The current director of the Salesian community in Amstetten, Father Bernhard Maier, received honorary membership in the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) at the ÖOC General Assembly for his services as “Olympic Chaplain”. As an Olympic pastor, Maier accompanied the Austrian athletes from 1984 to 2012 at 16 games and at seven Paralympic competitions. He was followed by Father Johannes Paul Chavanne from the Heiligenkreuz Abbey.
The Salesian Don Boscos Bernhard Maier thanked the OÖC for this award and acknowledged the decision to establish Olympia pastoral care exactly 50 years ago on the initiative of Cardinal Franz König, Prof. Rudolf Weiler and the then ÖOC President Kurt Heller. “Because”, said Fr. Bernhard, “our athletes deserve the best support”. The Olympic movement depicts the human family in a very unique way, which is particularly evident when the nations march in, “where almost all the peoples of the world are gathered in a miniature world community in an Olympic stadium and celebrate immensely, happily and peacefully”.
Source: Nachrichten
