Austrian Cardinal Cracks Down on Rebel Priests

Reuters ^ | 6/27/12 | Michael Shields

[marshmallow]

(Reuters) - Austria's Roman Catholic Church has laid down the law to its rebel priests by telling them they could not support a reform manifesto criticized by Pope Benedict and stay in an administrative post.

One priest told Reuters he had already stepped down from the post of deacon rather than renounce the "Call to Disobedience" manifesto that challenges Church teaching on taboo topics such as women's ordination and offering communion to non-Catholics.

Another priest had withdrawn his support for the reform campaign and kept his job, a Church spokesman said on Wednesday.

He added that two or three more have yet to decide whether to withdraw their support from the manifesto from a reform group called "Priests' Initiative" whose demands have been echoed by some Catholic groups and clerics in Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the United States.

"You can easily remain a member of the Priests' Initiative. You must only distance yourself from the 'Call to Disobedience' in an appropriate way," Church spokesman Nikolaus Haselsteiner said.

"In an average company, a department head can't say he doesn't care what the CEO says," he added.

The Vienna archdiocese said on Tuesday its head, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, had told priests last month he would not appoint manifesto supporters to the post of dean and those coming up for renewal in the post would have to choose.

Schoenborn, a close ally of Benedict, has met the rebel priests, including their leader Rev Helmut Schueller. But Tuesday's announcement was the first sign he had taken steps to rein them in.

Schueller says his group represents 10 percent of the Austrian clergy. The group has won broad public backing in opinion polls for its pledge to break Church rules by giving communion to Protestants and divorced Catholics who remarry.

[ravenwolf]

Seems to me if Catholics are a part of Christs Church then it should be easy to solve the problem, just go to the Bible.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Seems to me you'd understand that there are a lot of wolves; many masquerading as ordained Bishops, Priests, Deacons and consecrated religious, among the sheep trying in vain to stab the Bride of Christ in the heart with a dagger. These aren't the first who have tried and failed in nearly two millenia and they won't be the last.

"Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves." Matthew 10:16

[ravenwolf]

Seems to me you’d understand that there are a lot of wolves; many masquerading as ordained Bishops, Priests, Deacons and consecrated religious, among the sheep trying in vain to stab the Bride of Christ in the heart with a dagger. These aren’t the first who have tried and failed in nearly two millenia and they won’t be the last.

“Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.” Matthew 10:16

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Yes Sir i do understand that real well,but since i have written more than one comment on this thread, would you mind refreshing my memory of just what it is you are referring to.

[A.A. Cunningham]

but since i have written more than one comment on this thread,

You had only written one comment on this thread prior to my response to you. Now you think that you had written more than one. Apparently you're confused and on the wrong thread.

would you mind refreshing my memory

Perhaps you need to have a long chat with your personal physician before Soetoro's death panels track you down and before you do any more posting.

[ravenwolf]

You supposed that i should remember what comment i had written.

I supposed that you would be smart enough to refer to the words of my comment.

So i guess we were both wrong.

[Cronos]

Catholics are Christ's Church, with the Orthodox and the other Apostolic Churchs.

We're not Mormons or Jehowah's Witnesses or some such cult

The Cardinal is following the Bible to crack down on indiscipline.