Fr Helmut Schüller said merging independent parishes into vast, impersonal parish associations is "pretty much the most unimaginative thing one can do".

In the long run, the Church will not be able to avoid issues such as women's ordination and who can take over the leadership of priestless communities, Fr Schüller told Austria's Salzburger Nachrichten.

Fr Schüller founded the Austrian Priests' Initiative for church reform in 2006.

The initiative wants to pave the way for a new model of priesthood rather than merging parishes.

In 2011, Fr Schüller initiated a "Call to Disobedience", which pushed for distribution of Communion to all people of good will, without waiting for Church reforms.

Asked about lay leadership of parishes, Fr Schüller replied: "The Catholic Church is standing at a crossroads on this question."

"Either it succeeds in providing its communities with priests or it must begin to develop new forms of community leadership.

"Latin American communities are reacting to the situation very pragmatically.

"As far as we know, that is exactly how early Christian communities reacted. Community leadership was developed simultaneously in different forms."

But despite the crisis in parish leadership, bishops' conferences agendas have hardly changed, the priest said.

They are keeping to their defensive administrative strategy of merging independent parishes into vast, impersonal parish associations.

"I think many bishops are above all determined not to do anything wrong at the present moment because if this Pope does not come out on top, they could expect little good from those in leading positions in Rome," Fr Schüller said.

In a 2013 speaking tour in the United States, Fr Schüller was banned from speaking in Catholic churches in Detroit and Boston.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Plain Dealer
• Image: America

The case came to light after authorities arrested the 38-year-old cleric along with a 30-year-old Iraqi citizen from Vienna last week, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner.

Both suspects are currently in pretrial detention. The priest, originally from Poland, had been serving in the Austrian Diocese of St. Pölten since 2021.

A police spokesman told media that investigators from the State Criminal Police Office searched the rectory following an order by the public prosecutor's office.

During the raid, they seized chemicals for producing illegal drugs as well as laboratory equipment. Authorities say they suspect the drugs were intended for sale. Continue reading

Merkel made the remarks when asked about a scandal engulfing Austria's anti-immigrant Freedom Party, whose leader Heinz-Christian Strache quit on Saturday as the government's vice-chancellor.

Strache was secretly recorded reportedly promising a Russian investor government contracts in return for them purchasing a newspaper and supporting his anti-immigrant Freedom Party. Read more

Scheuer told Francis with regards to the Eucharist as the font, center, and summit of the life of the church, three changes are called for. Read more:

Bishop Aegidius Zsifkovics of Eisenstadt has ensured the fence being built along Austria's border with Hungary will have at least two large holes.

The bishop said that fences weren't the answer to Europe's refugee crisis and allowing them would be a contradiction of Pope Francis's views.

The fence is the latest in a number of hard line stances taken by the Austrian government against asylum seekers.

Continue reading

The Vatican has investigated allegations of abuse in The Work (Das Werk) based in Bregenz, but the results are not known.

Both nuns and priests belong to the community, as well as non-ordained male and female members.

A former nun from The Work, Doris Wagner, has just published a book which tells of her abuse by a priest in Bregenz.

She left the community in 2011 "depressed, virtually penniless and with no social contacts".

She claims she was "controlled, manipulated, sexually abused and pressured".

She said that her superiors disenfranchised her, used her as cheap domestic labour, failed to protect her from sexual assault, and didn't take care of her when she was sick.

Wagner's publisher said that she brought charges against the abusive priest, both in Germany and Austria, but that he claims that she consented to his sexual advances.

Darren Canning, originally from England, said he spent six years as a member of The Work and cried every day.

"It was hell, I hoped and prayed that I would die," he said.

He left in 2003, with no money and no education, and said he had to start a new life from scratch in England.

Canning said that The Work operated a "system of religious mania, surveillance and oppression that must be stopped".

He said contacts with people outside "the family" were discouraged and that all telephone conversations and letters had to be screened by a religious superior.

Canning said that when his grandfather died he wasn't even allowed to travel to England for his funeral - the reason given was that his grandfather hadn't been a Christian.

A former priest who was part of The Work said even in confession priests typically viewed women as "temptresses", and female abuse victims were seen as complicit simply because of their gender.

A spokesman for The Work admitted that certain restrictions had been in place, but that they have now been abolished.

The Work was founded in 1938 and was given papal approval in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. It reports directly to the pope.

Sources

• The Local
• Image: The Daily Mind

Austrian Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, 58, told The Telegraph: "Most Catholic priests in Austria, are very nice to me. They call me 'Mrs Bishop'. And they show me respect."

The newspaper reported her having been at the altar at Kremsmunster, the oldest Benedictine monastery in Austria.

Several instances of Church services with Catholic male priests were also cited.

Ms Mayr-Lumetzberger said the priests accept her as one of them, and none have ever been disciplined by a bishop for it.

A member of the Roman Catholic Women Priests movement, she estimates there are hundreds of women priests around the world, some of whom she ordained.

She said the unjust law under which she was excommunicated was made by celibate men who do not know the people over whom they rule.

Continue reading

Former Vienna auxiliary Helmut Krätzl has called on bishops to take up Pope Francis's request to "make courageous suggestions" in order to stop eucharistic scarcity.

"We must open new doors including discussing that of priestly celibacy", Bishop Krätzl said.

The Eucharist should be available where people live, he insisted.

He did not agree with bishops who said the Eucharist should be worth travelling a certain distance to.

Bishop Krätzl cited the example of a remote Brazilian diocese where consciousness of the Eucharist was lost if Mass was only celebrated occasionally.

Catholics tend to drift to other denominations in such cases, he feared.

Continue reading

Austrian Martha Heizer and her husband Gert suffered this penalty for regularly "simulating the Mass" without a priest present.

According to a statement from Innsbruck diocese, the pair publicised this practice, which forced Bishop Manfred Scheuer to take legal action.

The final decree was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pope Francis has allowed the sanction to proceed.

Bishop Scheuer took the excommunication decree to the Heizers' house and read it out to them.

The bishop later described the move as "self-excommunication", which was "not a victory, but always a defeat for the Church".

A diocesan statement expressed hope the Heizers would change their ways.

But the Heizers refused to accept the decree and continued to commit themselves to the reform of the Church.

They said the decree does not mean they are not part of the Church anymore.

"By virtue of our Baptism, we remain part of the Church as long as we ourselves do not choose to leave her," they said, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

"These proceedings illustrate very clearly how urgent the Church needs to be renewed," they continued.

Innsbruck diocese says the Heizers can apply within 10 days to Bishop Scheuer for a "nullification or for a change in the stipulations of this decree, including a temporary stay".

The Church considers simulating the Mass to be a grave delict, on a par with sexual abuse and violation of the seal of the confessional.

The Heizers said the excommunication is especially bitter for them as they don't know of a single priest who has been excommunicated after abusing children.

Martha Heizer was one of the initiators of the grass-roots protest signed by more than 500,000 Austrian Catholics after the Groer Affair of 1995.

This turned into the We Are Church movement and spread to other countries.

Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer resigned as Archbishop of Vienna in 1995 after allegations he had abused seminarians in the 1970s.

We Are Church has campaigned for women priests, an end to mandatory priestly celibacy and greater lay participation in the Church.

Sources

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

They know they are putting their lives at risk. Nevertheless, many people board ramshackle watercraft and set sail from the coast of Africa in the hope of a better life in Europe.

While a few years ago it was predominately North African migrants coming to Italy in search of work, today it is often refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia who are fleeing chaos and violence in their countries. The number of asylum applications in Europe has sharply increased in the past six years.

Refugees are "particularly vulnerable people," warned German President Joachim Gauck after hundreds of people drowned off the coast of Lampedusa on Thursday. "Protecting lives and granting refugees the chance to be heard is at the foundation of our legal and moral codes," he concluded. On Tuesday, the EU interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg to discuss the consequences of the accident, which resulted in around 300 deaths. But despite heavy criticism, they couldn't manage to come to a decision about comprehensive change to European asylum policy.

The expectations of refugees who come to Europe often go unfulfilled. Many must struggle through long asylum application processes or fight against ingrained local prejudice. In some countries, they endure appalling living conditions in refugee camps; in others, they end up on the streets.

The correspondents of SPIEGEL ONLINE report on the situation in various European countries.

ITALY

By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp

The Lampedusa disaster has shaken the world — especially Italy. The populace watches the images on television with horror, the body bags lined up across the beach. How can this be? "A disgrace," says Pope Francis. "Yes," agree many, "a disgrace." There is talk of solidarity. Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta awarded posthumous Italian citizenship to the deceased. Continue reading

Sources

• Spiegel Online
• Image: euobserver.com

Scientists at Vienna University medical school's Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology advised the faithful not to drink water, especially in hospital chapels.

They came to the conclusion after analyzing the water quality at 21 "holy" springs and 18 fonts at churches and chapels.

"We need to warn people against drinking from these sources," microbiologist Alexander Kirschner said in the study.

Kirschner said the healing effects ascribed to holy sources arose from the hygienic conditions of the Middle Ages, when water quality in urban areas was generally so poor that people constantly contracted diarrhoea or other conditions.

"If they then came across a protected spring in the forest that was not as polluted and drank from it for several days, their symptoms would disappear. So although in those days they were drinking healthier water, given the excellent quality of our drinking water today, the situation is now completely reversed."

Sources

Reuters

The Telegraph

Image: The Telegraph

Last year Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI told the German-speaking bishops that their new translation of the Missal — due to come into use on the first Sunday of Advent this year — must use the phrase "for many".

The statement by the bishops said "Benedict XVI's decision is only valid for the new translation of the Mass".

Continue reading

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn made his comments after allowing a gay man in a civil partnership, to remain on a parish council in Lower Austria. Continue reading

Catholic rebels in Austria have been making increasingly strident calls for "disobedience" and changes in the Church, after record numbers of Austrians deserted it last year, many of them in response to allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Cardinal Schonborn is however interested in working with the dissenting Austrian priests to help bring new life to Viennese parishes, Pruller said.

Pruller confirmed that despite media reports to the contrary, there had been no discussion of sanctions, no ultimatums, nor talks of punishment.

"We don't send spies to all the parishes to make sure all the rules are kept," he said, but he added that, if a priest is violating church law, the situation will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

There is ongoing debate and there has to be continued discussion into the underlying issues Pruller said.

Meanwhile, the president of the Austrian conference of superiors of men's religious orders has called for a "church summit" to involve all Austrian church leaders, not just Cardinal Schonborn, in discussing ways to respond to the priests' initiative and consider possible reforms.

The "turmoil" now reportedly involves more than 400 priests who have called for reform around

• women and married people to be allowed to be ordained priests
• an end to the celibacy rule
• the right for lay people to preach
• members of other Christian faiths to receive holy communion
• remarried people also have the right to receive holy communion.

Abbot Martin Felhofer of the Schlägl Abbey said that a threat of open schism looms in Austria.

"The lines are so hardened," the Premonstratensian abbot said, that he wonders whether a solution can be found.

The Catholic Church in Austria has been in turmoil since more than 330 priests called for reform around

• women and married people to be allowed to be ordained priests
• an end to the celibacy rule
• the right for lay people to preach
• members of other Christian faiths to receive holy communion
• remarried people also have the right to receive holy communion.

The call for reform is being led by Rev Helmut Schueller, who was Schönborn's deputy from 1995 to 1999.

It has already received significant support from clerics and lay people and according to a survey by Oekonsult polling institute, in the three months since the call for reform was launched, 71.7% of Austrians backed the dissident priests' call for disobedience.

The dissident priests said they will break Church rules by giving holy communion to protestants, re-married Catholics and allowing lay people to preach at Mass.

"At every mass, we will intercede in favour of a Church reform," reads the first line of the priests' "Call for Insubordination."

Abbot Felhofer told the Tablet he is of the view the sitaution cannot be solved by Cardinal Schönborn alone.

"Everyone - bishops, abbots, Religious and representatives of the Austrian Priests' Initiative - must sit down and the discuss the problems together."

Sources

• The Tablet
• Oman Tribune
• CathNews
• Image: Faithworld

In a recent poll conduced by the Oekonsult polling institute, 71.7% of Austrians said the "priests initiative" was both "fair and reasonable", with 64.7% saying they would sign a "call for insubordination".

The "Priests' Initiative," signed by 329 clergy want

• women and married people to be allowed to be ordained priests
• an end to the celibacy rule
• the right for lay people to preach
• members of other Christian faiths to receive holy communion
• remarried people also have the right to receive holy communion.

Some 86.8% were of the opinion celibacy created more problems than it had advantages and 84% said the refusal of the Catholic Church to reform is likely to further alienate believers.

The revolting priests threaten to split the Austrian Church just weeks before Pope Benedict visits neighbouring Germany.

The dissidents said they will break Church rules by giving holy communion to protestants, re-married Catholics and allowing lay people to preach at Mass.

According to Reuters, dissident leader Rev Helmut Schueller, who as Vienna vicar general was Schoenborn's deputy from 1995 to 1999 and once led the Austrian chapter of the international Catholic charity Caritas, has said he has no intention of giving up.

In response Cardinal Schonborn, a former student of Ratzinger has indicated he may excommunicate the priests.

"This cannot go on. If someone has decided to go down the path of dissent, that has consequences," Schonborn said.

The survey was conducted from July 20 to August 28 among 1,265 Austrians.

Sources

• Oekonsult Polling Institute
• Reuters
• The Gazette 

So the tongue-in-cheek atheist applied for a new driver's licence in his country with a photo of himself wearing a pasta strainer as headgear.

Alm said he was a "pastafarian" and that the headpiece was required by his religion.

The application process took three years, but Alm said overnight (NZ time) that he's now got his new licence.

Police officials in the mostly Catholic country did not sound amused. They said religion was never an issue in Alm's case, and that he succeeded because he fulfilled the only criterion required: leaving his face fully visible in the photo.

SPAGHETTI DEVOTEE: Niko Alm's driving licence features a photo of him wearing a pasta strainer

Source and image: Stuff