<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Civic Network of South Tyrol

Welcome to South Tyrol

Religion

ChurchAbout 98 per cent of the inhabitants of South Tyrol belong to the Catholic Church.
There are Evangelical communities in Bozen (Bolzano) with about 600 members and in Meran (Merano) with about 200, each with a pastor. In Meran (Merano) there is also a small Jewish cultural community with about 60 members. There is a Russian Orthodox Church with its seat in Zarenbrunn in Obermais (Maia Alta) without, however, its own priest. In Bozen (Bolzano) there is an Italian Adventist community, and in some places in the Province there are also Free Church groups. The increase of immigrants coming from non-European countries goes hand in hand with the increasing number of the Muslims living in South Tyrol.

The diocese of Bozen-Brixen (Bolzano-Bressanone) has existed in its present form since September 1964. At that time it was created out of the body of the diocese of Brixen (Bressanone) to which, until the end of the First World War today's diocese of Innsbruck and Vorarlberg belonged, and the so-called German part of the archdiocese of Trient (Trento), composed of the ten deaneries between Klausen (Chiusa) and Schlanders (Silandro). Today its borders are the same as the Autonomous Province of Bozen (Bolzano).
The diocese is divided into 28 deaneries, 23 of which are majority German-speaking, three majority Italian-speaking and two majority Ladin-speaking. The diocese contains 280 parishes.
Since 1986 the bishop of the diocese has been Dr. Wilhelm Egger (born in 1940). The number of priests in the diocese is 393. The 17 male ecclesiastical Orders and Congregations number 234 priests and 61 brothers in all, while the 28 female Orders on the other hand have 792 members. They are mainly in school and juvenile education. Besides the priests and members of the different orders, there are a lot of lay persons in church employ, particularly in schools; altogether 356 lay persons teach in the various school levels alongside the clergy.

The Catholic Church in South Tyrol is strongly integrated into social and community life and works for the peaceful co-existence of the three ethnic groups. It runs numerous cultural, educational and social establishments (school hostels, ecclesiastic schools, old-age-homes, schools of music, etc.). Furthermore it makes an important contribution to the world of media in South Tyrol with its different papers and journals and its two ecclesiastical radio stations.

The Theology-Philosophy College of the diocese in Brixen (Bressanone) is associated with the Theology Faculty of the University of Innsbruck and as a College of Pontifical Law is entitled to award the Baccalaureat. The College supports the Graduate Institute for Theological Education which is recognised by the Education Congregation in Rome as a Graduate Institute of Divinity (Istituto Superiore di Scienze Religiose) and can award the degree of Master of Divinity (Magistero in Scienze Religiose). In November 1994 the Institute for Justice, Peace and Preservation of Creation was set up at the Theology-Philosophy College, which treats social-ethical and social-political questions. Besides the seminary the diocese maintains also a boys' seminary with its own intermediate and superior schools (Vinzentinum in Brixen).

According to research undertaken by the Provincial Statistics Office more than 53 per cent of Catholics in the Bozen-Brixen (Bolzano-Bressanone) diocese regularly attend church on Sundays. There is, however, a significant difference between country and town attendance and between the older and younger generations.