Divine Word Missionaries

SVD Mission 2000

Province
Reports
for
the XV
General
Chapter

Contents

Presentation
Four Zones
AFRAM
ASPAC
EUROPA
ESP
GBR
GE-
GEN
GES
HUN
IRE
ITA
NEB
OES
POL
POR
ROM
SLO
SWI
URL
PANAM
Statistics
Index

en Español

SVD Publications
Generalate
Rome
1999

AUSTRIA - CROATIA PROVINCE

he OES province includes all SVD communities in Austria and in the newly established state of Croatia.

1. General Situation of Austria

The Austrian Republic lies at the center of Europe. With an area of 84,000 square kilometers and a population of 8 million, it is one of the smaller nations of the world. Present day Austria with its capital Vienna, was for centuries the heart of a territory which became in the course of history the Austro Hungarian monarchy. Up to 1918 it counted some 60 million inhabitants and ruled several nations in east central Europe which are now independent countries themselves. After the bleak years of the First World War and the disaster of the Second, the country has seen an impressive growth in its economy and politics.

Today Austria is among the richest and most politically stable countries of the world. Its natural beauty, its rich cultural heritage and its cultivation of the fine arts draws millions of visitors each year from all over the world. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Austria regained its former importance in eastern Europe. Many people from countries ruined by the communist system, try to find a new life in Austria. Numerous asylum seekers and refugees from the former Yugoslavia are joined by people fleeing from hot spots in Asia and Africa and are trying to make a living in Austria. The proportion of foreigners to the total population in general is about 10%, and in certain particular districts is much higher. An atmosphere of social tension exists and hostility towards foreigners is on the rise. When she entered the European Union in 1997, Austria lay at the outer limits of this mighty economic federation, and automatically became its dubious defender against unwanted immigrants.

2. Situation of the Austrian Church

Historically, the church in Austria has always been traditional. The Hapsburgs fought against and decisively pushed back Protestantism. Today, secularism and criticism against the Church are making themselves felt at all levels of society. What was once Austria's expression of her faith and her sacramental life is now considered as mere tradition and custom. Many of the baptized have lost their inner link to the Church and the life forming conviction of faith. This holds especially true of the youth and the young adults. On "Churchgoer's Census Sunday" in 1997, the count was only one million of the total 5.8 million Catholic population (about 17%), a decline of 20,000 from the previous year. In Vienna itself, the percentage of Church goers was down by half!

The Church defection rate has risen dramatically in the last five years. From 1995 to 1997 almost 113,000 officially declared that they were leaving the Church. The latest 1991 census found 78% of the population to be Catholic, 5% Protestants, 2% Muslims, and 3% belonging to other religious groups. Those without religious affiliation was the second biggest group with 9%, while 3% gave no indication of any religious belief. This may be an index of extreme individualism and personalism entering into the lives of many who do not value institutions, authority, and ties to a community, and who do not feel the need to believe in a personal God.

In the early part of this decade, the life of the Church became polarized through the appointments of several bishops. The last five years have seen a near schism in the Church on account of unanswered accusations against a high ecclesiastical dignitary. The media and leading personalities in politics and society have unleashed a wave of massive criticism against the Church and her structural authority. The media have even reported this case all over the world.

The organization "We Are Church" came into existence, mostly under the initiative and leadership of lay people. This led to the signature campaign "Kirchenvolks Begehren" (Demands of the People of the Church), which, basing itself on the Second Vatican Council, called for fundamental reforms in the Church. Over 500,000 gave their signatures to this call for change. In the meantime, the bishops, who take these votes seriously, have succeeded in setting up the "Dialogue for Austria" through which the Church will try to answer questions put to her by contemporary society.

Religious congregations play a vital role in the Austrian church. There are today 85 religious congregations for men with 2,500 members, and 125 congregations for women with 6,600 members. Many have performed missionary and pastoral tasks through the centuries, and have become vehicles of culture of the first rank. All of these orders are now suffering from lack of vocations and experiencing an aging of their membership. The same can also be said of the diocesan clergy. In some places they try to remedy the situation by inviting priests and religious from other parts of Europe, particularly Poland, or from elsewhere. However, because of a faulty process of inculturation, more than enough new problems arise from such attempted solutions.

The picture of the church in Austria would certainly be grim if one fails to mention the many hopeful breakthroughs in the parishes, and the rise of lay movements and secular institutes. In many places without a priest, a number of lay people have become corresponsible for the parishes, and transformed them from communities "being served" to "serving"communities. There is also a growth in the consciousness of many that they are being sent to an increasingly post or non-Christian situation. This is a chance and a challenge for missionary congregations to begin promoting an exchange with the universal church. The nuclei of the Church here have been reduced in numbers. Nevertheless, a deepening of the faith is happening in these nuclei, and the desire has grown in the hearts of many to become genuinely human and genuinely Christian.

3. SVD Missionary Service

When the Founder established St. Gabriel's in 1889, the goal he had in mind was to develop it into a center for the formation of missionaries and for the awakening of missionary consciousness in the whole German speaking area and in the four states ruled by the Danube monarchy. Austria is thus among the countries of origin of the SVD and has played a major role in the congregation's development. Austria became an independent province in 1927. In 1939 the province had 648 members. She suffered a severe blow during World War II and was able to recover only slowly. The development of the Zones led to a more intensive cooperation with the two German provinces and the Swiss province. Contacts with the provinces of Hungary, Slovakia and Poland have grown closer. Their common concerns include the vocations apostolate, mass media, formation, on going education, and spiritual renewal. In cooperation with the South European provinces, Austria is supporting the new foundations in Rumania. The classical tasks taken up by the European provinces are: building up missionary consciousness, supporting the worldwide activities of the Church and the SVD, and the recruitment and formation of young people for missionary service. A new challenge has been added: that of fulfilling the missionary task in Europe itself. At the same time, we are confronted with the fact that for years there has been no Austrian undergoing training as a missionary in our congregation.

Each of the last provincial chapters has chosen a priority as its main theme and emphasis for the following three years: in 1991 it was formation, in 1994 the media apostolate, and in 1997 the vocation apostolate. A clear policy of internationalizing the communities within the province was accepted. This option is now bearing fruit. The following survey is based on these priorities of the province.

3.1 Formation and Studies

Prescinding from the problem of the future of the St. Gabriel School of Theology, the province has opted for a formation program based on an international community (postulancy, juniorate). Interested persons from other provinces are invited to study here and to go through a process of inculturation in order, eventually, to become missionaries for Europe. At present twelve people make up the community undergoing formation. The Juniorate, as an autonomous unit, is integrated into the St. Gabriel community of Fathers and Brothers. The German-speaking provinces maintain a common novitiate in St. Paul's, Wengerohr, Germany.

The St. Gabriel School of Theology, affiliated with the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, can issue licentiate degrees in theology which are at the same time recognized by the state. The curriculum for specialization is focused on the encounter with non Christian religions and on the promotion of dialogue with them. The Institute for the Study of Religions, which is part of the School of Theology, serves the same purpose. The School of Theology has a staff consisting of 13 confreres, five of whom come from abroad. For the past years, it has been suffering because of the small number of enrollees in spite of having opened its doors to students from other religious orders and lay people. Our SVD students feel the absence of SVD's who speak German as their mother tongue. The provincial chapter of 1998 thoroughly studied the problem of how to maintain the values and the educational aims of the School of Theology and to make it accessible to a greater number of students.

3.2 Youth and Vocation Apostolate

Almost without noticing it, a certain kind of paralysis has slowly been creeping in on our youth and vocational apostolate during the past few years. This is certainly due to a sense of insecurity about our missionary task as well as to a painful lack of success in our endeavors. Confreres who were assigned to this task have gone to take up other activities elsewhere. The provincial chapter of 1998 openly took recognition of this defect. The chapter believes that living conscientiously our religious life and taking care of our own vocation is the breeding ground on which the vocation apostolate is able to grow.

The program called "Missionary for a Time" (MaZ) brings us into contact with committed young Christian men and women who receive part of their training in St. Gabriel's. In our work among the youth, the emphasis lies on deepening one's personal faith, and on a pallette of choices which make use of the rich resources offered by the Church over the whole world.

Some 350 boys and girls are at present enrolled in the private High School in St. Rupert. In 1999 the administration of the school will be handed over to a qualified lay person. For the school year 2000 a confrere who teaches religion will be the only SVD member of the teaching staff. A pastoral team has been established to maintain the school's missionary inspiration among the teachers and students. This team is composed of two SVD's, an SSpS, and a lay person.

3.3 Media Apostolate

Our magazines Stadt Gottes (circulation: 130,000) Weite Welt (circulation: 30,000) and Michaelskalender (circulation: 100,000) keep the concerns of world mission before the eyes of the public and provide the province its economic stability. In 1997, after a great struggle, we decided to close our own printing press and bindery. This move unshackled us from old financial obligations and freed our resources for other tasks. One confrere has taken over the full time position of editor. Eight Brothers, with the help of some 7,000 volunteer promoters, take charge of the whole operation, with growing success. In 1998, the Children and Youth Sections of St. Gabriel's publishing enterprise were sold for a profit. The tasks and the aims of the remaining departments are still under study.

Several confreres are contributing their share regularly to the state radio, and in a few cases also on television. As before, we do not have the means nor the concepts for working for a type of media apostolate which is aimed at a secularized and de Christianized society. In our search for ways and means we are working together with the provinces of the Central European Zone. In the magazine sector, the cooperation with the German-speaking provinces and with the SSpS Sisters is growing.

3.4 St. Gabriel Mission Procure

Formerly, the Mission Procure's priority was that of providing financial assistance . Today, the mission procurator and his staff are putting more emphasis on the area of building up mission consciousness among the people.

3.5 St. Gabriel's Retreat and Formation House

Under the direction of an SSpS Sister, the Formation house (Bildungshaus) gives many people from religious orders and parishes the chance to take part not only in typical SVD study courses and lectures, but also provides space for seminars, recollections and retreats at reasonable cost.

3.6 Parish Apostolate

Twenty-one confreres are working, either alone, in pairs or in groups of threes, as parish pastors or as assistants in 12 parishes. It must be emphasized that six confreres from abroad and five from other countries in Europe are bearing witness to our internationality and to our commitment to working in the mission field of Europe. A confrere is in charge of the Latin American community in Vienna. Furthermore, almost all the priests go out on supply work in the places where our establishments are found and in their surrounding parishes.

Since 1966, a small community has been established in Innsbruck with the aim of providing missionary witness through living a life in common and by performing special services for the local church. A number of bishops are asking that more such communities be put up in their own dioceses.

3.7 The Care of the Elderly and Ailing

The province maintains a section in St. Gabriel for retired and ailing confreres, to which confreres from neighboring countries and from abroad are also welcome. An average of 15 to 20 confreres receive competent care from a team under the direction of an SSpS Sister.

3.8 Cooperation with the SSpS Sisters

During these past years, under the inspiration of the Arnold Janssen Spirituality Center and the Spirituality Team of Steyl, the consciousness that we form one family under Fr. Arnold has increased. This can especially be seen in family feasts celebrated on a regular basis as well as in shared spiritual seminars. Cooperation on a partnership basis has also increased. Both in St. Gabriel and St. Rupert, there are communities of SSpS Sisters who are either in charge of or are corresponsible for important services in the house. They are also present in parish work. The Sister's novitiate welcomes the help of our professors in St. Gabriel. Three Fathers are serving as chaplains in SSpS communities and three others are working either as hospital or house chaplains in other convents.

4. Croatia

The country once known as Yugoslavia collapsed in 1991. Shortly afterwards, Croatia declared its independence. A relative peace returned after the intervening war, and it became possible to begin the work of reconstruction. 3,700,000 of the 4,700,000 Croatians belong to the Catholic Church. After years of oppression under the communists, the Church is now confronted with new tasks and challenges. At the moment, the urgent needs of the local church seem to have priority, and for the time being the local clergy have shown little interest for building up mission consciousness. Their recently acquired freedom has often led to a kind of permissiveness and materialism.

The SVD started its activities in Novi Sad in 1970. In 1979 we began working in the capital Zagreb and then in Zadar, on the Adriatic, in 1983. Croatia was formerly under the direct supervision of the Generalate. In 1981, the district of Yugoslavia became part of the Austrian province. In 1992, after the handing over of the community at Novi Sad to the Hungarian Province, the new district of Croatia was born. In the beginning, due to the closeness of their mother tongues, mostly confreres from Poland were assigned to the district. At present there are four Fathers and a Brother working here. One of them is Croat. He is active in parish work and in building up missionary consciousness. It is our wish that we will one day be able to bear witness, in a land ruined by nationalistic wars, to the internationality of the universal Church, through the presence of confreres coming from other lands and cultures.

5. Prospects

This is our dilemma: An ever decreasing number of confreres are called to perform an ever increasing number of tasks. As much as possible, we ought to continue with those responsibilities and activities which we have normally performed up til now, and which have grown in the course of time. New challenges are constantly cropping up:

• turning the idea of "Mission in Europe" into practical models of apostolic activities.
• setting up programs of inculturation for our SVD confreres, which could also be of help to diocesan priests from abroad to help them grow within the local church.
• developing a concept of a media apostolate inspired by the idea of Mission in Europe.
• other priorities coming from the European Zone.

Time and resources are often lacking, even for the mere formulation of concepts that can give answer to such challenges.

We are therefore all the more challenged to deepen our communio, to find ways to foster community life and work, and to reflect on our raison d'être. In this way we can discover which tasks we should and can relinquish. This will help us clarify our self understanding and charisma and enable us to live that mission which is specifically ours. The Holy Spirit has a lot to do towards clarifying the state of this province dedicated to his care.