Austrian Bishops Continue to Challenge Celibacy

The solution to the so-called vocations crisis is to adhere to liturgical, disciplinary norms, not crafting them to accommodate wordly concerns. Contrary to Bishop Iby's beliefs, other denominations do not enjoy any appreciable advantages for having married clergy.

For example, there's no vocations crisis in Bishop Bruskewitz's Nebraska. It is most certainly related to the fact that the Bishop is fairly traditional in his theology and emphasis on devotions to the Blessed Mother and as a result, refuses to allow altar girls.

[DICI]Assembled for a three-day congress around Ascension Thursday, the Austrian bishops opined that the Vatican should allow a debate on priestly celibacy. As cited by the French Press Agency (AFP), the Ordinary of Carinthia in the southern part of the country, Bishop Alois Schwarz, declared that “As bishops we hear talk about it and we are telling Rome that we have this problem.” He also underscored that this debate should not be ignored but rather “amplified” in the Catholic Church throughout the world.

Without explicitly mentioning the pedophilia scandals that are spattering the Church, the Austrian bishops called during their meeting for “major reforms” within the Church, in particular emphasizing the need to speak about the role of women. Several days earlier, in an interview with the daily Die Presse, the Ordinary of Eisenstadt, Bishop Paul Iby had said that he was in favor of abolishing priestly celibacy “so as to deal with the lack of vocations”. (Sources : AFP – DICI no. 216 dated June 5, 2010)

Link to DICI...