A majority of Austrian Catholics polled for a new survey on the
so-called ‘Priests' Initiative’ support its “call for insubordination”,
agreeing that it is a “fair and adequate” appeal.
The pfarrer-initiative was launched in June to highlight demands
among Austria’s Church membership for reform on celibacy,
intercommunion, women priests and other aspects of the liturgy.
The
results of the survey, which was carried out between July 20 and August
28 among 1,265 Austrians by the Oekonsult Institute, show that 71.7 per
cent of those polled support the initiative, taken by roughly 400 of the
Austrian Church’s priests.
They also support its appeal for reform of the Church’s guidelines on
celibacy, marriage and other areas relating to Church authority.
The poll findings were published this week and also show that 64.7
per cent are willing to sign the “call for insubordination.”
According
to 73.8 per cent of those polled, the momentum behind the initiative may
bring pressure to bear on the Vatican for change.
The initiative, which has so far been signed by over 200 priests,
claims to have the backing of nearly ten per cent of Austria’s 4,200
clergy and is being spearheaded by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn’s former
vicar general in Vienna, Mgr Helmut Schüller.
Mgr Schüller held this
position under Cardinal Schönborn between 1995 to 1999 and he also
formerly led the Austrian branch of the Catholic charity, Caritas.
Members of the Austrian group have threatened to break the Church’s
guidelines on intercommunion and its strictures on communion for
remarried divorced Catholics as well as the rules governing the role of
lay people preaching and heading up parishes without a priest.
Their
stance threatens to bring them into direct conflict with Cardinal
Schönborn, who has indicated that should they proceed on this course of
revolt they will be disciplined.
In an interview with the Austrian newspaper, Der Standard, the
prelate warned, “This cannot go on. If someone has decided to go down
the path of dissent, that has consequences.”
The pfarrer-initiative has been in contact with the Association of
Catholic Priests in Ireland.
A spokesman for the ACP confirmed to ciNews that contact has taken place between the two organisations.
“It would appear that the Cardinal [Schönborn] is putting a lot of
pressure on them now to row back or pay the consequences,” Fr Tony
Flannery said.
“It is very important now that they try to stay together. That was
one of the reasons I was in communication with them in recent times, to
emphasise the need for unity in their stance towards the Cardinal”, the
ACP co-founder said.
“If they stand together – and there are 400 of them – what can he
do? He can hardly sack all 400 of them. So it is all a question of
whether they have the strength at this stage to all hang together. But
if they become divided and disunited they will be easily dealt with. I
am just hoping that they will hang together on this one,” the
Redemptorist priest added.
Asked about the ACP’s stance on the pfarrer-initiative’s appeal to disobedience, Fr Flannery told ciNews,
“I wouldn’t want to criticise them because I think they need all the
support they can get but we certainly wouldn’t approach things in the
way that they have because it is too conflictual.”
He added, “In tactics we might differ from the group in Austria but
they are basically taking a similar stance to ourselves – and in that we
would support them.”
Speaking about the context in which this movement has so recently
emerged, Fr Flannery said, “Austria is interesting because Austria was
the country where the ‘We Are Church’ movement began. So there has been
that independence of thinking in Austria for a long time.”
Asked about the emergence of the Association of US Catholic Priests,
the ACP spokesman added that he was, “delighted to see it. The more
these types of movements that develop among priests around the world –
obviously the happier we will be.”
He said the aims and objectives of the US group were very similar to
those of the ACP and that founders of that movement have been in
communication with the ACP “for months.”