Draining the swamp ” “” “

“The education of young students in the seminary of St. Pölten must once again attain its normal standards. Changes are needed; otherwise the harm caused will be to the detriment not only of the Austrian Church but of the Church throughout the world. Thos who are not suited to becoming priests must be helped to follow other roads and those who bear the responsibility for them must be given other posts. Everything that has to do with homosexual practices and pornography has no place in a seminary for priests. Order must be restored”. The words are those of Msgr. Egon Kapellari , vice-president of the Austrian Episcopal Conference and bishop of Graz. He was expressing the reaction of the Austrian Church as a whole to the scandal that has erupted in the seminary of Sankt Pölten (Lower Austria), where homosexual contacts between the administration and seminarians are alleged to have taken place and where pornographic photos and other pedophile material has been found on the portable computers of seminarians themselves. Some of these photos, that show the students in the company of the Rector and Vice-Rector of the seminary, have been published by the Viennese weekly, “Profil”. Following the outbreak of the scandal, the rector of the seminary, Ulrich Kuechl, and his assistant Wolfgang Rothe, have resigned. The reactions of the Austrian Church have not been limited to the statement of Bishop Kapellari. The theologian Paul Zulehner and the ombudsman of the Catholic Church of Vienna for the victims of homosexual abuse, Helmut Schueller, have called for the resignation of the bishop of Sankt Pölten, Msgr. Kurt Krenn. According to Luitgard Derschmidt, president of Austrian Catholic Action, “the swamp of Sankt Pölten needs to be drained”. The judicial authorities have opened an investigation on the affair to see whether there have been violations of the law on child pornography. No investigations are in course for abuse of authority or for homosexual relations, since these, according to Austrian law, do not constitute an offence. SIR interviewed the spokesman of the Austrian bishops, Erich Leitenberger . What can you say with regard to the affair of the seminary of Sankt Pölten? “A seminarian visited pornographic sites in the seminary and invited other seminarians to share them with him. This is a very serious aspect. The other aspect is the existence, clearly, of a homosexual network inside the seminary. Unfortunately the rector and vice-rector of the seminary were also involved in this. This, if it does not constitute a judicial offence, is an extremely grave scandal from an ecclesial point of view. Unfortunately Austrian public opinion, as is clear, is devoting a good deal of attention to the affair. We now await the authoritative voice of the Vatican”. Has the Austrian Episcopal Conference expressed itself on the matter? “Of course, it expressed itself immediately, and in the harshest terms, through the mouth of its vice-president, Msgr.Egon Kapellari, who is in close contact with the president of the Austrian episcopate, Cardinal Schonborn, currently in France. Msgr. Kapellari has said publicly the things that needed to be said”. Can you sum up the position of the bishops? “There is an urgent need for the authorities to take action at Sankt Pölten. It is essential to return the diocese of Sankt Pölten to the normality of the Catholic Church. It’s a clear message that also concerns the diocesan bishop, Msgr. Kurt Krenn”. Does the affair require further investigation and controls? “Undoubtedly. The problem must be resolved, and rapidly, because we are losing the support of public opinion in Austria. It should be emphasised that the diocese of Sankt Pölten, unfortunately, opted for its own approach to the training of seminarians two years ago. Clearly mistakes have been made in the selection of the students admitted to the seminary and also in the choice of the staff that had responsibility for training them. In other Austrian seminaries there are no problems. What has happened concerns Sankt Pölten alone, where they decided to adopt their own approach. I think that the responsible organs of the Vatican will know how to take the right decisions”.