Austrian cardinal continues dialogue with protesting priests

And he’s trying to downplay the controversy surrounding the situation, according to CNS:

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna is not playing “a game of chicken” with priests calling for reforms in church practice, but is interested in getting the priests to work with him to bring new life to Viennese parishes, his spokesman said.

“The situation is not as dramatic as the Austrian media make it seem,” said Michael Pruller, archdiocesan spokesman.

“There has been no discussion of sanctions, no ultimatum, no talk of punishment,” the spokesman told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview Sept. 6.

The leaders of the “Initiative of Parish Priests” launched a “Call to Disobedience” in late June, urging priests to join them in saying a public prayer at every Mass for church reform; giving Communion to everyone who approaches the altar in good faith, including divorced Catholics who have remarried without an annulment; allowing women to preach at Mass; and supporting the ordination of women and married men.

Cardinal Schonborn met Aug. 10 with the four Vienna archdiocesan priests who are on the presiding council of the initiative, and he plans to meet with them again in a few weeks, but no date has been set, Pruller said.

“We don’t send spies to all the parishes to make sure all the rules are kept,” he said, but he added that, if a priest is violating church law, the situation will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

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