Vienna: Young gay man voted into parish council of Schönborn

CARDINAL CHRISTOPH SCHÖNBORN

In Austria there is a lively discussion going on about a case in Stützenhofen, where twenty-six year-old Florian Stangl has been elected to the pastoral council by overwhelming majority

Taken from Vatican Insider

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

 

Twenty-six year-old Florian Stangl received the majority of parishioners’ votes during the election of the new pastoral council of the parish of Stützenhofen, a town north of Vienna, but the parish priest did not want to ratify his nomination. The archbishop has intervened and, assuming full responsibility, has decided to validate the election. A row began following the intervention of cardinal Cristoph Schönborn, who, after his initial reservations, recently decided to admit a homosexual – living with a companion whom he married in a civil union – to the pastoral council of the parish of this small Austrian town.

 

In the election which took place three weeks ago, Stangl obtained ninety-six votes out of a total of one-hundred and forty-two. The parish priest, Gerhard Swierzek, asked him to renounce the position and has also invited him not to turn up to receive the Eucharist. This decision was contested by the vicar forane at the head of the deanery, Fr. George von Horick, who said that “If the permission to present oneself as a candidate exists for the divorced and re-married,” “then homosexualtendencies and lifestyle” cannot preclude the election either.

 

At first, the diocese of Vienna declared that enrolment in a civil union does not allow the participation in the pastoral council. In an interview, Stangl declared: “I am committed to the teaching of the Church, but to make demands to live chastely seems unrealistic to me. How many people live chastely?” So, he asked to speak with cardinal Schönborn, who invited him and his partner to lunch. On 30 March, the Archbishop of Vienna published a second, more articulated declaration. Schönborn thanked “all the people who have put forth their candidacy in the parish council elections [because] they are the church and faith is a big concern [for them].” The cardinal continues, “They witness the vitality of the Church. In their diversity, they reflect the diversity of today’s way of life and faith.”

 

“Thus there are many parish councilors”, the archbishop added, “whose lifestyle does not fully conform to the ideals of the Church. In view of the life-witness that each of them gives taken as a whole, and their commitment to the attempt to live a life of faith, the Church rejoices in their efforts.”

 

Schönborn, then praised the lively participation of the young generations to the life of the parish of the small community of Stützenhofen and the great participation at the poll of the pastoral council. “The formal errors which have come to light in that election do not call the results of the election itself (in which the youngest candidate, Florian Stangl, received the most votes) into question.”

 

The cardinal relates how he met Stangl and how he was “deeply impressed by his faithful disposition, his humility, and the way in which he lives his commitment to service. I can therefore understand why the inhabitants of Stützenhofen voted so decidedly for his participation in the parish council.” Finally, the cardinal announced the Episcopal council decision, which unanimously established that the diocesan authorities do not intend to invalidate the election and its results, and that there will be a review of the rules for pastoral council elections in order to clarify necessary prerequisites for the candidates.

 

What “errors” was Schönborn referring to? To the fact that the candidates for pastoral councils in the Diocese of Vienna must sign a declaration in which they assure they have all necessary requirements. These include a strict following of the faith and discipline of the Catholic Church, which notoriously condemns homosexual practices and gay unions. But in the Stützenhofen election, the candidates did not want to sign the declaration, asserting orally that they all fulfilled the requirements.

 

In the last few days, in Italy, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan, introduced the possibility for the acknowledgment of civil unions for persons of the same sex. In the book Believing and knowing (Einaudi), written in the form of a dialogue with Ignazio Marino, Martini asserts: “I think the family needs to be defended because it is truly what supports society in a stable and permanent way and because of the fundamental role that it exercises in the education of children. But it is not bad for two people to have some stability instead of occasional homosexual relationships, and in this regard the State could also favor them.”