Farewell to Pastor Seidel with an altar boy sweater and censer: "We are reluctant to let you go"

Solemn, moving and with a lot of humor, Pastor Peter Seidel was bid farewell in the Habacher Kirchhof.

After the service there were many words of thanks and gifts for Peter Seidel, who also celebrated his 50th birthday: after seven years he is leaving the Habach parish community.

Habach - As soon as he greeted his colleagues, his friends from Günzburg, his sister Dagmar and all the parishioners, you could see how much the outgoing Pastor Peter Seidel had to struggle with the emotion. "On this feast day, my birthday, I am grateful for seven years in which many friendships have developed." With these words, Peter Seidel opened the service on Saturday. He was grateful to God, but also for his parishioners, who met him with a lot of openness and trust, and also grateful to the many volunteers who had supported him in his work. The service was musically arranged by the Habach band under the direction of Thomas Kirnberger. Vroni Filgertshofer and the "Seidel Singers" formed the choir. The Habacher Festival Mass was performed,composed and written by Thomas Kirnberger.

When a soccer game came up, church administration meetings ended quickly

At the farewell party, church caretaker Jakob Feigl recalled the church administration meetings, in which Pastor Seidel was not absent once.

During these seven years, thanks to his support, many repair and renovation work on the church and in the rectory had been approved and carried out.

But some of the meetings ended quickly, the clerk revealed.

Namely when a soccer game was due because Pastor Seidel is a big soccer fan.

He also has a second passion: for a glass of good whiskey.

Ingrid Kirnberger and Elisabeth Schlaug thanked for his respectful, friendly and open manner on behalf of the parish council.

"We hate to let you go," they said.

Mayor Michael Strobl gladly agreed with these words, but admitted: “If the bishop calls, then we can't keep up.” There was a lot of laughter when the acolytes presented him with an “acolyte” sweater, which the clergyman immediately put on .

Speech by Brother Thomasius: "The pastor was not a frankincense friend"

Pastor Seidel had probably not expected the appearance of Thomas Kirnberger as Brother Thomasius with his chaplain Tobias Wagner, who was eagerly swinging the censer. He immediately handed it to the evangelical pastor Julian Lademann, which was met with a lot of laughter. "Thank God our pastor was not a fan of frankincense," said Brother Thomasius. "Pastor Seidel enjoys holy water much more, which he likes to distribute extensively."

Incidentally, the appointment to Augsburg was a step backwards in his career, Thomasius railed. After all, Peter Seidel was a canon in Habach. Anyway, why does he want to go? He would have carried out hundreds of baptisms, weddings and funerals here, led many children to first communion, attended club parties and recently had all the fire fighters in his church. What more could he want? After all, he had already appropriated the baroque way of life of the canons, was a gifted Hans Moser parodist - and now he was going "from the Pfaffenwinkel to the Pfaffenkeller", alluding to the priest's new address in Augsburg. With the words “You are a gifted pastor and a person with a big heart”, Thomas Kirnberger spoke on behalf of all those present.

Pastor Seidel begins his service in Augsburg on September 1st

Pastor Seidel will move to Augsburg in the next few days.

From September 1st, he will be responsible for personnel planning and the deployment of the clergy in the Diocese of Augsburg.

Pastor Justus from Nigeria will temporarily be active in the parish community of Habach, Antdorf, Sindelsdorf and Obersöchering.

As reported, the Benedictine monk Father Nikolaj Dorner takes over the parish community on September 1st.

Text: Anneliese Steibli