BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

As the Year of the Priest opens,
Cardinal Schoenborn presents the Pope
with Austrian laity petition
to abolish obligatory celibacy for priests




VATICAN CITY, June 17 (Translated from ASCA) - On the eve of the opening of the Year of the Priest decreed by Pope Benedict XVI, the question of obligatory celibacy for Roman Catholic priests has surfaced in a strange way.

It was raised during the meeting called by Pope Benedict XVI with five Austrian bishops and leading members of the Roman Curia concerned with ongoing (and worsening) problems of doctrine and discipline in the Austrian Church.

Cardinal Christopher Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna and president of the Austrian bishops conference, said that on the occasion, he presented the Pope with the so-called Laieninitiativ(lay initiative), an appeal launched by 'important' Austrian Catholics earlier this year calling for the abolition of obligatory celibacy for the clergy, the return to priestly of married priests, opening the diaconate to women, and ordination of so-called 'viri probati'.

Schoenborn says he met with the promoters of the initiative a few days before coming to Rome this week.

He said in an interview with the German service of Vatican Radio that "even if I do not share their conclusions, as I have said several times", he forwarded the "Memorandum" to Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation For the Clergy, with his own handwritten note "asking him to read it with great attention". [How odd! Does he think Cardinal Hummes would read it distractedly?]

"I think it is important," he explained, "that someone in Rome knows what part of our lay faithful think of the problems of the Church."

According to an item from the Austrian bishops' news agency KAP, Schoenborn promised the promoters of the initiative that he would present their case in Rome, along with accounts of the consequences reportedly arising from the lack of priests in 46 parishes of Austria, most of them in rural areas.

In his meeting with the laymen, the Archbishop of Vienna reportedly expressed his 'understanding of their concerns' since "he, too, is concerned about pastoral care in the parishes... especially in these times of crisis for the family".

He added: "Without a doubt, the lack of priests has something to do with the increase in the number of persons who remain distant from the Church and the faith".

[Excuse me! If the parishes that lack priests are in the rural areas, the majority of non-observant and dissident Catholics are urban residents, who cannot use lack of priests as a reason for their 'estrangement' from the faith.

I think it is very disingenuous for these lay promoters and of Cardinal Schoenborn to trace the blame for the lack of priests in Austria to priestly celibacy. If that were a reason, Protestant and Orthodox churches that allow marriage for priests would be overflowing with applicants for the priestly ministry, which is not the case at all!]

Of course, the cardinal reiterated the 'great tradition' of priestly celibacy in the Church. But, he added, "As the bishop for Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Austria, whose clergy are for the most part married, I am absolutely comfortable with married priests."

He said that the promoters of the initiative should "seek not only that which can appear desirable in the present situation and for the long term, but also what is concretely possible".

He called on them to supplement their appeal by 'encouraging' young men to continue responding to vocation exactly as it is today.

The promoters of the initiative include three politicians said to be prominent in the Austrian Popular Party (considered the Christian conservative party), an ex-president of the Austrian parliament, and an ex-Vice-Chancellor of Austria.

[The fact that the leading names cited are all politicians or ex-politicians is not exactly the best endorsement for their initiative, even if they obviously represent what many 'liberal' Austrian Catholics think, as reflected in what goes on among their clergy today.

Also, what makes anyone think that allowing married priests will necessarily bring back the non-observant laymen into the Church? Dissident Catholics are not estranged from the Church because priests are obliged to be celibate - it's because they simply refuse to follow the discipline of the faith.

Not by chance, many of the issues raised in the petition were confronted during the Monday-Tuesday meetings at the Vatican with the Austrian bishops.

Schoenborn said that both at the beginning and the end of these meetings. Benedict XVUI reiterated forcefully the importance of priestly celibacy, and linked it to the Year of the Priest which starts Friday.

"The Holy Father," he noted, "said something that impressed us all about priestly celibacy which in Austria, especially in the diocese of Linz, is a very hot topic. He told us that the basic question is whether it is possible and whether it makes sense to lead a live that is based only on one thing, God."

[I wish Schoenborn had said more on what the Pope told them - because that has been the single thread running through all Benedict XVI's various homilies, addresses and writings about the priesthood: that the priest should be, before anything else, a man whose first duty is to God, to be holy, to set an example of holiness, so that he can best carry out his duties to the People of God entrusted to him.]

Schoenborn said that during the meetings, enough time was dedicated to the role of laymen in the Church. He said that the case of Linz diocese - shaken, he said, like the rest of the Austrian Church by 'divisions' and 'profound tensions' - has been a positive example for a great many active lay faithful who have been led to reflect on participation in Sunday Mass at a rate superior to the rest of the country." [????]

"There was agreement among ourselves and the Roman Curia heads that it is good for many laymen to be so active in the diocese... since we have a compelling need for active lay participation in society," he said.

After the Wagner case, some priests in the diocese came out openly to say they have been living in concubinage for years.