17 million euros

Church must cut jobs in Upper Austria

Manfred Scheuer, Bishop of the Diocese of Linz, has to make savings

(Bild: Harald Dostal)

The diocese of Linz wants to save 17 million euros in order to secure its budget plans until 2028. This is to be achieved through bundling, restructuring and staff cuts. 60 out of 885 full-time employees will have to leave, affecting 80 people. Some of this can be resolved through retirements and expiring projects, but there will also be redundancies.

The number of church contributors has fallen by ten percent, or 100,000 people, over the past ten years. 75 percent of the diocese's income comes from church contributions - 99.9 million euros in 2022 - and this sum is stagnating, but expenditure - especially personnel costs - is rising, partly due to high inflation. For this reason, the "Securing the future" framework concept developed in recent months should enable a balanced budget by 2028 without the use of reserves, according to the documents for a press conference in Gaspoltshofen on Tuesday. Following the vote of his advisory committee, Bishop Manfred Scheuer gave the order to implement the package of measures.

Goal not yet fully achieved
"The results now available show sustainable savings of at least 13.4 million euros. The 17 million originally targeted have therefore not yet been fully achieved. However, with follow-up projects and continuous evaluation, we will succeed in remaining on a stable financial course," said Reinhold Prinz, Head of Finance and Administration at Diocesan Services.

Three educational centers will be closed
During the process, it became clear that considerable costs could be reduced through better coordinated cooperation, the merging of units or their joint management. For example, individual church contribution advice centers are to be merged, said Vicar General Severin Lederhilger. The previous five educational centers will also be reduced to one with three locations. The Schloss Puchberg education center in Wels will remain the center, along with the Haus der Frau in Linz and the Franziskanerhaus in Ried im Innkreis, which is to be renovated in Puchberg and Wels. The Maximilian House in Attnang-Puchheim and the Dominican House in Steyr will not be continued in this form, and the Greisinghof in Tragwein will also be withdrawn after consultation with the Marianists living there. The Maximilianhaus could possibly be used for the future parish. In addition, a building strategy is being launched as a follow-up project to determine what should be done with the properties. Sales would be one-off measures that would not help in the long term, it was said.

Internal job exchange established
"It is important to me that the employees know that there are also opportunities for change within the church professions and that we offer qualification opportunities with appropriate advice," emphasized Bishop Manfred Scheuer. Head of Human Resources Edeltraud Addy-Papelitzky announced talks with the affected employees - especially in the houses that will be closed - in order to sound out opportunities for change and further qualifications. "The internal job exchange that has now been set up will give priority to internal applications." A total of 1170 people are employed in the diocese, 100 of whom will retire in the next four years. At the same time, 30 full-time positions in youth work as well as in pastoral care and innovation projects in parishes are open, and 20 full-time positions for administrative directors in the new parishes will be advertised in the coming years.

New campsite
Lederhilger announced that the new parishes with their parish sub-communities and pastoral locations would be maintained and supported. The current personnel plan is in force until 2026. Youth work is to be promoted, with the new "Weyregg Youth Meeting House" being built at the campsite on Lake Attersee. The conversion of the diocesan educational institutions into the "Campus for Education, Science and Humanity" is not affected. The funds belong to the extraordinary budget. Here, savings are being made on diocesan subsidies and synergy effects should result from the project.