Austrian Bishops' Conference
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The Austrian Bishops' Conference (German: Österreichische Bischofskonferenz) is the official assembly of the Roman Catholic bishops of Austria. It is the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, established as a formal body under public law in 1849. Its members include the archbishops of Vienna and Salzburg, all diocesan and auxiliary bishops, as well as the abbot of immediate Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey.
The Episcopal Conference represents the Catholic Church towards the Austrian Federal Government in all matters of legal relationships between church and state and freedom of religion. It is also the supreme ecclesiastical authority in Austria concerning Catholic canon law. The assembly is a member of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE) and of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community. It also runs the official Catholic news agency Kathpress.
The current chairman of the Bishop's Conference is the Vienna archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.
Legal bases
The Conference functions in accordance with the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, in particular the Christus Dominus Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops (37/38), the 1983 Code of Canon Law (Cann. 447–459), and its own constitutions. Its legal position as a formal corporation under public law and representative body of a state-recognised religious community was confirmed by a 1933 concordat between the Holy See and the First Austrian Republic.
Members
- Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP, Archbishop of Vienna, Metropolitan bishop of the Vienna ecclesiastical province, Ordinary for the Byzantine faithful in Austria
Chairman of the Bishops' Conference: Chairman of the Doctrinal Commission and the Catechetical Commission, member of the Finance Commission
Agendas: Church and State, CCEE, ecumene, persecuted Christians, students, professional pastoral work Canisius
Member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Congregation for Catholic Education as well as of the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization - Franz Lackner OFM, Archbishop of Salzburg
Deputy Chairman of the Bishops' Conference
Agendas: member of the Doctrinal Commission, Charismatic Renewal, church and sports - Klaus Küng, Bishop of Sankt Pölten
Chairman of the Finance Commission
Agendas: family, IMABE, protection of life, church hospitals, liturgy
Member of the Congregation for the Clergy, consultor of the Pontifical Council for the Family - Alois Schwarz, Bishop of Gurk
Member of the Catechetical Commission
Agendas: Sanctified Service, seminaries, general pastoral care, the environment, lay apostolate, minor seminaries - Ludwig Schwarz SDB, Bishop of Linz
Agendas: Mission and Development, Justice and Peace, business seminar in Linz, Catholic Social Academy, Pro Europe
Member of the Faith and Finance Commission. - Manfred Scheuer, Bishop of Innsbruck
Agendas: Member of the Commission's faith, ecumene, adult education, charity, Pax Christi Austria. - Giles J. Zsifkovics, Bishop of Eisenstadt
Agendas: Bauorden, Romani and Sinti. - Benno Elbs, Bishop of Feldkirch
- Anselm van der Linde OCist, Abbot of Wettingen-Mehrerau
Agendas: member of the Catechetical Commission. - Andreas Laun OSFS, Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg, and titular bishop of Libertina
Member of Faith Commission
Agendas: Church Movements, Life Protection, Austrian library work
Consultor of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care - Franz Scharl, Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna and titular bishop of Ierafi
member of the Catechetical Commission Agendas: foreign ministry - Anton Leichtfried, Auxiliary Bishop of St. Pölten and Titular Bishop of Rufiniana
Unit: Sanctified Service (with: priests, priest training, priests' councils, "Distributio Cleri," Permanent deacons, training of deacons); Austrian Catholic Biblical Association, Theological Distance Learning - Stephan Turnovszky, Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna and titular bishop of Ancusa
Agendas: children's and youth ministry - Werner Freistetter, Military Ordinary of Austria
- Wilhelm Krautwaschl, Bishop of Graz-Seckau.
Former members
The following bishops, mostly for reasons of age, completed their functions and are therefore not members of the Austrian Bishops' Conference (in alphabetical order):
- Maximilian Aichern OSB (born 26 December 1932), Diocesan bishop of Linz from 1982 to 2005
- Elmar Fischer (born 6 October 1936), bishop of Feldkirch 2005-2011
- Paul Iby (born 23 January 1935), Bishop of Eisenstadt 1992-2010
- Egon Kapellari (born 12 January 1936) Diocesan Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt 1982-2001, Diocesan Bishop of Graz-Seckau 2001-2015
- Alois Kothgasser (born May 29,1937), Bishop of Innsbruck 1997-2002; Archbishop of Salzburg 2003-2013
- Helmut Krätzl (born October 23, 1931), Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna from 1977 to 2008
- Kassian Lauterer OCist (born 29 January 1934), Abbot of Wettingen-Mehrerau 1968-2009
- Johann Weber (born 26 April 1927), Bishop of Graz-Seckau 1969-2001, Chairman of the Austrian Bishops' Conference from 1995 to 1998
- Christian Werner, military Bishop of Austria (1994-2015) and Titular Bishop of Wiener Neustadt (since 1997)
Chairmen
- Cardinal Theodore Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna
- Cardinal Franz König, Archbishop of Vienna (1973-1985)
- Karl Berg, archbishop of Salzburg (1985-1989)
- Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, OSB, Archbishop of Vienna (1989-1995)
- Johann Weber, Bishop of Graz-Seckau (1995-1998)
+Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP, archbishop of Vienna (since 1998)
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