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New start for Austrian seminary. The St Pölten seminary, which was closed last August after it was revealed that a seminarian had been downloading child pornography on the internet and that several others had been active homosexuals, is to reopen under a new rector, Fr Anton Leichtfried, this September, Bishop Klaus Küng announced last week. The selection criteria for seminarians at St Pölten would be very strict, Bishop Küng said. Particular care would be taken to make sure that candidates for the priesthood were heterosexually and not homosexually orientated, as celibacy meant forgoing marriage and therefore presupposed a heterosexual orientation. “It is with good reason that the Church insists that a definite homosexual orientation is an impediment to ordination. Dropping this practice could undermine celibacy and bring further grave dangers with it,” he said.
In some cases it would be necessary for candidates to undergo medical examinations to see if they were both physically and mentally suitable to become priests. The Pope had only recently emphasised that those in charge of seminaries should consult “competent experts” when necessary. And although unrestricted access to the internet was “almost taken for granted” these days, he said it was necessary to use the internet responsibly, with the necessary filters installed.
In an interview with the German journal Tagespost, Bishop Küng, who is a member of Opus Dei, was asked how widespread the issue of homosexuality in seminaries was in German-speaking countries and whether there were homosexuals’ “networks as in the USA”. He replied: “That danger exists, at least in certain areas.” Asked whether it was true that bishops were divided on the subject of homosexuality, and that many thought it might be advantageous to allow homosexual men to be ordained, he said the question had come up occasionally at Austrian bishops’ conferences, but most bishops had been “very reserved” on the issue. “Experience has since confirmed that their reservation is justified,” he said.
Bishop Küng has also announced that he will reinstate Fr Udo Fischer, a parish priest suspended by his predecessor, Bishop Kurt Krenn, in 1998. Fr Fischer, a Benedictine, was “re-installed” in his parish by his abbot. Widely known in the German-speaking world, his parish was one of the few in Austria where Catholics did not leave the Church after the seminary scandal.
Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Vienna
New start for Austrian seminary. The St Pölten seminary, which was closed last August after it was revealed that a seminarian had been downloading child pornography on the internet and that several others had been active homosexuals, is to reopen under a new rector, Fr Anton Leichtfried, this September, Bishop Klaus Küng announced last week. The selection criteria for seminarians at St Pölten would be very strict, Bishop Küng said. Particular care would be taken to make sure that candidates for the priesthood were heterosexually and not homosexually orientated, as celibacy meant forgoing marriage and therefore presupposed a heterosexual orientation. “It is with good reason that the Church insists that a definite homosexual orientation is an impediment to ordination. Dropping this practice could undermine celibacy and bring further grave dangers with it,” he said.
In some cases it would be necessary for candidates to undergo medical examinations to see if they were both physically and mentally suitable to become priests. The Pope had only recently emphasised that those in charge of seminaries should consult “competent experts” when necessary. And although unrestricted access to the internet was “almost taken for granted” these days, he said it was necessary to use the internet responsibly, with the necessary filters installed.
In an interview with the German journal Tagespost, Bishop Küng, who is a member of Opus Dei, was asked how widespread the issue of homosexuality in seminaries was in German-speaking countries and whether there were homosexuals’ “networks as in the USA”. He replied: “That danger exists, at least in certain areas.” Asked whether it was true that bishops were divided on the subject of homosexuality, and that many thought it might be advantageous to allow homosexual men to be ordained, he said the question had come up occasionally at Austrian bishops’ conferences, but most bishops had been “very reserved” on the issue. “Experience has since confirmed that their reservation is justified,” he said.
Bishop Küng has also announced that he will reinstate Fr Udo Fischer, a parish priest suspended by his predecessor, Bishop Kurt Krenn, in 1998. Fr Fischer, a Benedictine, was “re-installed” in his parish by his abbot. Widely known in the German-speaking world, his parish was one of the few in Austria where Catholics did not leave the Church after the seminary scandal.
Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Vienna
