The enthusiasm for the liturgy and the example of Cardinal Julius Döpfner: According to his own admission, these two motives prompted Axel Mager to be ordained as permanent deacon by Bishop Josef Stangl on January 9, 1972, together with seven other men. “We were guinea pigs,” says Mager, permanent deacon from the very beginning in the Diocese of Würzburg, with a smile.
Even as a child, Mager had the desire to become a priest. That is why he attended the Ferdinandeum Episcopal Boys’ Seminar in Königshofen. After three years he switched to the secondary school in Münnerstadt. The fact that he left there without a high school diploma was not due to his academic achievements. His parents separated when Mager was three years old, and from then on the Bonn native lived with his great-aunt in Bad Kissingen. Because of this, he was not considered suitable for the priestly profession. “By the way, I only consciously noticed my own mother during my first communion.”
Mager completed an apprenticeship as a retail salesman in a hardware store in Bad Kissingen. He then worked there for 30 years, initially as a department head and later as managing director. “In the church sector, I was active under Pastor Wilhelm Zirkelbach and his chaplains, including Roland Breitenbach: as a communion helper, acolyte, lecturer and Kolping member.” In 1962 Mager married his wife Chriseldis. They had a son and two daughters.
In Vienna, Mager completed the correspondence course in theology, which lasted a total of three years. In addition to the teaching letters, several weekend seminars and exams had to be completed in Frankfurt am Main. A burden that Mager said he was happy to take on. “The Second Vatican Council brought the permanent diaconate back to life. That is why I have already prepared myself theologically,” says Mager. When the diocese officially announced the first training course, 50 men came to the first meeting. Even then, his wife had backed him and said: “If you want to do that, do it.”
In order to be able to read the lesson letters undisturbed, he often went for a walk after dinner and didn’t come back until 9:30 p.m. The practical training on the part of the diocese for the budding deacons included, among other things, the areas of liturgy, pastoral care and homiletics.
According to Bishop Stangl, the ordination of the permanent deacons should then take place in two parts: one half in Würzburg, the other in Bad Kissingen. “But we said: We are a course and would like to be consecrated together, please. That is what happened, in Würzburg.” Mager found the service itself liturgically “not so great”. Influenced by the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the bishop moved into the cathedral without a miter or pileolus. The families of the ordination candidates were not present at the liturgy as they are today: It was unthinkable 50 years ago that the wives or even the children move in with them.
Mager fondly remembers the solidarity of the eight permanent deacons. “We even went on vacation together, we got on so well.” After the ordination, the challenge for him as a deacon was to find his role in the community. “For us there was no role model in this sense.” Dean Zirkelbach, who was responsible for him, had granted him the greatest possible freedom. “If Axel does it that way, that’s right,” he said to the outside world and, if necessary, expressed criticism in private.
Mager mainly took care of baptisms and funerals, but was also in charge of several weddings, including one of his daughters. “In practice this meant in everyday life that I was in the shop until 7.30 p.m., then went to a baptismal or funeral interview without dinner and on foot and was rarely home before ten at night.” If he had to go to the cemetery in the afternoon, of course he made up for that time at the company in the evening.
Mager also gave communion for the sick, prepared services, preached and took part in the meetings of the parish council. “In today’s pastoral rooms, deacons are more independent and more present in the public eye,” he states.
In 1989 Mager became a full-time deacon. In addition to Bad Kissingen, he was also deployed in Garitz with Albertshausen, Poppenroth and Aura, and in the Parkwohnstift senior citizens’ residence. He has been officially retired since 2004, but still helps in pastoral care as far as health allows. Looking at the past five decades, he states: “I am proud and happy to have been able to serve as a deacon. I would be consecrated again today, but I would devote more time to my family.” pow
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