MOVING FROM LISTENING TO ACTION

Press release on the occasion of the publication of the National Synthesis on the Synodal Process

Innsbruck, Vienna, 22 September 2022

Republished by ICMICA Pax Romana

The Church in Austria is alive!

Many Austrians have expressed their wishes for the shaping of the Catholic Church within the framework of the “Synodal Process” launched by Pope Francis. This is a good sign.

The Austrian report on the Synodal Process will now be forwarded to the European Bishops’ Conference. It clearly shows that the Church People’s Petition, which received more than half a million signatures in Austria in 1995, already made the right demands at that time, which are still supported by a large majority of the Church’s citizens today.

Many of these reform concerns can already be addressed in Austria:

  1. Participation and co-decision at all levels for all church citizens, i.e. separation of powers and participative leadership. Higher leadership positions should no longer be linked to ordination and gender. No veto power for clergy at all levels. 2.
  2. Gender justice in all bodies, in the liturgy and in the administration of the sacraments.
  3. No longer excluding people from church life on the basis of their sexual orientation or actions, i.e. evaluating sexuality in a more comprehensive moral way and acting accordingly
  4. Allow all people the freedom to choose their way of life, including priests; many parishioners have been doing this for a long time…

Now clear decisions and courageous steps are needed!

These demands now need “action texts”. What can and should now be implemented in Austria must be laid down in concrete and comprehensible steps and signed by the Church leadership.

The leadership of the Church must happen in the near future through a SYNODAL COUNCIL, with equal voting rights for clergy and non-clergy (without a blocking minority). This Synodal Council is to be established and should immediately start its work in the interest of the living Austrian Church!

 

Press contact: Dr Martha Heizer, 0650 4168500, martha@heizer.at