By Christoph Renzikowski (KNA)
Stefan Oster is responsible for sport in the German Bishops’ Conference. A topic that the Bavarian has been dealing with since his childhood. And one that can really annoy him.
Only a few days left until the European Football Championship in Germany and the Summer Olympics in Paris. It’s high time for a conversation with the Catholic sports bishop Stefan Oster (59) about his personal fitness, his penchant for martial arts and Christian training deficits.
KNA: Mr. Bischof, there are two major sporting events coming up, one of them in Germany. How is your own physical fitness?
Oster: Modest. I always do the last part of our pilgrimage to Altötting. After only 20 kilometers, I was really feeling my old bones this time. I use a cross trainer at home fairly regularly. But overall, I don’t do much exercise.
KNA: First, football. It almost seems as if the Germans, under national coach Julian Nagelsmann, have turned things around just before the European Championships. What do you think the team is capable of?
Oster: Recently the team has fluctuated between “over the moon” and “devastated”, apart from the last few test matches, which were really good. It was similar before the so-called summer fairytale of 2006, which gives us hope. But to be honest, I think other teams are stronger, like France or England.
KNA: Is there anyone in German football who impresses you beyond the pitch?
Oster: I always thought Philipp Lahm was a good guy. He has never played a bad game, he has strong opinions and obviously has a heart for people who are disadvantaged.
KNA: In one of our previous interviews, the avowed Bayern fan Stefan Oster said it was boring when the same teams always became German champions. And this season, things turned out differently. Rightly so?
Oster: Yes, quite rightly so. What happened recently at Bayern with Nagelsmann and then with Kahn and Salihamidzic – they really cut a very poor figure. The contradiction to the famous “Mia san mia” couldn’t have been greater. That really annoyed me. Nevertheless, I was of course rooting for them again, anything else would have felt like “betrayal”. I wish Leverkusen their success from the bottom of my heart. But we’ll be back next season.
KNA: At the Olympics, the focus is not necessarily on ball sports. For which competition would you postpone a prayer time in order to be able to watch it?
Oster: Oh dear, what am I saying now? I was relatively successful at judo until I was about 15. A few months ago I started watching competitions on YouTube again. I wanted to see if I still knew the throws and grips. That brought back a lot of the fascination. So I’m taking up judo.
KNA: The Olympic Games used to be a time of peace. At least during this time, fighting should be suspended. A sympathetic thought or a smokescreen?
Oster: Both. French President Macron is said to have suggested to China’s head of state Xi that he should lobby the Russians for a ceasefire in Ukraine. And he agreed. If the world’s powerful people support this, it can only be an advantage. But I have a stronger feeling that sport is manipulated by the powerful and used for their own ends rather than serving a peace mission. The athletes see it differently, as do the many people who come along as fans. For them, I hope this is a real festival of peace and encounters.
KNA: Do you remember a very special Olympic moment?
Oster: In 1972, when I was seven, I went to Munich with my parents. I was there for the track cycling foursome, and I think the Germans even won. But I was never interested in that discipline again. Then Ulrike Meyfarth and Heide Rosendahl won the high jump and long jump. But another scene has remained indelibly in my memory, from wrestling: Wilfried Dietrich, known as “the crane of Schifferstadt”, lifted a huge American, who felt like he was two heads taller and twice as heavy, over himself and defeated him by a shoulder throw.
KNA: When you look at the spiritual struggle of our time – is Christianity still competitive?
Oster: From the outside, Christianity is lagging behind, especially in Western societies. From the inside, I would say that it offers the solution to so many of the world’s problems. You know, it is no coincidence that Pope Francis has become a kind of moral authority on sustainability and ecology for the whole world. That is not simply because he has thought about it, but because he is a Christian. If only we learn to become loving and humble people…
KNA: … that sounds like the Christians are behind in training …
Oster: … now you want to trap me again: Bishop Oster always demands too much. Yes, I would say, but I also address every word to myself. Charles de Foucauld, who was recently canonized, wrote to a relative on the day of his death: Pray for my conversion. This is a constant theme for all of us, but first and foremost for me.
2024-06-07 15:43:44
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