!!!Pfarrer

Parish Priest, in the Catholic Church, the pastor of a parish, an 
office-holder who has the main responsibility for pastoral care in his 
parish. Canon Law reserves this position to priests, who exercise 
their governing power as individuals sharing in the power of the 
bishop, to whom they are theologically and legally subordinated. The 
parish priest is the head of his congregation, he is responsible for 
teaching them and for their sanctification as well as for the 
administration of his parish (finances, church records etc.) ( Parish 
Council). In some cases he has assistants (curates, deacons, pastoral 
assistants etc.).

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In Protestant churches the pastor exercises the church ministry 
(preaching and administering the sacraments) for a specific community 
or groups of persons. Austrian Protestant communities have the right 
to elect their pastors, whose appointment is formally confirmed by the 
Oberkirchenrat council. The last legal obstacle to the admission of 
women to the ministry was removed in 1982.


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