New Caritas director questions social assistance draft

Norbert Filipitisch, the new cathedral parish priest of Eisenstadt, has also taken over as director of the Burgenland Caritas charity organization, ORF reported. The 53-year-old has held both positions since September 1 and said he would approach the dual role calmly.

“I will simply let it come to me, because both places need people with heart,” Filipitisch said in an interview with ORF Burgenland.

He said his appointment marked a return to a priest leading Caritas. “I believe it is very important to the bishop that Caritas fulfils a fundamental mission of the Church,” Filipitisch said.

He added that the organization did not need to be defined by him personally. “I am not the face of Caritas. The face is that of my employees throughout the region,” he said.

Criticism of social assistance plans

A draft from the federal government outlining new social assistance rules emerged on Tuesday. A proposed basic income for children, which Caritas and Volkshilfe had called for, is not included in the draft. Both organizations sharply criticised the proposal.

Filipitisch also expressed dissatisfaction with the draft in an interview on the ORF Burgenland programme Burgenland Heute. “The idea may not be bad, but I ask myself: How are people at risk of poverty supposed to set aside tax-free money for their children?” he said.

He said children and young people needed opportunities to take control of their lives.

Mobile advice service planned

During his time as parish priest in Jennersdorf, Filipitisch was particularly involved in Caritas learning cafés. “The waiting lists are long and I think there should be more. But here we are 100 percent dependent on donations from the public,” he said.

The number of clients at social advice centres also increased this year for the first time in a while. By September 1, Caritas had provided social advice to 925 clients, Filipitisch said, almost as many as during the whole of the previous year. Of those, 340 were new Caritas clients.

A pilot project is due to start in autumn. A mobile advice unit or pop-up stand is planned to visit municipalities and meet people there. The project is intended to raise public awareness of other people’s difficulties while also recruiting volunteers.

About Norbert Filipitisch

Filipitisch also appears in his own cooking show as a priest who cooks. He said it was important not only to ask people for donations or approach them through mailings, but also to give them something in return.

He was initially parish priest of Pöttsching, Bad Sauerbrunn and Neudörfl. In 2012, he became parish priest of Jennersdorf and later parish priest of Pinkafeld. He has also been a diocesan director since 2012.

Filipitisch studied chemistry, mathematics, physics and theology.