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New course in pastoral care: 15 communities form a strong unity!
New parish model in the Freistadt district: 15 parishes unite forces to improve pastoral care under the leadership of experienced pastors.
New course in pastoral care: 15 communities form a strong unity!
The Catholic parishes in the Freistadt district are experiencing significant change: In a comprehensive structural process, a joint district parish is founded, which is headed by Klemens Hofmann from Neumarkt, Markus Woda from St. Oswald and Wolfgang Roth from Freistadt. This reorganization is intended to help optimize pastoral care in the region. “In the new parish, resources can be saved through the collaboration of the 15 parishes, synergies can be used and the quality of pastoral care can thereby be improved,” explained Hofmann enthusiastically, highlighting the advantages of this collaboration, such as meinkreis.at reported.
The management team is made up of experienced personalities: Hofmann will act as pastor, while Woda will take over economic matters and Roth will act as pastoral director. This team structure promotes collective decision-making, as Woda points out: “The exciting thing about this concept is that there is a team situation.” The aim is to listen to the people and to put church work more firmly in the hands of the parish population. These initiatives are also intended to ensure the church's local presence in the villages, which Roth considers extremely important.
Changes and historical influences
The redesign is not only a current challenge, but also part of a long tradition that is anchored in the history of the church. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, an important fourth-century doctor of the Church, became known for his well-deserved insights into the role of the church and was always concerned about the well-being of communities. He once said, “The busyness of life harms communities.” These ideas still seem to be relevant today and reflect the efforts to create the best and most useful environment possible for the faithful by redesigning the parish structure. This also shows the importance of establishing stable and community-oriented structures in today's church landscape dioezese-linz.at reported.