Holy Spirits

Austrian Independent
April 2, 2012

http://austrianindependent.com/news/General_News/2012-04-02/10763/Holy_spirits_


Austrian priest Franz Lauterbacher is hailing success for a project to win back the faithful to the country's scandal ridden Catholic Church by inviting people who have left the church to discuss their lack of faith - in a brewery run by monks.

The Augustiner Bräu brewery was founded in 1621 in Salzburg and is still owned by and run by the monks.

Austria's Catholic Church has seen record numbers of people leaving if after a series of sex abuse scandals and growing pressure from reformists who want to see women priests and who want to allow priests to marry.

Father Lauterbacher said that at his first meeting in the brewery nine people decided to return to the church and that numbers had been consistently high at the regular meetings since then.

He said: "I am really happy because everybody that returns to the church should be celebrated. The meetings are particularly effective because people decide their and then on a comeback – whereas normally it would take me 2 to 3 months of counselling at their homes to persuade an individual to return to the church once they had already registered that they wish to leave."