The leader of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative (Pfarrer Initiative) has said he would like to see a congress take place over the next two years or so to bring together groups from all over the world with a similar reform agenda.Speaking in Dublin, where he was being filmed for a documentary to be aired later this autumn by ORF, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Mgr Helmut Schüller told ciNews a congress would enable the growing cohort of reform groups to discuss common issues as well as strengthening those groups and members who feel more marginalised.
The PI now has 500 priest members in Austria and, like the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland, it is currently in discussions about establishing a lay arm to the organisation, which would have similar objectives to the priest association.
“Having two groups would be like a symphony orchestra or stereophonic sound; it would make this voice for reform stronger,” he explained.
He added that the PI will, “use the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council to remember this first step into the modern society was has been stalled in the meantime but must be continued.”
During his time in Dublin last week, the founder of the PI met with members of the ACP and told ciNews, “We have very interesting relations with our Irish colleagues and in the US as well as in Germany and France.”
He explained that in recent days a group of Italian priests had also been in contact with him about setting up a group there.
“Each group has to work within its own culture because the histories and the church situations are different in Ireland to Austria. But I think the greater part of our sorrows, desires and questions are common to all and therefore I think that we can support one another,” the former vicar general of the Archdiocese of Vienna explained.
“We want to support one another. If we can build up this network it would provide more protection for the individual organisations. These networks will be very important for our continuation,” he told ciNews.
Mgr Helmut Schüller warned that reform and substantive structural change are, “essential for the future of the Church,” in Europe and the wider world.
The Priests’ Initiative wants the Vatican to revive a project initiated by Pope Paul VI following Vatican II, which sought to establish a common fundamental code or church constitution similar to the US Bill of Rights for church members.
The Lex Ecclesiae Fundamentalis project began in 1965 but was shelved by John Paul II in 1981.
“We are talking about providing basic rights for the people of God and a structure of participation in decision-making and feedback between the top, centre and base of the church. We also want to establish a system of control for those who hold power and authority in the church,” the sixty-year-old said.
The PI was founded in 2006 and made international headlines in June 2011 when it issued its, ‘Appeal to Disobedience’ over its reform agenda, which includes making clerical celibacy optional, allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion, and advocates a softer line on homosexual partnerships.
The former director of Caritas Austria denied that the PI reform agenda was overly focused on sexual issues. He explained that the group is engaged with the question of celibacy because of the lack of priests and concern over the future implications of this.
“The number one issue for the church in Austria is the future of parish communities. They need a new model of leadership,” he said.
The second central issue for the group is the church’s structures that, “must respect the rights of its members,” and the operation of the institutional church’s offices of authority.
On the position of women, he suggested there is, “a contradiction in respect of the church’s message that men and women are equal before God but not in church.”
Calling on the Austrian hierarchy to engage in dialogue with the PI, he said he would like the Vatican to afford the group a chance to respond to the questions Pope Benedict raised in his homily at this year’s chrism Mass in St Peter’s, in which he indirectly criticised the group and suggested that renewal will emerge through obedience and a focus on Jesus.
“He asked questions such as can disobedience be a way of reforming the church; is it the right thing? We want to answer these questions,” Mgr Schüller explained.
The PI leadership wrote to the Pontiff in May this year requesting an opportunity to meet and discuss these issues but so far there has been no response from Rome.
“We are waiting,” he stated.
The group is angered by the amount of time and effort the Vatican has dedicated to accommodating the demands of the schismatic SSPX whom Schüller describes as representing a, “tiny minority.”
“It is ridiculous. We are conveying the views and desires of the vast majority of Catholics, but the way Rome is acting you would think the SSPX speak for the majority. It is an inversion of reality.”