On May 19th at 12.30 p.m. on ORF 2
Vienna (OTS) – Sandra Szabo will present the following articles in the ORF religious magazine “Orientation” on Sunday, May 19, 2024, at 12:30 p.m. on ORF 2:
Despite the ban on ordination: What women are allowed to do
30 years ago – on May 22, 1994 – Pope John Paul II wanted to end the discussion about the ordination of women once and for all with his letter “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis”. Without much success. The ordination of women is still a much-discussed topic. The World Synod in Rome is at least dealing with the question of diaconate ordination for women. In practice, Roman Catholic women do almost everything that consecrated men do: preside over the Liturgy of the Word in liturgical vestments, hold funerals, baptize, conduct pastoral discussions, even lead parishes. The Linz theologian Maria-Anna Grasböck has been leading parishes in various functions for almost 30 years. Marcus Marschalek was there from the beginning and asked what had changed over the years.
The studio guest on the topic of the World Synod and Women’s Diaconate is Gabriele Eder-Cakl, director of the Austrian Pastoral Institute.
Children without a future? Difficult youth in South Sudan
There are more than 2.3 million internally displaced people in South Sudan, the youngest country in the world. In the East African country, which was torn by civil war for years, young people have a particularly difficult time. 32,000 children and young people are registered as homeless and unaccompanied. They are left to their own devices and confronted with the country’s problems: hunger, unsafe water, inadequate housing, a lack of medical care and a lack of educational opportunities. If there is the slightest problem, young people are locked away in prison. In mid-April, Zoran Dobrić visited a prison for children and young people in Wau, South Sudan’s second largest city, and was able to interview four inmates about their situation and their future.
From a sacred building to a cultural center: the former St. Pölten synagogue
The synagogue in St. Pölten was once one of the most important Jewish sacred buildings in the monarchy. In 1938 it was devastated by the National Socialists. After the Nazi era, no Jewish community gained a foothold in St. Pölten. The building was renovated in the early 1980s and, after a second renovation, reopened as the Former Synagogue in April 2024. Now the exhibition “Moving Things. Objects and their Jewish history” can be seen there. Things are shown that had to be left behind in the course of the expulsion of Jews. Sandra Szabo visited the exhibition and looks at the eventful history of the St. Pölten synagogue.