WASHINGTON
Seattle Times
By Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporter
An Austrian priest who gained global attention two years ago with his call to disobedience for Roman Catholics everywhere is bringing his message of church reform to Seattle.
Father Helmut Schüller is on a 15-city tour across the U.S., where he’s been advocating for female and married priests, more tolerance for gays and wider participation by laypeople in leadership — positions at odds with church policy.
Stripped last year by the Vatican of his title of monsignor because of his activism, Schüller has been banned on this tour from speaking at some Catholic churches.
His Catholic Tipping Point tour, sponsored by several liberal reform groups in the U.S., coincided with Pope Francis’ recent visit to Brazil, where the Argentine urged young Catholics to “shake up the church … ”
It also comes in advance of the first meeting this October of a group of cardinals charged by the pope with examining ways to revise the Vatican constitution.
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