Manfred Scheuer, Custodian of Decline, Is the New Bishop of Linz

Manfred Scheuer is New Bishop of Linz

Martha Weinzl

(Vienna) In the Austrian diocese of Linz there is an ambivalent mood that reflects the overall condition of the Catholic Church in Austria. Some are happy, others are depressed. On November 16th it was reported by state radio ORF, that Innsbruck Bishop Manfred Scheuer (60), will be the new diocesan bishop of Linz. The daily newspaper, Oberösterreichische Nachrichten reported today triumphantly: "Linz gets the Bishop it desires'".

Haste in Announcing

The Vatican did not immediately confirm the appointment rumors, but they were reported by the Catholic News Agency  and on the website of the Archdiocese of Vienna as a reliable fact. According Oberösterreichische Nachrichten the appointment is to take place "in the coming days" [It was actually 18 November] the appointment. Despite this reservation, there can be no doubt about it: Manfred Scheuer is next bishop of Linz. The Austrian government, which must agree to every episcopal designation under concordat, today issued  their consent for Scheuer.

Someone there was in any case in a hurry with the announcement of the change from Innsbruck to Linz. Within the Church secrecy applies  until the official appointment by the Pope. It's an indication of how happy are certain high Church circles over the appointment. An appointment that they have benevolently promoted. The Diocese of Linz is a prime example of the ecclesiastical decline. There is therefore a lot of interested eyes on a bishop's appointment.

Criteria for an Austrian Bishop Anno 2015

The criteria for a bishop candidate are laid down in church, but paper is patient. The actual criteria are in Austria something like this:

A bishop should be as  inconspicuous as possible and an unknown quantity, even more so, he should not offend anywhere, at least not in public opinion in  relevant  circles in politics, media and business, he should therefore be situated as much as possible in the middle of prevailing general climate in the country   and not be an open rebel, but especially not "hurt" anyone  by which is meant the divorced and remarried, those living in wild "marriages" or elites living in homosexual relationships in society and the church, including the female proportion of them who have had an abortion. In sum, this means that he should not develop too many initiatives, fit well into the post-Conciliar councils modes, in other words be a team player and recently also demonstrate  "synodality", and above all avoid being a committed  and determined preacher of the Catholic faith.

The most important thing for a bishop is that  he should keep Church exit numbers as low as possible so that the church-tax continues to flow.

So bottom line, he  should largely pass himself off as Mainstream  or provide sufficient guarantees to accommodate this. So he will report primarily to speak on subjects  in which he may make his agreement with the government and the public, at least in the published opinion. And, he will be silent on those parts of Catholic doctrine as much as possible that are not part of the mainstream.

It is in this frame that  the appointments have  moved so far for Austria under Pope Francis. The displacement of Scheuer from Innsbruck to Linz, including  Feldkirch, Salzburg, Graz-Seckau and the Military Ordinary is the fifth appointment of the Argentine Pope,  is a look at the message of the press agency of the Austrian Bishops' Conference KAP which reveals included  keywords:. "The man of the middle," "Counciliar"," ecumenical "," Caritas" (organization). A few days ago Scheuer presented his latest book, whose title is reminiscent of Pope Francis: "Against the Church's narcissism," whose subtitle is a "spiritual-political plea."

Diocese in "Progressive" Managed Decline

This raises the question, for whom is Msgr. Scheuer is  the "desired Bishop" and just who are the "many" are who  want him at the head of the Diocese of Linz?

The highest diocesan bodies have engaged in profiling for two years for the future bishop. Given that the diocesan apparatus is interwoven with the left green and liberal, one can imagine the requirements. Bishop Scheuer, a native of Upper Austria, was named instead of  the "ideal candidate". This has its reasons.

The subversive, largely non-Catholic milieu feared for its sinecures and conveniences. The zeal for "the cause" of "another church" did its work. For better understanding, Linz is hard fought ground between "Church reformers" and "conservatives," the latter are certainly at a disadvantage. They may toil in the lower floors, while others have made themselves comfortable on the upper floors.

Zauner's"Rhenish Alliance," & Aichern's "Priestess"

After decades of "liberal" bishops a change could hardly be reckoned. Yet in 1956, Bishop Franz Zauner was appointed by Pope Pius XII.   (since 1949 coadjutor), the Diocese  under John XXIII. expressed swung with flying colors into the camp of the "optimists," in historical terminology, into the camp of the "Rhenish Alliance". Linz was one of the dioceses of the German-speaking world, where the "spirit of the Council" raged especially virulently. With Alois Wagner,  Zauner received an even more liberal Auxiliary Bishop for the "implementation of the Council".

He was followed after 24 years by the jolly Benedictine Maximilian Aichern. He was a compromise candidate to prevent Alois Wagner as a candidate of the "liberals" and Kurt Krenn as a candidate of the "conservatives". This presented Aichern as the prototype of an "ideal" Austrian bishop. Neither "left", nor "right", but in the center and in case of doubt rather "left" in order to clarify it in an inappropriate reference to political categories. Aichern finally became so colorful that he was retired prematurely in the cause of the "female priesthood" of  Mayr-Lumetzberger. That was, however, again after 24 years.

For the "priestess" Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger,  Aichern may have perhaps felt some weakness because she came as a Benedictine nun from the same Order. Aichern could never really clear it up, that he had sponsored the "priestesses training" for Mayr-Lumetzberger from the diocesan funds. In any case, the ex-nun was not satisfied with the state of consecrated life, but felt called to something higher. She jumped out of the convent and married. But the marriage could not quench the voracity of her thirst. So she left in 2002 to be dubiously consecrated as an invalid "priestess". Shortly thereafter, she grabbed, considering the motto, going whole hog, yet no less  invalid a consecration to "Bishop".

Then came the bishop exchange. Aichern was in good Austrian,  elegantly made an emeritus. Although Benedictine, he no longer wanted to return to the monastery. This included a statement. On Mayr-Lumetzberger there was silence. She would simulate obscure ceremonies, sometimes in Catholic churches. Whether it is always with knowledge of the pastors or clandestinely, is to be seen.

Schönborn's "Most Conservative" Auxiliary,  Bishop of Linz

Vienna's Archbishop, Cardinal Schönborn, the strongman in Austria church, then sent his "most conservative" auxiliary bishop to Linz. That was in the year of 2005.

The ambassador was called Ludwig Maria Schwarz *) and came from the Salesian Order. In the faithful Church circles the sigh of relief was unmistakable. They had been systematically pushed out of the Church leadership. Yet the  full-time church apparatus, which was powerfully over bloated, worked assiduously to grow ever larger. The diocese now has more full-time diocesan apparatus employees than priests. The former feel patronized by the apparatus, cowed, annoyed and imposed upon, often in favor of further lay-Apparatchiks.

The situation in the parishes is the desolate part. The good priests form islands of faith and resistance. They have to deal with rebellious, especially amateurish,  and supposedly theologically  (un)formed individuals. These priests can expect no help from the Diocese.  They know that. The numerous submissions to numerous offices, desks, positions and agencies of the Ordinariate  often find themselves thrown unopened into the trash. That was the only form of "direct protection" and "mental hygiene".

On the other hand, the more "progressive" clerics get more  backing. One third of the Upper Austrian clergy signed the  "Call to Disobedience"  launched in 2006 by  the so-called Pfarrer-Initiative. This reinsurance  also involves the subject of the appointment of bishops.

Bishop Schwarz is considered a trustworthy, but irresolute man. [Really?] "Too good," is how he is generally acknowledged. An award for the bishop is not yet praise. His "goodness" has a downside. He came up the Danube with the mission to eliminate the proverbial "Linz situation". That's what he tried: he forbade the laity preaching and the baptisms by pastoral assistants. But the Appartschiks  cut him off quickly. The result was an inner emigration of the bishop. Sometimes you would hear nothing more from him for months in the public. After a period of such he was shown in 2013 in his own church newspaper while feeding the ducks. Was it a form of withdrawal from communication to the outside,  or an expression of utter resignation?

Remained an Onlooker

The reference to his "own" church newspaper is to be understood as a euphemism. There, the Appartschiks have the final say, anyway, not the bishop. The Linz Church Newspaper has always been renowned as a platform for a "church, faith and an attitude critical of Rome," says the Upper Austrian Catholic newsletter "The Truth" in 2009. The church newspaper had ten years previously wanted to offeer the price of its  with the Homosexuals Initiative Linz, that was only prevented by the protests of the people.

At least one personnel decision by Bishop Schwarz had positive results: in 2006 a CD on sexuality was sent to 15,000 Upper Austrian teenagers,  it was concerned with the advertising of contraceptives, abortion and homosexuality. The  Aichern appointed  "communications chief" of the diocese who was responsible for the action had to resign in 2009. He fell softly and now heads the Media Office of the Austrian religious communities. Its president,  Abbot Christian Haidinger, trumpeted that the Catholic moral teaching is "inhuman" and that he is in favor of  Communion for divorced and remarried, women priests and the lifting of the priestly celibacy. Things.are likely better among like-minded people.

Bishop Schwarz twice consecrated FSSP deacons to priests in his tenure, most recently this past July 4th. It reveals what achievements this bishop would have been able, had he would had a suitable staff and a suitable environment around. This is certainly not an excuse.

Bishop Schwarz leaves his office after ten years  as the head of the diocese and can claim to have remained an onlooker in a certain way.

The Case of Wagner

After the "liberal" desert in the country,  a decade would hardly have sufficed anyway   to give the diocese its orientation again. That was also seen in Rome under Pope Benedict XVI. Therefore, in 2009,  Bishop Schwarz should have been provided with the intellectually brilliant, theologically and pastorally experienced priest of Windischgarsten, the dogmatist Gerhard Maria Wagner as an auxiliary bishop.

What Benedict XVI.  had  estimated of Wagner, was that he was despised by "liberal" circles near him.  Wagner is known for his faithfulness. Feared especially is his intellect and his pugnacity. The parallels were to the St. Pölten Bishop,  Kurt Krenn, also from Upper Austria, were quickly drawn. His bishop's chair had been sawed beneath him in laborious work of 2004. The "progressive" and even the "moderate" trendsetting church circles of Austria therefore wanting nothing less than a second Krenn.

So the horn of the hunt was blown. In no time the appointed auxiliary bishop had become fair game. The Bishop of Linz in spe,Manfred Scheuer, hastened to distance hiself from his former classmate Wagner. To position oneself correctly at the right time, is part of the small multiplication table of the elites. Their art is to survive, - and to rise even higher if possible.

To make it short: Pooling efforts of anti-Church circles, "church critical" media, progressive hardliners and not least, the internal Church mainstream around Cardinal Schönborn, Wagner was prevented. Every day some new dirt was hurled at him. Which he would have withstood, but the plea finally came out of the Rome for "the sake of peace" to renounce the office. Wagner obeyed and stepped back, even before he had received episcopal ordination. How could the Bishop to be also be against the will of the Pope who had appointed him?

The Case of Wagner illustrates the influence of the Viennese Cardinal, who succeeded in altering Benedict XVI's decision. A persistent rumor goes that this was only managed by the "devil painted on the wall," that is, a schism was predicted, should Wagner become an auxiliary bishop.

Minimize Risks With Scheuer

A Bishop Wagner would have been hard for the Linz apparatchiks to  bear. But this assumed that Wagner would succeed Bishop Schwarz. A Bishop Wagner would set  alarm bells ringing in liberal circles.

Six years have passed since then. This past June 4th Bishop Schwarz finished his 75th birthday. But Pastor Wagner played no role in the appointment of the new Bishop.

The case explains in large part why Scheuer is considered in certain circles  a "preferred candidate". Each appointment entails unknowns and risks. The appointment of Scheuer minimizes these to a manageable size. As the reigning bishop, there is also a far better chance to get through the personnel decision in Rome, than a new "liberal" candidate.

The good forces in the Diocese of Linz, which make themselves known  in a whole series of initiatives, are forced to come to this decision reluctantly. The deficits are known that await a remedy but for which there is but no remedy in sight.  Finally, the following applies: The apparatus works primarily -  for the apparatus. With Bishop Scheuer,  the apparatus has a good chance, that everything remains as it is. And that is saying something in Linz.

The Negative Side of the Diocese

It is said that the essence and the mission of the diocese distorting apparatus retains its sinecures and continues to represent a Christianity Light.
It is said that cathedral minister Strasser may proceed with the destruction of the sanctuary.
It is said that the pastor of a Linzer parish can continue  in an apartment instead of the rectory with his wife and children.
It means  that as a whole, the priests with concubines (some of whom are male)  in the diocese, who are apparent  to such an extent as they were just after the Reformation. For the next 15 years they may be reassured that  their way of life will not change.
It is also stated that in some parishes on Sunday, as in Linz and Wels, instead of the pastor, a pastoral assistant with alb and pseudo stole, celebrating "worship", singing, preaching, pottering at the altar anything indefinable.
It is said that in the oldest church in Linz, "worship" is still celebrated every Sunday, but only on one Sunday is it a Holy Mass, while on the other Sundays  a "Liturgical Team" celebrates, where  the church visitors are actively prevented from fulfilling their Sunday obligation.
It is said that the church newspaper still ekes out a wallflower, located in politically correct tired platitudes.
It is said that with church funds  dodgy leftist clubs are sponsored and so that these anti-clerical circles in Catholic education worldwide can gather in the diocese.
It is said that faithful initiatives continue to receive no real support and a serious evangelization of the country is out of the question.
It is said that  everything that is "believed" in the official Catholic associations, no episcopal examination is subjected.  Also in Linz, as in most dioceses, it would rather not know the bishops
Listing is disillusioning, which is why it should be left off with.

The 14th Bishop of Linz

Manfred Scheuer is the 14th Bishop of Linz, a still relatively young diocese, which emerged only on a 1783/1785 imperial initiative. Until then, Upper Austria belonged ecclesiastically to the diocese of Passau.

Scheuer, born in 1955, taught dogmatic theology at the Catholic University of Linz. How much this is good, you can consider, when you know that Bishop Schwarz,  although he was rendered the luxury of a private university, never the less preferred to send his few seminarians to study in Innsbruck. He could have sent them also to Heiligenkreuz, but that would already have been too much of a good thing and in the Diocesan bodies without opposition unenforceable. But opposition was to Bishop Schwarz an abomination. As I said, a "good man".

His academic career led Scheuer then to Trier. He was also the postulator for the conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter. The attitude Jägerstätter is not without controversy. Scheuer in any event gathered  politically correct points with him.

He never appeared as an open rebel, but was, however, more inclined  for "liberal" concerns than for "conservative" ones. The "disobedient" cleric found in him a benevolent interlocutor. The demands of the "rebels", he never rejected, but explained only in perfect modern Church talk, some were "unworkable"  at the diocesan level.

In Scheuer's previous diocese Innsbruck Martha Heizer, the chairman of "We Are Church",  simulated Mass before peers at home. Scheuer took no action, however,  as it was his duty, but appointed a commission of inquiry in 2011. Only when the CDF imposed excommunication in spring 2014, Scheuer brought the Roman decree.

Scheuer's track in the sand

So what does not leave any traces after twelve years as bishop of North Tyrol? Striking it was only through his inaction in the case of Heizer; prompt distancing of Bishop Wagner; the hasty confession as a Kasperian who advocated for "more rights" for divorced and remarried; by the removal of a chaplain, who had dared to speak of hell and purgatory; as an extra in multireligious events of the governing state; of the "stimulated" to allow  lay preaching as "pastorallly necessary".

Scheuer has proved himself especially as an administrator of the creeping decline. It seems that more  can not be expected in the Austrian Schönborn-Church of a diocesan bishop.

And as such, Scheuer is the "desired Bishop" of like-minded in Linz. Impulses for spiritual renewal of the Church of Upper Austria beyond a watered-green-savvy Christianity are not to be expected from him. The tragedy continues.

Finally, but by no means least to be regretted, as the very "progressive" agenda, categories foreign to the Church, like "conservative," "liberal," "moderate" has prevailed, the Protestant Synodal thinking has been borrowed as a mimicry of parliamentary structures. It suggests a false equivalence and equality of different positions next to each other.  Whoever finds more followers and has occupied important positions, can just enforce it. The only distinction in the Church  should be between an orthodox and a heretical position. Under the influence of relativism on the other hand,   all  positions are tolerated indifferently as valid (almost). Moreover, what was rejected yesterday, can already be tolerated tomorrow. The   confusion and disorientation caused among priests and laity lies in front of everyone and calls out for help.

*)[Kreuz always called Schwarz an Old Liberal, and he was a scourge of Wagner and a very successful and pious Polish priest who upset a few non-participating members of his parish and the local media.] 

Text: Martha Weinzl
Image: Archdiocese of Vienna (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Bishop of Linz Offers Cathedral For Traditional Ordination on July 4th

(Linz), On July 4, 2015   a  deacon of the traditional  Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) will be ordained a priest  in the Cathedral of Linz. The event is noteworthy as the consecration year of Peter Society  has traditionally used a suitable dedicated church around Wigratzbad. Above all, however, it is because it's the first time  a priestly ordination has been held in the traditional rite in the cathedral church of the home diocese by the bishop. It's a  unique novelty in the German-speaking countries since the foundation of the Fraternity of St. Peter in the year 1988.

Deacon Philip Faschinger from Vorderweißenbach in Upper Austria, is to be ordained a priest.  The consecration in Linz will take place at the request of the diocesan bishop Ludwig Schwarz SDB Maria [!], who has just completed his 75th year since the diocese of Linz in 2015 does not have a priestly candidate. The bishop does not want to finish his tenure  without a vocation, as it is goes in the bishops' world.

The General Council of the Fraternity of St. Peter has finally agreed to the exception  in this year as one has been granted to a French candidate. The French-Canadian candidates of consecration of the vintage of 2015 are to be consecrated the first time in Canada.

Peter Society in Linz has the Same Amount of Seminarians as the Whole Diocese

The New Cathedral of Linz

The Diocese of Linz has in the last several years, no priestly ordinations for the diocese. The vocations in the diocese are at a low ebb. The situation is different at the Peter Society of Linz, which is said to have currently as many seminarians as the entire diocese of Linz.

Young men who feel called,  search, in the Diocese of Linz it's  either a community of tradition or the community of an old monastery. In the past academic year two diocesan seminarians left for monasteries. The diocese fills the thinned ranks of seminarians with some African candidates who prefer to stay in Europe.

The ordinations speak for themselves: In the Diocese of Linz, a candidate of the Fraternity of St. Peter  was consecrated in   the traditional rite and two order priests were consecrated in the new rite in 2015. On August 16, Bishop Schwarz ordained  the Cistercian monk Otto Rothammer in the Collegiate Church Wilhering, and on 13 September, the Norbertine Canon Matthew Stuphann in the Collegiate Church  of Schlägl.

Choose vocations tradition or ancient monasteries

On July 4 ordination, on July 5 Primiz

Originally, the ordination of deacon Faschinger was to take place on June 29, at the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, in a traditional consecration day in the diocese. By contrast, there was some resistance in the diocese and since priestly anniversaries are also traditionally celebrated on this day. Not all, it was said, found  the "old rite reasonable". As a compromise, the ordination  was elected for the 4th of July.

On June 29, a Vietnamese Cistercian is now but unexpectedly to be ordained in the Cathedral of Linz in the new rite. The monk Gregor Nguyen from the Abbey An Phuoc studied in Heiligenkreuz. His studies were made possible through his support of the Upper Austrian Cistercian Abbey of Schlierbach. After his ordination he will return to his abbey in Vietnam. The consecration in Linz was apparently organized on such short notice that even the Schlierbach Monastery is still not aware of it. The sudden "balance" of a consecration in the old and the new consecration rite must have given "some relief" to the diocesan hierarchy.

The ordination of Philipp Faschinger FSSP will start in Mariendom (New Cathedral) on Saturday, on the 4th of July at 10 O'clock. On Sunday, July 5, the new priests will celebrate his first Mass in the Church of the Fraternity of St. Peter in Linz. The solemn High Mass in the Minorite Church in  Linz (country church) starts at 8:30 clock.

Consecrated Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Linz

The Cathedral of Linz is a St. Mary's Church. It is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and is still called the "New Cathedral" by the residents of Linz even after its inauguration a   century ago. Its construction dates back to the Bishop of Linz, the Servant of God, Franz Joseph Rudigier (1811-1884). Bishop Rudigier is an outstanding figure among the diocesan bishops of the diocese established in 1785, and therefore according to ecclesiastical understanding, a fledgling diocese. The proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX. in 1854 encouraged Bishop Rudigier to advance the construction of a new diocesan church, which was dedicated to the Marian dogma. Until then  the former Jesuit church, popularly known today "Old Cathedral", served as cathedral.

The actual construction work on the neo-Gothic St. Mary's Cathedral began when the groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1862. In 1924 after a war-related interruption,  the consecration of the church too place, which was only completed in 1935.The twin-towered Linz Cathedral is on dimensions and capacity, the largest church in Austria. The Immaculata bell of more than eight tons is the second largest bell in Upper Austria.

In the Minorite Church the bridge for the rite of all time took place

The Minoritenkirche of Linz, which is where the first Mass will be held on July 5th, already dates from the early 13th century. This is the first branch of the Friars Minor in Upper Austria documented in 1235, but is likely to already have been formed immediately after the death of St. Francis of Assisi. The Franciscans played from then on a central role in the pastoral care of the city. In the wake of the Protestant "Reformation" vocations declined so much that the monastery had to be abandoned. The authorities  tore the convent buildings down in1562 and erected a villa in its place.  The church was supervised for several decades by the Jesuits. In 1679 the Franciscans came back in the branch of the Friars Minor in Linz and took over the pastoral care again in their church. In addition to church and villa they built a new monastery and built from 1751 the Gothic church in the late Baroque style with Rococo approaches. The choir stalls in the rear nave date back to the Gothic church. In 1785 the Linz Minorite Cloister was shut by the  Klostersturm of Emperor Joseph II.   The second monastery was integrated as part of the villa. The church has since been assigned to the province of Upper Austria, which is why it is also called "Villa Church".

In the Diocese of Linz,   the Minorite church figured peculiarly in the liturgical reform of 1969/1970. The diocesan priest Josef Kronsteiner, from 1943-1981 Domkapellmeister in Linz, was a lecturer at the diocesan seminary and professor at the Bruckner Conservatory (now Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama and Dance), rejected the liturgical reform and celebrated still in the Immemorial Rite of All Ages. Because of his reputation in the diocese the Landhausstraße church was finally made ​​available. Thus it  was the musician, composer and especially priest, Josef Kronsteiner formed the bridge  in the period by which the celebration of the traditional rite in the Diocese of Linz was never broken. After his death,  another retired diocesan priest continued the celebration in the traditional rite, until 1991 when the chaplaincy at the Minorite church was transferred to the FSSP founded in 1988. 

The Fraternity of St. Peter has its own office in Linz, which is usually supported by several priests. The FSSP ever provides for a dignified and reverent celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. It is a proclamation, administering the sacraments and pastoral obligation that includes the entire, nearly two thousand years of tradition of the Catholic Church and is faithful to the mandate and committed to the teaching of Jesus Christ. It's a seed that falls on fertile ground, as vocations show.

Text: Wenzel Huber-Chwateck
Image: Wikicommons / Gloria.tv (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Church in Austria is a "Pigsty" -- The New Book of Almost-Auxiliary Bishop Gerhard Maria Wagner

(Vienna) He was named in 2009 but  an unprecedented smear campaign prevented Bishop Gerhard Maria Wagner of the Diocese of Linz.  He has today presented  and talked plaintext his new book. 2009, the Upper Austrian priest Wagner had become a victim of  bishop-bashing, which is a  popular smear game in trend-setting circles. Now, he said the church in Austria is not only in a precarious condition, but is a "pig stye" in which it "stinks".

Pastor Wagner 2009 Victim of the Bishop-Bashing

The list of victims of the bishop-bashing is already considerable. It ranges from Bavaria with Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg to Hesse with Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz van Elst of Limburg and Grisons with Bishop Wolfgang Haas from Chur to Lower Austria with Bishop Kurt Krenn of St. Pölten. The  blocking of Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner 2009 as auxiliary bishop of Linz is a special variant of the smear game. Wagner was then not allowed to take office.

The persecution is only possible because authoritative church circles are interested in the jettisoning personal rivals because of personal or ideological reasons and have been actively involved behind the scenes.

The fight against Wagner was tantamount to an exemplary execution, while the Windischgarsten priest was supposed to have only been an auxiliary bishop, i.e. auxiliary bishop of Linz. An auxiliary bishop has entrusted to him only as much decision-making power  as is given him by the responsible diocesan bishop, and ig may be withdrawn from him again at any time. In the Diocese of Linz, however, there was the anxiety that  the appointment of Bishop Wagner by Pope Benedict XVI. would be followed by an  early position in the Episcopal succession by the same Wagner,  if Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz were to  complete his 75th year and become emeritus.

It's not only the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) write about   Linz as "Left". The same could be said of the full-time staff apparatus of the diocese. At least the more influential part. With the subtle difference that it is not so much the SPÖ, but is more close to the Greens. There are hardly any Diocesan priestly voacations. Who would  want to become a priest, would do this in the context traditional communities or seeks refuge in the still reasonably intact community of a monastery.

Feeble Roman Knees

The lay Apparatchiks and the Liberal, often effeminate  clergy of Upper Austria quickly found allies  in the media   to begin shooting practice on a living object. In Austria it was belched loudly and Rome was already in its knees.  Although Pastor Wagner was appointed over Pope's brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger and Pope's secretary Georg Gänswein handpicked him and with the best knowledge of the situation on the ground, the priest's   career as a bishop ended after 30 days and did not get beyond the appointment status.

 Pope Benedict XVI. would lose face because of the weak knees of Rome, Wagner asked formally to withdraw the appointment, which the Pope "granted".

On January 31, 2009 Wagner was appointed, and on 2 March 2009   Benedict XVI. granted a  dispensation from the appointment. In the meantime, Pastor Wagner experienced hell on earth and the devout Catholic nation rubbed its eyes, as to how lies can produce a smear campaign. Each day new lies were unpacked. It wasn't until   Wagner's "chalice" had  passed over to progressive part of the Diocese, where it was presented as a  trophy for  hunted prey, that the whole nightmare was over.

 Question of Episcopal Succession in Linz Directs Media Attention on Pastor Wagner

An Auxiliary  Bishop Wagner would have done the Diocese of Linz, more  good than ever, but his prospects   to once again be considered for the episcopate by Rome  are very small. Nevertheless, the retirement of the Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz is fast approaching. In this context,  the media is again suddenly paying attention to the absent pastor Wagner again after years of peace.

Wagner obeyed in 2009 as a faithful son of the Church. Rome wanted him as auxiliary bishop and he accepted. Rome had changed her mind again under heavy pressure and he obeyed as well. After some time of silence, Wagner, however, took stock and spoke of a "conspiracy" to which he had fallen victim. Wagner today is also the publisher and editor of a Little Penny Sheet, with a wide circulation in Austria, which has the rare virtue of wise, but clear speech. He just said what was obvious, but at that time almost no one dared speak out.

New book "Heaven or Hell" - "Many People Feel Disoriented"

Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner

Wagner had raised his voice even after the appointment   that it was not for him, but much more so for the Catholic Church in Austria a fiasco. The media hardly cared. But now someone feels   their toes being stepped on. Today, Pastor Wagner has presented his new book, "Heaven or Hell." At the book launch, the sharp witted and eloquent priest was not sparing with plain writing and a gaze at the Archdiocese of  Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Schönborn had supported Kasper's "mercy"  last October at the Synod of Bishops in Rome and would also like to see a new "gradation" applied to all the sacraments. Wagner commented that the Archdiocese of Vienna was a "pig stye" in which there is a foul stench.The situation of the Church in Upper Austria, and born by opposites, says Wagner.

He wished "all the best" to the future Bishop of Linz. For himself, says Wagner as once before, he had already credited the need to "shovel out the pigsty". After all, the position of the Church is questionable because she is not on the right track. There were many tensions and many people are disoriented.

"We Basically Obey to be Catholic"

Pastor Wagner founded an initiative two years ago to strengthen the sacrament of penance in daily life. He called all the priests of the German-speaking countries that committed themselves, to sit every day for an hour to make confession available. In this context, Wagner complained today that in many parishes the Sacrament of Penance is "dead". In the liturgy there is a "momentum" that "disturbs" him. The reason for this is, among other things, an incomprehensible competition between laity and priests. There were quite a few priests who  would"fear of the parish council meeting." "There's something wrong," said Wagner.

It's a disorientation, which is reinforced by the church or is only caused by it. Pastor Wagner quoting a priest who complained to him about his suffering, "that today we have to  basically stop being Catholic."

In the Diocese of Linz There is an "Oligarchic Business" 

However, his opinion was not in high demand in the diocese of Linz   and he accused his home diocese of operating  "quite a bit of an oligarchic business". He took to his bishop's defense, because not a few bishops are simply "alone" and isolated. As  the homosexual Conchita Wurst Thomas Neuwirth  was imposed  as a Euro Vision winner, he had put "shame on Austria," said Pastor Wagner.

As for Pope Francis, Wagner says in his  new book that he was pleased that the new Pope could find sympathy and confidence all over the world, but he does not notice in fact that the churches have become full, "people go to confession more and all that, praise Pope Francis, have become more religious in recent times,"  said Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner, almost Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Linz.

The church circles referred to by Wagner responded with offense. The pastor "disqualifies"  himself with these statements themselves, suggested the Vicar  of Linz, Wilhelm Vieböck to the ORF: "I find it appalling that Father Wagner used the dramatic word, pigsty 'for the whole Church in Austria". Vieböck confirmed the same time, what is really going on in the background: Such an attitude does not qualify Wagner for higher church offices.

In June 2015 the Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz completed his 75th year. In Linz, nobody expects an extension in office. The Diocese sent Rome sent a shortlist few days ago  of three candidates for the succession. What are names on the list, is not initially known. It can only be that the name of Father Wagner certainly not there.

Text: Martha Weinzl
image: ORF / JfdL (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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AMDG

The Persecution Continues: An Actual Ban on Confessions for Children and Youth

Fr. Skoblicki

Always the same:  An anti-Catholic journalist slanders a Catholic priest -- and the cowardly Diocese drives a knife at the same time in the clergyman's back.

(kreuz.net, Neuhoffen an der Ybbs)  Chaplain Andreas Skoblicki "for a start" may not hear any more children and youth confessions.

That was made known in a press release yesterday from the cowardly Dioocese of  Saint Pölten.

Real Old Liberal Grievance will be tolerated for decades

The Diocese reacted lightning quick because of a single slander article in the anti-Catholic Viennese newspaper 'Kurier'.

Fr. Skoblicki was driven from the Parish of Kopfing in the Diocese of Linz in January by the media bosses.

Since Feburary he's been active in the 2,800 population Parish Neuhoffen an der Ybbs for the neo-conservative Pastor Helmut Prader in the Diocese of  Saint Pölten.

The Cowardly Diocese Cringes



The 'Kurier' has disseminated the contention, Fr. Skoblicki is to have "insulted" two eleven-year-olds  in confession.

It consists in frank deceptive defamation.

For that reason the Diocese of St.Pölten went to its press conference in sackcloth and ashes.

Slander is welcome


Pastor Helmut Prader explained that he is in contact with "all involved" -- therefore with the slanderers .

He is then to clear up the situation and rectify it.

Fr. Skoblicki will, "for starters not hear any more confessions of children and youth", says Fr. Prader.

He will get familiar with the parish and the customs to gain the trust of the area.

Dastardly: The chaplain can not express himself in confession

Chaplain Skoblicki has not commented on these serious accusations.

He may  not openly discuss the contents or circumstances of conversations in confession.

He is sorry, in case he has hurt anyone, and apologizes to them never the less.

That was not his intention.

It possibly depends on the fact that German is not his native language.

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Conservative Linz Pastor Called to Rome: New Auxiliary for Linz?

I know nothing! Bishop Schwarz
© Pressefoto Bistum Linz

Something is Going on Behind the Scenes in the Scandal Diocese of Linz, Austria

It will not be simple for the Vatican to name a new Bishop for Linz.  Because in the meantime, Catholics are in the balance.


(kreuz.net) Linz diocesan insiders are estimating that there is going to be another attempt by Pope Benedict XVI., to name an Auxiliary Bishop for the scandal Diocese of Linz.


Previously it is being aired that this could be the case by Easter.


In the meantime most are of the opinion that the appointment won't happen till the summer.



An Episcopal Denial Means Nothing


On Sunday the Old Lieral Bishop Ludwig Schwarz of Linz spoke to the Viennese boulevard magazine, 'Krone'.

He denied that there is an impending appointment of an Auxiliary Bishop.


Actually, that doesn't mean much.


Nothing is known about the Content


Recently, the rejected Linz Auxiliary Bishop, Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner of Windischgarsten has been called to Rome.


He may have become aware of this date himself.


There is nothing available surrounding the content of the discussion.

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