As of: February 23, 2024, 7:00 p.m
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
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In 2015, Archbishop Alois Kothgasser (Wed.) celebrated the service for the Don Bosco festival in the basilica.
The archive photo shows (from left): Father Reinhard Gesing (today head of the German Province), Deacon Hubertus Klingebiel, Deacon Georg Meigel and Father Claudius Amann, then monastery director in Benediktbeuern.
© Alois Ostler
The news of the death of the former Archbishop of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser, brings back many warm memories in the Loisachtal.
Kothgasser belonged to the Salesians of Don Bosco and lived in Benediktbeuern for many years.
He had a close connection to the place.
Benediktbeuern/Salzburg – As nationally reported, Kothgasser died on Thursday at the age of 86 in Salzburg.
There he was at the head of the archdiocese from 2003 to the end of 2013; previously he had headed the Innsbruck diocese since 1997.
Kothgasser belonged to the Salesians of Don Bosco and was the first priest from the Benediktbeuern monastery to be appointed bishop.
From 1982, Kothgasser taught dogmatics at the Salesian Philosophical-Theological College (which was dissolved in 2013) and worked there in various functions.
He was its rector from 1982 to 1988 and between 1994 and 1997.
Klingebiel: “Always had an open ear for students”
Father Claudius Amann, pastor Father Bernhard Stiegler and deacon Hubertus Klingebiel were among his students at the time.
“Alois Kothgasser was an impressive person who lived his faith very authentically,” remembers Klingebiel.
“He was very open to students and always had an open ear.”
Father Claudius Amann describes him similarly.
He still vividly remembers how Kothgasser offered him “pretty suddenly,” as he says with a smile.
“I was a little student back then and he was the big professor.” But one of Kothgasser’s charismatic traits was to appear modest and simple, says Father Amann, who is now director of the facility in Aschau.
Kothgasser was a supporter of ecumenism
Pastor Bernhard Stiegler knew Kothgasser for a very long time.
Not only when he was a student, but Stiegler later worked for Kothgasser as an “assistant secretary,” as he says with a smile, and also as a driver.
“I took him to numerous appointments all over Germany, including a state reception.” They had many nice conversations along the way, and “an appreciative friendship grew from that,” remembers Stiegler.
He describes Kothgasser as a “bridge builder” and friend of ecumenism.
Kothgasser was someone who managed to mediate between the polarizing circles of the church.
“He managed to bring calm into heated discussions.
Not through his authoritarian demeanor, but through his simple, humble manner.”
This photo shows Archbishop Emeritus Alois Kothgasser on his last visit to Benediktbeuern in June 2023. He led the celebratory service to mark the 40th anniversary of his former priesthood.
The picture shows the Padres (from left) Karl Bopp, Konrad Enzenhofer, Leopold Muttenthaler and Bernhard Seggewiß.
© Photo: Father Bernhard Stiegler
The last time in Benediktbeuern was in June 2023
In Benediktbeuern, Kothgasser founded a prayer group that later became the formation “God for you(th)”.
It also included Father Stefan Oster, who became Bishop of Passau in 2014.
Kothgasser had a close connection to Benediktbeuern.
In 2014 he was a preacher at the Leonhardi trip, and in 2022 he came to the funeral of Father Franz Schmid.
His last visit was in June 2023, when he held the celebratory service for his former course's 40th anniversary as a priest, said Stiegler
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The former monastery director Father Reinhard Gesing, now provincial of the German Province, also knows Kothgasser from his time as a professor in Benediktbeuern.
In a press release, Gesing praised the deceased as a priest "who radiated great spiritual depth": "I experienced him as a 'shepherd' who was there for the people and was on the journey with the people."
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