Ad Orientem: Rome is getting nervous about the situation in Austria

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Rome is getting nervous about the situation in Austria

Via Fr. Anthony Chadwick's excellent blog...

Monday afternoon (23rd of January), in the Vatican there was a meeting between the top figures of the Austrian Episcopal Conference and the representatives of the Roman Dicasteries to discuss the movement led by Hellmut Schüller.

This movement is supported roughly by three hundred clerics and it openly disobeys the Roman Catholic Church with theories bordering on heresy, moreover now it wants to spread abroad creating an international net open to priests of other nations and continents.

For Pope Benedict and the Roman Curia it is time to take action against this separatist movement. Schüller himself, in several interviews, did not deny his will to disengage from Rome and he added that there are priests from other countries like France, Germany and Australia wanting to join the initiative.

The Austrian bishops were represented at the meeting by Christoph Schönborn, Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, by Alois Kothgasser, Archbishop of Saltsburg , by Egon Kapellari and Klaus Küng, bishops of Graz and St. Pölten. Representing Rome were the clerics of the Vatican Secretariat of State, of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the Roman Congregations of Bishops and priests. The objective of the Vatican was, among other things, to examine closely, asking specific and careful questions, the scale of the possible apostasy, which may lead to a schism of the Church.

Read the rest here.

I don’t want to sound like some Prussian disciplinarian, but really, there are limits. Or at least there should be. Rome used to know how to deal with people like this. Can anyone for even a second imagine something like this occurring under Pius XII? These bishops are in urgent need of a spinal transplant. If I were a bishop over there my response would be…
1. Issue an immediate ultimatum to any “priest” who signed this document. Repent and formally recant and then sign the Catechism of the Catholic Church within thirty days or…
2. Face suspension to be followed in six months by excommunication for schism and heresy and be deposed from Holy Orders.

9 comments:

gabriel said...: This is really a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't scenario. I'm really not sure what response will cause the least damage to the Church and the souls of those influenced by these renegade clerics.; 2/02/2012 2:24 AM
The Archer of the Forest said...: What exactly does this Priest's Initiative say and advocate? I can't find an actual copy of it on the internet, just a bunch of commentary.

From what I am inferring from these second hand accounts, it sounds like Rome's response is a pretty easy 5-step response:
1. If you want to follow your conscience, it leads to the big door that says, 'exit.'
2. You will find a road, walk down it until you find a building that says, 'library.'
3. In said building look for a book that says, 'dictionary.'
4. In said dictionary, look up the term that says, "Protestant."
5. When you have found all these things, you will be one.

Next case...; 2/02/2012 8:41 AM
Igumen Gregory said...: Frankly the dissenters have a palce to go, the Continental Old Catholics, alongside the Anglican communion. What are they waiting for?; 2/02/2012 11:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Thankfully, I doubt we Orthodox have to worry about them knocking at our door!

The days when norms, rules, or integrity of affiliation meant something to most people are, seemingly, over -- or at least in the midst of a prolonged hiatus.

It sounds like their leader has no problem with exiting the Roman Church, so long as the hierarchy move to throw him out so that he can point to them as the "bad guys"; if he left on his own, he would have to take responsibility for the schism.; 2/02/2012 12:56 PM
William Tighe said...: The Old Catholics and these New Catholics, a fine match, cf.:

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=12-01-021-f; 2/02/2012 2:30 PM
Anastasia Theodoridis said...: So what are these dissidents dissenting about? What's their gripe? What do they advocate?

And why is this information so hard to find? Is it scandalous or something?; 2/02/2012 11:26 PM
Igumen Gregory said...: Anastasia,

They want to be the ikon and reflection of the Anglican Communion. That is the crux of the matter.; 2/03/2012 6:13 AM
Alice C. Linsley said...: The English Catholic weekly journal The Tablet reported that at its September 1997 synod the Austrian Old Catholic Church had voted its endorsement of both women’s “ordination” and homosexual “marriages.”

Read more: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=12-01-021-f#ixzz1lKZoxjxu; 2/03/2012 9:57 AM
NotAustrian said...: A translation of the demands of the "Priest's Initiative"

http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2011/06/29/austrian-priests-call-for-disobedience-the-bishop-disagrees/

1) In every liturgy they will include a petition for church reform.

2) They will not deny Communion to faithful of good will, especially remarried people, members of other Christian churches, and in some cases those who have officially left the Catholic Church.

3) As much as possible they will avoid celebrating multiple times on Sundays and feastdays, and avoid scheduling circuit rider priests unknown to the community. A locally-planned Liturgy of the Word is preferable.

4) They will use the term “Priestless Eucharistic Celebration” for a Liturgy of the Word with distribution of Communion. This is how the Sunday Mass obligation is fulfilled when priests are in short supply.

5) They will ignore the prohibition of preaching by competently trained laity, including female religion teachers. In difficult times, the Word of God must be proclaimed.

6) They will advocate that every parish has a presiding leader – man or woman, married or unmarried, full-time or part time. Rather than consolidating parishes, they call for a new image of the priest.

7) They will take every opportunity to speak up publicly for the admission of women and married people to the priesthood. These would be welcome colleagues in ministry.; 2/03/2012 1:07 PM