The large community of Waidhofen is being “torn apart” ecclesiastically

The fact that the Böhlerwerk parish, in conjunction with the basilica on the Sonntagberg and the church in Gleiß, is looked after by Seitenstetten Abbey is based on an agreement with the abbot of the Benedictine monastery, Petrus Pilsinger, says Böhlerwerker parish coordinator and parish council chairman Thomas Resch. From October, the pastoral assistant and deacon will work in a team under the leadership of the new Waidhofen pastor Christian Poschenrieder in the parish association that is being created there.

• Also read: The “ventriloquist of God” becomes a pastor during the structural reform in Waidhofen

Not everyone at the Catholic base is happy with the new border demarcation. Not only because the Böhlerwerk workers’ parish is progressive, while pastoral care in Waidhofen has always been conservative. Herbert Döller, the outgoing city priest, and Reinhard Kittl, emeritus of the Zell parish, were reverends of the old ilk and both very close to the people. The appointment of Poschenrieder, who studied theology in Heiligenkreuz and belongs to the very conservative Brotherhood of St. Joseph, follows their line.

The diocesan priest from Bavaria, whose pastoral work as a blogger and YouTuber on the Internet is by no means a thing of the past, will not find a united Waidhofen in the new parish association. The Seitenstetten Abbey refused to bring the parishes of Windhag and St. Georgen in der Klaus, which are located in the area of ​​responsibility of the priests as Waidhofen cadastrals, into the association. The monastery was always considered a guarantor for the church after the Second Vatican Council. Resch is fundamentally confident “that we will succeed in this necessary reform.”