Pastor Leonhard Winkler worked in Partenkirchen in the parish of the Assumption of Mary. For his merits, including the construction of the chapel on the Zugspitze, the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen even made him an honorary citizen. The Spiritual Council died in 2005 and would have turned 100 this year.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen - There have been many highlights in the life of Leonhard Winkler. One of them was certainly the inauguration of the Zugspitze chapel, which he had carried out in his 28 years as pastor of Parish Church of the Assumption. The acquisition and renovation of today's parish on Jahnstrasse was also the result of his great commitment. Now the esteemed, but also arguable, cleric who died in April 2005 would have celebrated his 100th birthday.
Born in Prien in April 1920, Winkler initially served in the Second World War before his professional decision matured and he laid the roots for his vocation by studying theology. Already in the seminary, he met the brothers Georg and Joseph Ratzinger, with whom he also maintained good contacts in later years. Soon after his primacy in his hometown, his path led him to Partenkirchen. “'Assumption of Mary' was his chaplain for ten years from 1949 onwards,” Pastor Franz Sand recalls.
For five years, Winkler taught young people the subject of religion at the vocational school. Josef Angelbauer, today's parish priest of Mariä Himmelfahrt, still remembers the time when he started his own vocational training as a baker. "In Kaplan Winkler we had a conservative, strict, but also a fairly judging priest for religious studies."
Spiritual advice Leonhard Winkler
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Other companions associated with the person Winkler, especially in later years, a good deal of controversy. As the successor to Dean Lorenzer, Winkler became pastor of Partenkirchen in 1964. And with it the personal challenges, such as the renovation of the parish church on the occasion of its 100th anniversary since the re-erection after the great market fire of 1865, increased. Winkler, together with the church nurse at that time, Hans Rothmann, also managed to move the building on Jahnstrasse, which previously served as a kindergarten and school, to be acquired by the community. Thus, not only did the parish have rooms available for various groups, but also church-oriented associations such as the Kolping family found a new home there. A far-sighted decision.
But there was another outstanding feature of Winkler. His active youth work. “Working together with the young people and the altar servers was very important to him,” says Andreas Weber, who was a valet in the parish in Winkler's time. And also has nice memories. "We just had a tent camp in the Scheibum, the rock break in the Ammerschlucht, when the water rose and the first tents were already washed under. Our pastor also had to take off his shoes and socks, and I have never seen such white wadl, ”Weber says with a smile. "He brought us all a plug track for comfort." Another young person at the time also remembers the camps at the end of the 1980s: "With his harmonica Winkler liked to sing the song 'Funny is the gypsy life' and told about his war experiences. "
Pastor Sand likes to report on the ski excursions with the old VW Beetle to South Tyrol. "Because Winkler was a good athlete, whether on the slopes or in the water."
And that the locksmith Franz Sand would one day become a priest was also due to the Chiemgau native. Winkler not only further strengthened the craftsman Sand in Faith, but also organized his later primacy. Together with his “right hand”, the parish sister Jolanta, Winkler shaped the life of the parish of Partenkirchen for almost three decades. Most recently, his priestly work was honored with the honorary title of “Spiritual Council” and the honorary citizenship was awarded by the Garmisch-Partenkirchen market.
Another highlight of his work was the construction of the Zugspitze chapel. Here he was in contact with the Kittsteiner family. And none other than his longtime friend, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who now emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, inaugurated this gem on the Zugspitz Glacier on October 11, 1981.
In April 2005, Winkler remained faithful to the parish even after retirement under Pastor Karl Hofherr as "temporary help", the popular clergyman died. "At a young age he was always careful to win over young people with progressive methods, but on the other hand, due to his conservative attitude, he was an old-fashioned pastor with corners and edges," emphasized the former Partenkirch chaplain and today's Munich dean Lorenz Wolf Requiem in 2005. Klaus Munz
