The Vienna archdiocese, which is one of the largest in Europe and extends from the Czech frontier down to the southern Alps, will undergo radical parish reforms, reducing its 660 parishes to 150 in the next 10 years.
“This is the most comprehensive reorganization of the Vienna archdiocese since that of Austrian Emperor Joseph II [1765-1790] 200 years ago,” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn told journalists at a Sept. 19 media reception in the archbishop’s palace in Vienna.
The main reasons for these measures were the increasing shortage of priests and the steady decline in the number of Catholics, especially of those who regularly attended Mass and were involved in their local parishes, the cardinal explained.
“I am fully aware that these reforms denote a far-reaching change of perspective,” Schönborn said. “We must take leave of the traditional concept that the church is only present where there is a priest. That is a restricted view that has developed over time but which must now be corrected. Church is community, and leading offices in the church should in principle be carried out collaboratively, even if the parish priest has the final responsibility according to canon law.”
Seventy-five percent of the Catholic parishes in Austria will close within a decade. That’s staggering.
First there was this. And then there was this. And now there’s that. The Austrian church is in a mess.
Seventy-five percent of the parishes, marked for extinction. It’s like divine judgment, or something.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, from historically tragic church news to contemptibly asinine church news, here are the text messages from the Orthodox (OCA) bishop of Chicago to a 22 year old recent convert, re: his eagerness for some pastoral sexytime. The young woman tried to keep His Grace at bay, but he wouldn’t stop, so she made a formal complaint about him to the Church, which suspended him. In a superclassy response now made public, His Grace blames the woman and her boyfriend for getting it all wrong about him, and making it where he can’t have friends.
Honestly, these people. Honestly.
Bob, interesting look at what happens in Europe between Church and government. I had vaguely known of this before, but it is interesting to see its effects.
The reality is, though, that with no natural resources it is not surprising that cool, land-short nations in the Alps are becoming atheistic. Before the Industrial Revolution, these nations isolation and extremely fertile soils made them the hotbed of conservative religion.
However, the extremely low labour efficiency and cool climate mean that their sole natural resource – extremely fertile and young soils – is not competitive against the cheap land of Australia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The result is that nations like Austria are left with cut-throat competition in high technology and advanced services, along with tourism. the rapid technological innovation drives up wages, but leaves little security because so many countries are competing for the same services, whilst a few such as Australia dominate a large number.
This lack of security formerly found in a highly religious farming culture is what leads people to turn to the other pole of radically individualistic freedom. It is greatly aided by the search for titillation and excitement provided by mass tourism for generally ultra-macho winter sports like high-speed skiing and ice hockey. Locals absorb the values of these tourists in a way even somebody with the intellectual ability of Ratzinger ignores – less able Catholics would carry this absorption out with no awareness whatsoever.