A new spring

A few days ago were issued the official figures on Austrian Catholics for the years 2009 and the unofficial figures for 2010. The most significant data is the increase in abjurations: more than 87 thousand in the past year; a record-breaking number since 1945. The news caused mixed reactions in the Catholic Church. A snapshot follows. Data. The number of Austrian Catholics in 2010 registered a slight drop – from 5.53 in 2009 to 5.45 million, amounting to -1.4%. Moreover, according to the surveys, the increase in the number of abjurations – some 34 000 compared to 2009 – is reason for alarm. Dioceses made known that increases mostly took place in the first semester of 2010, due to the sexual abuse scandal in church environments. Statistics also show that in 2009 were celebrated 49 892 baptisms, 12188 marriages, 59431 confirmations, 55.033 First Communions and 53 016 funerals. “New freedom”. For card. Christoph Schönborn, president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, the abjuration trend is “a sign of the new freedom” in the framework of the evolution “from traditional Christianity to decisional Christianity”. However, His Eminence told Austria’s Catholic news agency Kathpress, “each abjuration is painful”. “The scandal of abuses within the Church is bound to have conditioned the high number of abjurations in 2010. But usually the causes of such decision are deeper”. “Being a member of the Church is the result of a free decision, and not of tradition”, the Cardinal said recalling that church tax system each year involves the choice to continue being a member of the Church. Those who choose to remain are making a “deliberate choice”. Thus “the Church ought to put stock in what it is that most determines this decision”. Card. Schönborn mentioned a survey that is yet to be published, drawn up by the theologian for the pastoral care Paul Zulehner, according to whom 44% of those who abjured seriously considered returning to the Church. Indeed, His Eminence continued, “positive data should be equally acknowledged”, such as the figures relating to the sacraments celebrated in 2009 along with “the largely positive potential of volunteer workers”. “The winter of the Church is still ongoing – His Eminence concluded – but I can tell that a new Spring is approaching”.Respecting choices. Msgr. Egon Kapellari, bishop of Graz and vice-president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference said he was shocked by the number of abjurations. “It’s painful to see that many Catholics have distanced themselves from the Church by abjuring it”, he said in a statement released by the diocese of Graz-Seckau. “We must respect such decisions”, added Msgr. Kapellari, hoping that people will return to the Church. As relates to abuses in the Church, the bishop said he confides in a “sincere and radical change”, marked by ongoing attention. “I confide that the Church will emerge from the crisis stronger than before”, concluded Msgr. Kapellari. Recovering the dialogue. More statements were released after the publication of the survey on January 11. The director of the Pastoral Office of the archdiocese of Strasbourg Balthasar Sieberer, announced that in the Spring will be launched a campaign to contact all those who officially abandoned the Church in the years 2003-2008. “We want to speak with those who left our community”, Sieberer said. Msgr. Manfred Scheuer, bishop of Innsbruck, underlined the importance of recovering trust in a press communiqué: “Apart from immediate answers”, he said, this “will be possible only with the commitment of our contemporaries”. In a press conference, Wilhelm Vieböck, director of the Office for Pastoral Care of the diocese of Linz, illustrated the attempt to recover abjurations “with a bishop’s letter inviting to attend a meeting on the subject”. Over the past year, he said, 100 people returned to the Church: many did so after having been contacted by the parish. Monika Eberharter, director of the Office, told journalists that “Office for dialogue” was set up in Septmber in the diocese of Feldkirch for all those who left the Church. The primary objective of the centre is to engage in telephone conversations with those who abjured, for three months”. Eberharter said the initiative was broadly welcomed. For theologian Zulehner “personal contact” is the only way to prevent abjurations. “The Church needs to be closer to people in different ways. She must convey the feeling that it is possible to be both modern and Christian”, the theologian said commenting on his survey, which examines the evolution of the religious life of the Austrian population in the years 1970 – 2010.