most of his books available to everyone in the seminary library. “I would like to keep up to date, for example with regard to ecumenism. Otherwise there are numerous invitations to Salzburg. But I also need peace and quiet to gather my life”, he said.
The “new start” in the Salzburg seminar will be facilitated for him. “I have always had a lot to do with the formation of priests”. This was also a reason for his move. “I’m well integrated.” He lives the international community, made up of the leadership, the 15 seminarians, a new priest and guest priests from abroad, who have long been pastorally active in their country of origin and are now carrying out their doctorate here, as “enrichment reciprocal “.
In recent years, Archbishop Kothgasser has lived in Baumkirchen (Tyrol) with the Sisters of Don Bosco. It was important to him to give his successor Franz Lackner “enough time to settle down and take matters into his own hands. This requires physical distance, complete freedom, that was clear to me”. Now it was time to return to Salzburg.” So he presented Archbishop Franz Lackner with his request to spend the last part of his life in the archdiocese to which he belonged.
Rosary “is a power”
The current global crises affect nothing less than the whole of creation and all of humanity, Kothgasser said. “I think it takes an intense effort from politicians who really care about humanity. And we have to try to shape our lives in such a way as to bring peace to all of humanity. We have influence there, we just have to use it. ” she stressed. He was convinced that prayers were necessary, for example: “The rosary is a force that changes people’s thoughts and hearts, oriented towards peace”.
Alois Kothgasser was born on May 29, 1937 in Lichtenegg (Styria). He studied in Turin and Rome. From 1982 to 1997 he was professor of dogmatics and twice rector at the Philosophical-Theological University of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria, from 1997 to 2002 Bishop of Innsbruck. November 23 marked the 25th anniversary of his episcopal consecration. Since his inauguration on 10 January 2003 and his inauguration on 19 January, Alois Kothgasser has been Archbishop of Salzburg. He retired in 2013. Around his 85th birthday on 29 May 2022, he announced that he would return to Salzburg.
