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Austrian bishops issue warning to progressive Catholics
Nov 11, 2011, 18:00 GMT
Vienna - Austria's Catholic bishops issued a stern message on Friday to increasingly vocal groups calling for the appointment of female and married priests.
Five progressive clergy and lay groups said last week that they would start holding masses without priests in defiance of church law, if the church did not address the lack of clergy by relaxing its admission criteria.
Holding mass without an ordained priest 'is an outright break with one of the central truths of our Catholic faith,' the bishops said in a statement. But they added that they would seek dialogue with the reformists.
Among Austria's priests, 72 per cent share the view that disobedience to the Vactican is warranted on these issues, a poll by public broadcaster ORF found this week.
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