A new face

“Reacting in suitable ways” to changes inside the Church is the priority of the archdiocese of Vienna, highlighted by cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of the Austrian capital, president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, during a recent press conference reported by the Catholic news agency Kathpress. His Eminence presented to journalists the pilot project carried out in the archdiocese, representing the first steps of the reform for the reorganization of parishes and communities in 2012. Follow the highlights of the project, presented to the press.A missionary reshaping. “Structural reforms will be realized under the banner of missionary reshaping and new pastoral initiatives”, the Cardinal told journalists. A provisional report will be presented by the end of the summer, while the new structures will be operative by September 1 2013. The pilot project will also serve as a model for further reforms in other areas of the archdiocese. “Much time has gone by since the Church was the determining social reality”, card. Schönborn said. Now we are living “in a culture of freedom. And this is something good”, he added. “It is equally important to adjust to the new face of the Church”, as “there is no going back”. For example, 177.000 people live in Wien-Favoriten, the area involved in the project, only a third of whom are Catholic and a small minority attends Sunday Mass. “Reacting to these challenges also means changing existing parish structures. Parishes may be larger, but in any case they will be more open, facing the reality of a flexible society with feasible structures”, the archbishop declared. Along with lighter structures will be promoted the development of smaller Christian communities, with specific budget and fund limitations. Along with decreasing numbers of Catholics or practicing faithful, Cardinal Schönborn underlined the situation of private Catholic schools which have increased threefold since 1995. “Also Caritas represents a strong growth sector inside the Church; also in this field, the number of collaborators has doubled”, His Eminence said. New forms of parishes. The need to downsize ecclesiastic structures was highlighted by the general Vicar of the archdiocese, Nikolaus Krasa, in the meeting with the press. “In the past fifteen years, the general conditions of the Church and of pastoral care in Vienna have radically changed”, he said. “While diocesan structures are unchanged, there has been a sharp drop in the number of Catholics. In the long term, funding problems may arise coupled by the need to prepare new missionary initiatives”, he remarked. “Despite all reform projects, as an Archdiocese it is necessary to be included in an overall European project”, Krasa said, referring to other dioceses, “as in Germany”, where “similar reform processes are taking place”. However, the structures’ downsizing must not affect the existing pastoral care network, said Veronica Prüller-Jagenteufel, director of the Office for Pastoral Care of the Archdiocese of Vienna. “There remains the objective of promoting communities at local level and acknowledging ‘close pastoral care”, said the responsible. “The basic structure however remains the parish community, also in multifaceted forms”. These changes will require time and security”. The role of religious communities in the reform process was underlined by Fr. Johannes Neubauer. In fact, in the pilot project, eight out of fifteen parishes in the deaconry of Wien-Favoriten are directed by religious. However, Fr. Neubarer deplores that “religious communities are not linked to the process in an optimal manner. It will be necessary to speak once more with the project coordinators”, he announced. As relates to the continuation of the reform process, the Episcopal vicar for the city of Vienna Fr. Dariusz Schutzki, made known that “similar processes in other deaconries of the city are under way”: the next deaconry involved in an “adapted project” regards the 15th district of the Austrian capital.