After only one term in office, the parish priest of the Roman Catholic parish of St Joseph in Gstaad is leaving again. At the end of the parish meeting in November, Alexander Pasalidi cited homesickness for the Mittelland and his family near Lake Constance, among other reasons, for his intention not to stand for re-election in the summer of 2022.

Pasalidi said that he had taken up his post in Saanenland in the summer of 2018 full of joy and had worked with outstanding commitment. He had approached the people of the Simmental and Saanenland “with openness and cordiality” and had been able to experience many beautiful things with them. But in the course of the last months, he had felt more and more the longing and homesickness for the “charisma of Catholicism with all its typical traditions, customs and cultivated religious traditions”.

The distance to his family, who live in Kreuzlingen, was also too great for him. Pasalidi also blamed his decision on a certain lack of sustainability in his work in the pastoral care of tourists. The moment a diligently prepared wedding ceremony was over, the people, most of whom had travelled from various parts of Switzerland or even worldwide, were gone again. “And that is exactly what did not give me the satisfaction I seek,” said the priest.

BASED ON AVS/KEREM S MAURER