Linz, April 2nd, 2022 (KAP) Father Notker Wolf, former long-standing Benedictine abbot primate, sees consumerism and power thinking as the current biggest problems for being a Christian in Central Europe: “We also need reforms of the power and organizational structures in the church. It absolutely needs a separation of powers in the church,” said Wolf in an interview in the current issue of the church newspaper of the Diocese of Linz.
But despite all the structural reforms, it ultimately depends on the individual: “Whether they are hungry for power or can let go”. That is the great upheaval in society: “It is important to focus on personal faith in Jesus Christ. The word of Jesus applies: ‘Repent and believe the Gospel.'” Personal repentance is the most important and most difficult thing. “That challenges.”
You can strengthen your own faith through prayer and prayerful reading of the Gospel. “I read a section of the gospel so often that it becomes flesh and blood,” says the religious: “For me, faith means: attachment to Jesus and his word. Not what is anchored in society, not what everyone is doing agree and what is modern in the eyes of everyone means faith to me, but living by the gospel.”
More sensitivity to abuse
When asked about the abuse crisis in the church, Wolf said that it was important to work through it soberly. “The first concern is for the victims, who are often traumatized for their lives.” In addition to the abusers, one should not overlook the many good priests. According to Wolf, his hope is “that the abuse cases in the church will make society more sensitive to abuse in other areas, such as in the family.”
On the question of what Christians in Germany and Austria can learn from their fellow believers on other continents, Wolf, who as Abbot Primate had traveled all over the world, referred to Vietnam, among other things: “From our Vietnamese sisters and brothers, for example, that you can live his faith in joy even in distress.” The Christians in Vietnam are still strictly controlled by the communist regime, but their power of resistance is growing. “We can learn that from them: not to complain, but to grow, even if we are slandered,” said the religious.
The African Christians once again showed that it is worth taking time for the service: “A celebration of Mass can last up to four hours, but it is filled with joy.”
And in Haiti he once celebrated a Sunday service in a mountain village. Wolf: “There hadn’t been a priest there for four years. On that day, the villagers should have gone to the sham elections that the dictator had called. They didn’t do that threatened at gunpoint. The courage and fearlessness with which these villagers endured the situation put me at ease.”
Notker Wolf was abbot primate from 2000 to 2016 and thus the highest representative of the Benedictine order. He represented around 7,500 monks and 16,500 nuns worldwide. You can meet him in person at Wilhering Abbey as part of a “day of retreat for everyone” on April 9th. On this retreat (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), the former Abbot Primate will give food for thought on the subject of “Following Christ: From the Cross to Hope”. The lectures will also be broadcast live https://www.youtube.com/StiftWilheringStream transfer. (Registration by April 5: [email protected] or Tel. 07226 23 11 12 (morning)).
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