“You are not just the tip, but the full iceberg,” some people say about him. Because Stephan Alof always give 100% no matter what he does. For instance, as a carer, he lovingly looks after the elderly, AIDS patients, the dying and the grieving, always having an ear for their worries; while he has established a series of thriving pubs and ice cream parlours with names like “Jessas”, “Maria” and “Josef”; and in the future, he wants to do much more as a funeral director than has been common in the industry to date. His imagination in creating fascinating experiences out of spaces and starting projects knows no bounds. At the second hand shop, he organises furniture, lamps and fantastic decoration for his shops or transforms church spaces into gardens of paradise.
Stephan Maria Alof says of himself that he is as “mad as a hatter”, because for the last two decades he has also volunteered at St. Maximilian, a catholic church in the centre of Munich. Yet he is well acquainted with disappointment: he could not realise his dream of becoming a priest because he came out as homosexual. Other homosexuals have made a career in the church and hold offices and esteem because everyone keeps their mouths shut. Stephan Alof abhors the double standards of some Catholic office holders. And he is both sad and angry about how so much suffering arises from the church’s twisted understanding of itself, where the splendour, lust for power and violence are in stark contrast to the teachings of Jesus. However, Stephan Alof has been committed to working for his church for decades. As for him, it is not about the institution, but about the people and the life-affirming message of Jesus. At the side of priest Rainer Maria Schießler, he develops the coolest ideas to breathe life into dusty old traditions and to enthuse people. He has made it his goal to give people the ability to achieve their full potential. “Make something of it” is his motto. His success proves that he is right.
