BISHOPS CRITICISE POPE OVER LINZ APPOINTMENT.

VIENNA-AUSTRALIA’S BISHOPS urged the pope to show more pastoral sensitivity when choosing bishops. The bishops said this recently in reaction to the resignation of a controversial priest whose appointment as auxiliary Bishop of Linz caused uprior.Following a historic crisis meeting held in Vienna, Australia’s bishops attempted to calm the Australian public with a pastoral letter admitting the Church’s error of communication and calling for “pastoral sensitivity” on the part of the Holy Father when making the final decision about Australian bishops.
Australia’s primate, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn called the emergency meeting recently after Benedict XVI Episcopal appointment of the outspoken Upper Austrian priest Dr Gerhard Wagner threatened to upset the delicate balance of the Austrian Church. Dr Wagner, the man at the heart of the row over the direction of the Austrian Church, announced soon after the appointment that he had asked Pope Benedict to withdraw his nomination following the uproar.
His appointment was to one of the country’s most liberal dioceses. The parish priest of the town of Windischgarsten caused controversy with his remarks about Hurricane Katrina-saying that it was a result of “Spiritual pollution”-his belief that homosexuality can be healed and his dislike of female alter servers among other things. The bishops’ meeting went ahead despite his resignation.
In the pastoral letter issued after the meeting the bishops said they owed the people an explanation for the past week’s events. They pledged their unalloyed support to the pope but also addressed themselves to the “crisis” that the appointment of Fr Wagner had unleashed in the Church. After dealing with the Society of St Pius X, they said: “The subject of appointing bishops is therefore so significant because it has been associated with a number of problems in Austria since the 1980s.
The controversies caused by the appointments of bishops were numerous, the conflicts and fissures in the Church too painful. Therefore it is precisely in this area that the most sensitivity must be applied. It is beyond question that the pope has free appointment of bishops. “The bishops desire no return to the times in which-as until 1918-the emperor chose the bishops in Austria. But also a bishop’s plebiscite would not avoid conflict and fragmentation.
We bishops are convinced that the procedure for choice and examination of candidates laid out in Church law stands the test, when the procedure is really followed. “For, before the Holy Father makes the final decision, there must be reliable and widely examined reasons for it, on which he can lean.” Addressing the fact that at least four new bishops are expected to be appointed in Austria in the next few years, the letter continued: “The faithful rightly expects that the procedure of the search for a candidate, the examination of the proposals and the final decision will be done carefully and with pastoral sensitivity. “In that way it can be ensured that the bishops are not named against but for a local Church. We bishops will do everything possible, in order to handle the appointments that lie ahead in the spirit of the procedural rules, in close work with the respective Vatican posts.”
Despite the apologetic tone of the pastoral letter the bishops not only praised the Diocese of Linz for its active work but expressed their concern about the tensions in the diocese. They said: “We bishops, however, have been troubled for years by the palpable tension, which has become once more acute with the recent appointment. We are not merely dealing with differing interpretations regarding structures and methods here, but ultimately a question of the sacramental identity of the Catholic Church. “In particular, this touches on the ordination of priests and deacons in relation to the general priesthood of all the baptized. The pastoral path can only be walked in unison with the universal Church.” Dr Wagner said he was relieved to have stepped down from the appointment on last month. Linz’s diocesan bishop, Ludwig Schwarz, made Sunday’s announcement on Dr Wagner’s behalf. He said: “In the face of hefty criticism, after prayer and discussion with the diocesan bishop, I have come to the decision with the diocesan bishop; I have come to the decision to ask the Holy Father in Rome to withdraw my nomination as auxiliary bishop.” It is as yet unclear whether Benedict XVI has accepted this request, but Dr Wagner spoke on the Austrian radio programme recently. He said: “This resignation has happened of my own volition. I woke up feeling very relieved when compared with the nights before the resignation. From the beginning, since I was nominated, I have felt the opposition; to be honest, often in unmerciful and unloving ways.” He said that he asked himself what he could do for the good of the Church while the controversy over his appointment raged.
Public pressure against Dr Wagner’s appointment had been mounting since it was announced on January 31, only 10 days after the storm over Society of St Pius X’s Holocaust-denying bishop started rocking the Church. The dioceses of Linz is divided between the liberal and conservative elements in the church, and the appointment of an outspokenly conservative priest exacerbated an already fragile situation. Earlier last month the leading regional priests of the diocese showed their dislike of the pope’s candidate in an informal meeting where 31 out of 35 voted against him.