Thursday, May 19, 2005

Austrian bishop resigns after liturgical-abuse complaints

Perhaps this may indicate a trend for those who are fast and furious with the Sacred Liturgy?
Vatican, May. 18 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has accepted the resignation of an Austrian bishop whose diocese was at the center of complaints about widespread liturgical abuse.

The Vatican announced on May 18 that Bishop Maximilian Aichern had resigned from the Linz diocese, which he had headed since 1982. At 72, the bishop was well short of the mandatory retirement age of 75. The Vatican announcement indicated that his resignation had been accepted under Canon 401/2 of the Code of Canon Law, which refers to "illness or other grave reason" for a bishop's resignation.

Earlier this year, an investigation by a German-language Catholic news agency, Kath.net, had uncovered serious liturgical abuses in the Linz diocese, with women being encouraged to wear liturgical vestments and lead ceremonies, and prayers offered to "the good shepherdess." Cardinal Francis Arinze (bio - news) told Kath.net that he was aware of the complaints about abuses, and his Congregation for Divine Worship was "doing what it can to help remove them."
Source.

Another story which referred to Bishop Aichern dealt with a "women's ordination" spectacle a couple of years ago:
Women’s “ordination” to go ahead. According to about ten Roman Catholic women in Austria seeking ordination, “several” Roman Catholic bishops have now offered to assist. They will be ordained within the year, they say, even if some of the bishops withdraw their offer, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt from Vienna.
...
Most Austrian bishops have pointed out that the women’s ordination would be invalid and that they would be excommunicated. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has advised Catholic women who cannot accept the Roman Catholic interpretation of the priestly office to switch to the Lutheran Church. Bishop Maximilian Aichern of Linz, from whose diocese most of the women come, said that while they could not receive the sacrament of ordination in the Catholic Church, the world conference of Catholic theologians was discussing the possibility of giving women a “temporary assignment” to act as priests.

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