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Austrias Catholic revolution
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Recent turmoil in Austrias Catholic church has made that
nation a focal point for global reform efforts. This week a national assembly
of Austrian Catholics, called the Dialogue for Austria, met to
debate the direction of their church. NCRs John L. Allen Jr. was
in Salzburg to cover the event. The following story provides background on the
Austrian situation; future articles will present the results of the Dialogue
for Austria.
From before the Reformation all the
way into the 20th century, Austria under the Hapsburg emperors was the bulwark
of Catholic identity in Europe. Had Karol Wojtyla -- now the pope -- been born
in Wadowice, Poland, just two years earlier than 1920, he would have started
life as a Hapsburg citizen himself.
It must be especially agonizing, therefore, for the pope to watch
whats happening in Austria today. Austria in the late 1990s is home to a
Catholic revolution -- a revolution directed not against external enemies of
the faith, but against the papal absolutism John Paul embodies.
Reformers in this central European nation of 8 million, where 77
percent of the population is Catholic, enjoy remarkable political muscle.
Despite advocacy of such officially taboo positions as womens ordination,
the reformers won a showdown with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vaticans
top doctrinal official, over their right to participate in formal church
conversations.
This week, the progressives were poised for what may be their
greatest breakthrough to date. During three days in Salzburg Oct. 23-26, an
unusual national assembly of Catholics was set to debate -- and will likely
vote in favor of -- optional celibacy for clergy, a local role in selecting
bishops, more democratic governance, expanded roles for laity, a less
condemnatory approach to sexual ethics and the possibility of ordaining women.
The event is officially sponsored by the Austrian bishops conference.
While the votes in this Dialogue for Austria carry no
canonical weight, many observers see it as a potential watershed event that
could energize progressive Catholics around the world.
It will give the whole structure of reform an important
push, said Elfriede Harth, a coordinator for the international We Are
Church movement in France.
Even if it is not possible to change things legally, the
bishops coming out of this session will understand that pragmatically there
have to be changes. All over the world this will encourage bishops to try to
run their dioceses on their own without caring so much about what is said in
Rome, because they know where the people are, Harth said.
The bishops are indeed likely to get an earful in Salzburg. Polls
show a strong majority of Austrian Catholics have been left angry and
rebellious in the wake of a sex scandal involving the former cardinal of
Vienna. Other points of contention include the appointments of a number of
unpopular bishops and general frustration over Vatican inflexibility.
Last June when John Paul visited Austria and largely ducked the
controversy, a dissident priest put it this way: The pope is visiting a
burning house, but instead of talking about the fire, he speaks about the
lovely flowers in front.
The assembly is the culmination of a yearlong process of dialogue,
billed as an attempt at healing. Observers say that the Austrian bishops -- a
mix of two liberal holdovers from earlier popes, a core of moderates and a
handful of archconservatives appointed by John Paul -- actually proposed the
process in the hope that it might blunt demands for reform. Early working
papers made no mention of internal church issues, focusing instead on matters
like poverty and international relations.
Reform on the agenda
Widespread public pressure, however, forced the bishops to allow
the meeting to tackle reform issues head-on. Also under public pressure, the
bishops agreed to present the results of the Dialogue for Austria to the
Vatican. International reform groups have vowed to present the results to the
second European synod in 1999.
Sources told NCR that the list of delegates for the Salzburg event
seems to be representative of the church at large and that reform positions are
likely to carry the day on most issues.
In perhaps the most stunning development, the debate will take
place with Ratzingers grudging blessing. At first, Ratzinger advised the
bishops conference in two June 1997 letters to freeze We Are Church out
of the process. Ratzingers words, when published in the Austrian press,
sparked a firestorm.
Scores of Catholics including Catholic Action, a widely respected
lay organization, threatened to withdraw from the meeting if We Are Church was
shut out. That would have led to a boycott of the event by a substantial block
of delegates, signaling that We Are Church has a broad base of support even
beyond its actual membership.
Ratzinger relented. After what many speculate was an intervention
from Schönborn, a former student and friend of Ratzinger, the doctrinal
chief said in a March 7 letter that he had no objection to the carefully
circumscribed participation of members of the We Are Church group in the
dialogue, provided it was clear this did not constitute official
recognition.
Fr. Hans Küng, the well-known progressive Swiss theologian,
called Ratzingers reversal a victory for the We Are Church
movement, which demonstrates that even the Vatican must now take We Are Church
into account after having previously rejected any sort of dialogue.
In a March 24 letter, Küng also warned, however, that the
decision was probably intended to relieve pressure rather than to invite
genuine dialogue. I am putting this so bluntly only because good and
faithful Catholics are forever falling into the trap of basically quite
primitive Roman maneuverings, Küng wrote.
Catholic discontent in Austria is deep and wide, a point that
became clear in 1995 when a petition demanding reform garnered more than half a
million signatures. Thats almost half of the countrys estimated 1.2
million regular Mass-goers.
If reform positions do command a majority in Salzburg, the news
should come as no surprise to the Holy See. Only 50,000 people showed up in
June to see the Vienna grand finale of the popes visit to Austria (in
1983, more than 130,000 saw the pope in the same spot), and many were from
neighboring countries. John Paul begged those Austrians who did come,
Dont leave the church.
Before the papal visit, the cardinal of Vienna asked We Are Church
to send representatives to sit in the V.I.P. section at the concluding Mass. In
a telling indication of the current political situation, We Are Church
declined, citing the pontiffs resistance to change.
A cardinal accused
The Austrian turmoil developed over several decades. But the flash
point was the 1995 accusations of sexual misconduct against Hans Hermann
Groër, the cardinal of Vienna. Groër at first declined to comment,
then became more evasive as evidence mounted.
As the Groër crisis deepened, many Austrians concluded that
the church was involved in a cover-up. That perception was cemented by the
publication of a book showing the Vatican had known about the accusations
against Groër for years and done nothing. A poll conducted by an
independent research institute at the time showed that 80 percent of Austrians
were dissatisfied with the way the church had handled the affair, and 74
percent believed John Pauls visit to Austria was intended to cover up
Groërs misconduct.
The Groër affair legitimized, for many Austrians, a broader
sense that the church needed to change. The poll also showed that 80 percent of
Austrians supported getting rid of clerical celibacy, more than 60 percent
wanted to ordain women and about the same number wanted to pick their own
bishops.
Pressure for reform flared anew in November 1997 when Pope John
Paul issued an instruction on lay ministry that, among other things, forbid
laity to preach or perform many liturgical functions. Many observers suggested
that John Paul had a special eye on Austria, where professional pastoral
administrators have taken over many of the functions of priests. Protest in the
country was immediate and widespread.
The stark divisions in the Austrian church can be glimpsed simply
by looking at public divisions among its bishops. Late last year Bishop
Reinhold Stecher of Innsbruck issued a letter criticizing the papal document on
lay ministry, arguing that church leaders are out of touch with pastoral
realities (NCR, Dec. 26, 1997). Rome has lost the image of mercy
and assumed the image of harsh authority, wrote Stecher, who has since
retired. Conservative Bishop Kurt Krenn of Sankt Pölten roundly criticized
Stecher.
The divisions cropped up again in recent weeks. Cardinal Christoph
Schönborn of Vienna has just published a book in which he reasserts the
churchs traditional positions on celibacy, womens ordination and
democratization (though he welcomes dialogue). His auxiliary, Helmut Kraetzl,
also has published a book reaching exactly the opposite conclusions. Kraetzl
argues that the Holy Spirit is active in all the faithful and, therefore, the
laity should have a coequal role in church life.
These are the currents that are likely to swirl this week in
Salzburg. Thomas Luger, a member of the We Are Church executive committee, told
NCR via E-mail that his group hopes the Dialogue for Austria will become
institutionalized, meeting every two years -- like a parliament of the
Catholic church.
For John Paul, all this is clearly not his idea of a revived
Catholic center in Europe. But for the European Catholics, the Dialogue for
Austria may usher in a different kind of revival, en route to a different kind
of Catholic church.
National Catholic Reporter, October 30,
1998
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