AUSTRIA
Austrian Independent
Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn is upping the pressure on Helmut Schüller’s Preachers’ Initiative.
Schönborn, the highest representative of the Austrian Catholic Church, told Italian newspaper La Stampa yesterday (Thurs): “Now is the time to clarify the various issues. We might take disciplinary measures, but I hope that this is not necessary.”
The conservative Conference of Austrian Bishops has engaged in what is developing into an intensifying war of words with the movement established by Schüller last summer. The Austrian Preachers’ Initiative – which consists of around 400 priests – is calling on the Austrian Church and Catholic priests who have not yet joined them to be disobedient towards the Vatican.
Schüller, who heads the parish of Probstdorf in Lower Austria, calls on the Vatican to allow married men to become priests. He said such reforms were needed to avoid a further increase of membership cancellations. Schüller is also in favour to abolish the celibate. Such reforms could make becoming priest a considerable option to young men, he claimed.
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