Stefan Oster


Stefan Oster is a German bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who serves as the 85th Bishop of Passau.

Early life

Oster was born on June 3, 1965 in Amberg, a town in Bavaria, Germany. He graduated from Neutraubling high school and later trained as a newspaper - and a radio editor from 1984 to 1986. He spent some years working in this profession. From 1988 he started his studies in philosophy, history and religious studies in Regensburg, Kiel, at Keele University and the University of Oxford. From 1990 to 1991 he was a Fellow in the Erasmus Programme of the European Union. He graduated from Oxford in 1993 with a Master of Studies and a Master of Arts from Regensburg in 1994.

Novitiate and ordination

In 1995 Oster joined the Salesians of Don Bosco and spent a year in the novitiate in Jünkerath. From 1996 till 2000 he studied at the College of Philosophy and Theology in Benediktbeuern. On July 24, 1999 he professed his perpetual vows and thus formally became a member of Salesians of Don Bosco. He was ordained to the priesthood by Viktor Josef Dammertz, the bishop of Augsburg, on 24 June 2001.

Academic achievements

In 2003 Oster received the Albertus Magnus prize by the Diocese of Augsburg and in 2004 the Vereins der Freunde by the University of Augsburg for his work on his Doctoral Thesis. He started lecturing philosophy at the College of Philosophy and Theology in Benediktbeuern. His subjects were the Theory of Knowledge, Metaphysics, Philosophy of language, Philosophy of dialogue and Philosophy of the person.
In 2009, he did the Habilitation exam in Dogmatic Theology through the Faculty of Theology at the University of Trier. The Habilitation thesis dealt with the relationship between the Person and Transubstantiation under the supervision of Rudolf Voderholzer. He was appointed a professor of Dogma and History of Dogma. As a dogmatist, he focused mainly on Systematic theology, particularly in the area of Christology, Ecclesiology and Mariology.
In July 2013 the College of Philosophy and Theology in Benediktbeuern closed and thus Oster ended his local professorship at the college. He continued to lecture at the Katholische Stiftungsfachhochschule München. He also taught at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Bishop of Passau

On April 4, 2014 Pope Francis appointed Oster as the 85th Bishop of Passau. His episcopal ordination took place on May 24 at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Passau by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising Cardinal Reinhard Marx. The co-consecrators were Wilhelm Schraml, emeritus bishop of Passau, as well as the emeritus archbishop of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser. Oster is the youngest German bishop. Stefan Oster chose the motto "Victoria Veritatis Caritas".

Positions

In March 2019, Oster said, there can be also married priests in Roman-Catholic church.
He defends the traditional view of the Catholic Church on Homosexuality and is a critic of proponents of Intercommunion with Protestants.