| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Today
Polls
RSS Feed General News22. 02. 12. - 18:00
Strong support for Schüller
A vast majority of Austrians approve a controversial group of Catholic priests’ demands.
Pollster Oekonsult said yesterday (Tues) 87 per cent of residents of the country welcome Helmut Schüller’s plan to go international with his Preachers’ Initiative. Schüller, who once headed Caritas Austria, established the initiative around half a year ago. The group says the Roman Catholic Church should allow preachers to ignore celibacy. The preachers also support liberal Catholics' appeal for women to hold sermons.
Oekonsult also found that 86 per cent of Austrians know the group organised by Schüller. The Probstdorf parish priest claims that 400 Austrian Catholic preachers joined his initiative in past months. He recently appealed to the Conference of Austrian Bishops to stop ordering more parishes to merge.
Diocese decision-makers argued that such reforms were needed due to a decreasing number of priests. Most of the country’s dioceses struggle finding sufficient numbers of young men interested in becoming preachers to take over from deceased or retired priests. Around 87 per cent of Austrians think that the Church must not force more parishes to merge, according to Oekonsult’s latest public opinion investigation.
Liberal and modestly conservative leaders of the Austrian Church – who were recently summoned to the Vatican to discuss the various problems in their home country’s dioceses – do not deny that the denomination must evolve and start a reform procedure. At the same time, Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn pointed out that he disliked the decision of the Preachers’ Initiative to describe their attitude as disobedient. Schönborn, the Austrian Church’s highest representative, also said that no changes would be made to celibacy rules.
Schüller recently said that this year would be his group’s year of internationalisation. He claimed that leaders of the Church "are finally taking us seriously" and explained that the Preachers’ Initiative "receives a lot of approval from Catholic reform movements all over the world." Schüller criticised the Vatican for bearing resemblance to an "absolutist monarchy" in its approach to the decisive subjects of the 21st century.
Austria’s Catholic Church is fighting on several battlegrounds these days. It had to cope with a record number of membership cancellations in 2010 when 58,603 people left. The number declined by 32 per cent in 2011 but experts rule out that a substantial turnaround can be achieved in the long run due to the waning importance of the denomination and other religious groups. While some critics said the Church must stop charging its members, conservative politicians appreciate the idea of introducing fees for every citizen regardless of their beliefs. They argue that everyone benefits from the Church’s achievements from organising events to renovating monasteries and chapels across the country – which are often touristic attractions.
Theologians refuse to rule out that the current wrangles and the increasing popularity of the Preachers’ Initiative could lead to a splitting of the Austrian Catholic Church. Schönborn is interested in carefully opening the denomination to critical, young residents of industrialised areas who planned to turn their backs on it while Andreas Laun represents the Church’s ultra-conservative circles. Laun, the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Salzburg, gives interviews on internet platform Gloria TV on a regular basis. The under-fire online broadcaster with offices in Vienna has engaged in an aggressive campaign against a gynaecological clinic in the city which offers abortion services to women. Gloria TV has managed so far to fend off its critics’ legal actions by being registered in Moldova.
Austrian Times
Related articles: EU
-
» Business 2012-05-24
Telekom Austria (TA) investor Ronny Pecik has declared himself a team player.
-
IV demands focus on industry in crisis
» Business 2012-05-24
The general secretary of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) has appealed on Europe’s political leaders to strengthen the continent’s industry.
-
» Business 2012-05-24
Austria’s biggest airport has managed to increase its profit.
more related articles tagged "EU"
Related articles: Catholic church
-
» General News 2012-05-24
Another top-tier representative of the Austrian Church has warned the Preachers’ Initiative from consequences.
-
Rebel priest deplores Church's 'leadership crisis'
» General News 2012-05-22
A Catholic preacher who established a group of "disobedient" priests reacted coolly to Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn’s warnings.
-
Schönborn warns disobedient priests
» General News 2012-05-18
Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn is upping the pressure on Helmut Schüller’s Preachers’ Initiative.
Tag cloud:
priests Church parish Austria conservative denomination Initiative ouml reforms Catholic nborn ndash Gloria Oekonsult merge rsquo Preachers uuml ller criticised
Turks flattened by lone asylum seeker
A furious Nigerian went on the rampage at a refuge for asylum seekers in Leibnitz, attacking several people and damaging property.
Woman bites toddler
A woman who bit a two-year-old tot during a road rage row with her mother is being quizzed by police in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
New Dany Boon comedy to be filmed in Austria
The French film star Dany Boon, one of the highest paid actors in Europe after his hit film "Welcome to the Sticks", is filming in Salzburg.
China meets Hallstatt
After a long time of speculation and anticipation the exact copy of Austrian world heritage village of Hallstatt-Dachstein in China will be unveiled, and there will be real-life Austrians present for the ceremony.
Skier in court after accident
A man from Graz is in court today accused of having inflicted negligent injury upon a five-year-old when skiing in Carinthia last year.
Two fires in Ottakring claim one life
Two fires started on Thursday evening in the Vienna district of Ottakring, one of which claimed a man’s life. Several people were evacuated as a result of the two blazes.
Cows zapped to death by lightning
Four cows were zapped to death after a lightning strike hit the barbed wire fence they were leaning on in Reith im Alpbachtal, Austria.
Wolf babies born in Schönbrunn
These cuddly Artic wolf cubs have got every right to look a bit frosty - after they emerged into the world for the first time in the middle of a 27 degree heatwave.
Cleaned Out
A Hungarian cleaning woman who stole tens of thousands of pounds worth of antique jewellery from an Austrian Countess and then sold it for "pocket money" unaware of its real value has been jailed by a court in Austria.
Great expectations for summer tourism season in Vorarlberg
The Vorarlberg tourism industry is currently riding high after a record breaking winter season, and the summer season is expected to follow that same trend.
The most popular stories –
last 7 days
|
Dune And Busted |
|
Swastika Shaped Austrian School Rebuilt |
|
Nazi still honoured in Austria |
|
20th Vienna Life Ball a fiery success! |
|
Thieves caught trying to nick F**king Sign |
Robert Beutz wrote on 29. 04. 2012 from Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. about "Strong support for Schüll..."
"[T]he church must stop charging its members,...." What!? In America I might go to mass life long without parting with so much as a dime. I myself resolve what, if any, to give.
Reply
Max wrote on 08. 03. 2012 from Vienna about "Strong support for Schüll..."
I believe the numbers are wrong here. I am fairly certain that 58,603 is the number who left in 2011, and in 2010 the number was around 87,000. That is where the figure "down 32%" comes from, but it is important to remember that the shape increase in 2010 was from the abuse scandal. So while the number was down in that one year of 2011, the overall number of people leaving the Church as been increasing for the last 12 years.
Reply