Graz, May 5th, 2023 (KAP) As a cleric, contemporary witness Prelate Leopold Städtler (98) always wanted to “do everything possible” to avoid calamities such as war, which he himself experienced as a soldier in World War II. The oldest priest and former vicar general of the diocese of Graz-Seckau said this on Thursday in a contemporary witness interview at the Catholic Theological Faculty in Graz, of which he is also the oldest graduate. Städtler not only experienced the horrors of the Nazi era, but also the spirit of optimism of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which he felt was extremely formative, “especially for us young people”.
After his return from Norwegian captivity, Städtler began studying theology at the University of Graz. The motives for entering the Graz seminary in 1946 corresponded to his desire “to want to understand people,” said the clergyman, who was born in Ligist in western Styria in 1925. He always understood his task as a priest to do and improve something within the realms of possibility, “on a small scale”. A major concern for him was to overcome the “rifts of the 1930s” between church and workers. That’s why talking to the workers was always important to him.
The Second Vatican Council “showed the way for us young people” and was “enormous progress” for the church, said Städtler, “especially as far as interreligiousness and ecumenism were concerned”. According to Städtler, it will also be necessary in the future to have “theologically educated people, priests as well as lay people”, he referred to the importance of the Catholic faculty today. However, it is just as important “not just to be a Christian and to be educated”, but also “to live the faith in one’s small world so that those around them notice it too”. As a baptized person one is automatically a “missionary for the faith”, reminded the theologian.
Faith “great and healthy thing”
It is a “great and healthy thing” to follow the gospel and try to be like Jesus, he appealed to the students present. According to the 98-year-old, life shouldn’t just revolve around “your own self,” it’s more important to try “to put ‘we’ in the foreground in order to have a tremendous future.”
Leopold Staedtler was born in Ligist in 1925. Ordained a priest in 1950, his professional years were shaped primarily by the Catholic working-class youth and the contact between workers and the church. After the Second Vatican Council, he implemented many reforms in the diocese of Graz-Seckau together with Bishop Johann Weber (1927-2020). In 1972 he was appointed to the cathedral chapter and served as vicar general of the diocese from 1976 to 1997. He received numerous awards for his work.
Six months ago, the head of the Institute for Church History and Contemporary Church History at the University of Graz, Prof. Michaela Sohn-Kronthaler, published a monograph on Städtler with the collaboration of her assistant Markus Zimmermann. It was published in 2022 under the title “Living with the people. Leopold Städtler. A contemporary witness” by the “Styria” publishing house.
2023-05-05 21:50:34
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