Bishop Scheuer at Jägerstätter Commemoration: On the need to question majority opinions

At a memorial service in St. Radegund, the Bishop of Linz criticizes opinion polls and statistics that convey the message: Those who belong to the minority are backward or out of date - "Discernment of spirits" enables one to see behind the "masks of propaganda" and the "rhetoric of seduction"

Etiam si omnes, ego non - in English: even if everyone participates, I won't: This is the motto under which Linz Bishop Manfred Scheuer based his sermon at the Jägerstätter Commemoration Day on Saturday evening in St. Radegund. Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector executed by the Nazis 82 years earlier, was persecuted, murdered, or executed, like other witnesses of faith – Mathias Spanlang, Jakob Gapp, Otto Neururer, Carl Lampert, Franz Reinisch, Hans and Sophie Scholl, Edith Stein, and Sr. Restituta Kafka – "because they didn't go with the crowd, didn't yell along with the majority," but instead resisted. Their example should also inspire us today to question majority opinions in light of our own conscience, Scheuer said.

Are not opinion polls and statistics currently used to convey values: Anyone who belongs to the minority is backward or out of date, the bishop asked. Especially in politics, ethical questions today are reduced to finding a majority and campaigning, and the search for truth is reduced to the question of power. Even though the days of collectivism like those during the Nazi era are over, many still embrace the "man," swim with the crowd, or remain in their own bubble, without even noticing others, Scheuer critically noted. And: "Quite a few have completely delegated their responsibility to the seductive offers of meaning and dramatic role-playing in the television world."

In the case of the aforementioned witnesses of faith and martyrs, however, the "external context of delusion" did not lead to a dulling of conscience, the opinion of the masses did not lead to an adjustment of judgment, and Nazi ideology did not lead to contempt for humanity and godlessness, the bishop stated. They "did not delegate their conscience and responsibility in an infantile manner," neither to the people nor to the leader. They did not pander to the majority and did not resort to general rules and regulations.

Franz Jägerstätter, Scheuer emphasized, was anything but a notorious naysayer or a "reality refugee." But he had the gift of "discernment of spirits," which enables him to see behind the "masks of propaganda" and the "rhetoric of seduction."

Looking back on Jägerstätter's protest of conscience against the unjust Nazi regime reminds us "that the standards of good and evil remain immutable, even if they found little resonance in the perverted public morality of the time." Scheuer said that the contexts may be different today, but the right to life, issues such as human dignity and human rights, democracy and justice, and the question of God are still about responsible conscience.

The bishop also warned against excessive competitive thinking: Franz Jägerstätter saw no rivals, opponents, or enemies in other peoples. Rivalry creates boundaries between people, races, and nations and creates images of the enemy. "Through rivalry and competition, the ability to enter into genuine relationships and open oneself to togetherness is increasingly lost today," Scheuer said.

Annual Commemoration on August 9th

On the occasion of the 82nd anniversary of the death of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter (1907-1943), the annual international commemoration took place on August 8th and 9th in his Upper Austrian hometown of St. Radegund. Since 1983, the celebrations have been an integral part of remembering the Nazi conscientious objector. An evening prayer service in the parish church of St. Radegund marked the beginning on Friday evening. On Saturday, Jägerstätter biographer Erna Putz ("Franz Jägerstätter on the Path to His Decision") and social ethicist and President of Pax Christi Austria, Wolfgang Palaver ("Human Rights and Democracy Under Pressure - Resilience from Christian Peace Ethics") spoke. After a pilgrimage on foot from Tarsdorf to St. Radegund and a devotion at the hour of Jägerstätter's death, the memorial service concluded on Saturday evening with Bishop Manfred Scheuer, followed by a candlelight procession to the Blessed's grave.

Franz Jägerstätter, a farmer, sexton, and family man from the Innviertel region, had refused to bear arms for the Nazi regime for religious reasons. He was subsequently sentenced to death by the Reich Military Court in Berlin for "undermining military morale" and executed by beheading in Brandenburg an der Havel on August 9, 1943. The Vatican officially confirmed Franz Jägerstätter's martyrdom on June 1, 2007. His beatification took place on October 26, 2007, under Bishop Ludwig Schwarz in Linz's St. Mary's Cathedral. Franz Jägerstätter's liturgical memorial is the day of his baptism, May 21.

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