On the death of Auxiliary Bishop Krätzl: The Evangelical Church loses a distinguished and loving interlocutor in ecumenism

2023-05-02 19:34:29

Chalupka: “Was one of the pillars of Austrian ecumenism” – Hennefeld: “Shaped and enriched the ecumenical landscape” – Geist: “Resolute pioneer of ecumenism”

Vienna (OTS) – “Helmut Krätzl was one of the pillars of Austrian ecumenism, together with Christine Gleixner, Michael Staikos and Helmut Nausner,” explains Evangelical-Lutheran Bishop Michael Chalupka on the death of the auxiliary bishop of Vienna, who died on May 2nd at the age of 92. With him, the Evangelical Church has lost a “distinguished and loving dialogue partner” in ecumenism.

Krätzl has always advocated a church capable of learning, “a church that changes, that opens up to people and to the world”. The Second Vatican Council was important for him. “The fact that not everything was implemented, not everything continued and that some things were left undone and prevented always hurt him, and sometimes annoyed him. More would be possible, including Eucharistic hospitality, which he has always openly practiced,” Chalupka recalls.

Helmut Krätzl always had “the youth at heart,” emphasizes the Evangelical-Lutheran bishop. So there were many stimulating and valuable dialogues between the experienced auxiliary bishop, who was already years older but “always young at heart” and the young people.

Bünker: Grateful for the respectful cooperation

Emeritus Evangelical-Lutheran Bishop Michael Bünker is grateful for the “respectful cooperation” – he has experienced Helmut Krätzl as a “fatherly companion and friend of ecumenism”. In doing so, Helmut Krätzl “never left any doubt that he saw and respected the Protestant Churches as churches in the full sense of the word and thus as sister churches. Reconciled diversity and learning from each other in the sense of ecumenism of the gifts that we exchange, give and receive – for him all this described ecumenism more aptly than theological dogmatism,” says Bünker, who, together with Krätzl, has for many years organized the “Mixed Catholic-Protestant Commission”. This platform was set up by Cardinal Franz König during the Second Vatican Council on the initiative of the Evangelical Bishop Gerhard May.

The Evangelical Church HB also mourns the loss of Auxiliary Bishop Helmut Krätzl. “He was very attached to our Reformed Church,” says State Superintendent Thomas Hennefeld. With his work he “shaped and enriched the ecumenical landscape, which also benefited our church”. According to Hennefeld, Krätzl regularly took part in ecumenical events, discussion rounds and celebrations in the Reformed City Church. “I appreciated his firm commitment to a common celebration of the Eucharist, even if this is still to come,” emphasizes the provincial superintendent. Personally, he remembers Auxiliary Bishop Krätzl as a “lovable, humorous, but also impatient person for whom progress in ecumenism was much too slow. May his ecumenical efforts be forward-looking.”

The Viennese Superintendent Matthias Geist praised Helmut Krätzl as a “determined pioneer of lived ecumenism”. At the same time, according to Geist, he was able to get to know the auxiliary bishop “in his warm and modest manner” as an “outstanding pastor”. “His rich life and work was shaped by a sensitive nature with which he reached countless people and thus proclaimed the good news alive. Whether at the joint Christmas party in Vienna’s youth prison or at ecumenical encounters and discussions: even into old age he was always very present and filled with God’s spirit,” affirms the superintendent, who used to work as a prison chaplain.