Cardinal gets new, extra-heavy millstone

Cardinal Gröer receives new, extra heavy millstone

Plus: Bishop of Linz gives cause for concern as the plaque tolerates abuse denial

"As the Diocese of Linz sticks his head in the sand, we ourselves must be active," says Sepp Rothwangl of the Platform of Victims of Ecclesiastical Violence. And this activity is truly heavy: the milstone weighs 150 kg that after today can be wondered at next to the plaque commemorating the late Cardinal Gröer. From the middle of the millstone the face of Groer projects, based on the Bible quote: 

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. Qui autem scandalizaverit unum de pusillis istis, qui in me credunt, expedit ei ut suspendatur mola asinaria in collo ejus, et demergatur in profundum maris. (Gospel of Matthew 18:6).

Bishop Schwarz produces no insight

There is need for the millstone placement given the controversy over the trivializing plaque commemorating the late Cardinal Gröer who was guilty of criminel paedophilia (Cathcon- his supporters say this was never proved in a court of law). This has adorned since 1989 the church wall of Hohenzell. On the other hand, however, protest rained down from the victims of sexual abuse in the church. "However, discussions with the Diocese of Linz were unsuccessful," laments Sepp Rothwangl. Bishop Schwarz did nothing to put the Gröer-venerating parish priest of Hohenzell, Bauer in his place and remove the scandalous plaque - it was originally supposed to remember that Gröer here has prayed for the "unborn child".

Hohenzell needs a new monument

"On this occasion, we placed there four weeks ago the first small symbolic millstone as the correction of plaque," said Rothwangl. When this addition was removed, the Platform called for a great millstone fund raising campaign. "We become very popular throughout Austria and get several large and heavy millstones," said Rothwangl happily. "One of the biggest, we have now delivered to Hohenzell." For the Platform of Victims of Ecclesiastical Violence, Hohenzell has become a synonym for the denial and cover-up of the Church's abuse crimes, "a fitting place for a millstone monument in the service of truth. We are considering further steps," said Rothwangl in conclusion.

The whole saga of the millstone

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Millstone disappears from Cardinal's neck

Hardly had it been attached, it has already gone. The "artistic redesign" of the Groër monument in the Upper Austrian village of Hohenzell was removed from strangers. The "Platform for Victims of Ecclesiastical Violence" had decorated a few days ago a plaque which had been attached in memory of the former Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër at the local church with a millstone tied around his neck. This millstone (including Groër image) has disappeared.

"My addition to the monument was removed under cover of darkness," despairs Sepp Rothwangl of the Platform. With the action he wanted to point to the past of the cardinal - who was accused of multiple child abuse. Originally, the plaque on the Innviertler Church was a memorial to Groër's prayers for unborn children.

Rothwangl does not give up and now starts a millstone collection campaign: "We want to correct the monument again, but this time in a more significant way: Everyone who is as outraged at what has gone on as we are, might contribute to a millstone which we we will be happy to deliver to Hohenzell. 

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Millstone placed around Cardinal's neck

The late Archbishop of Vienna, Hans Hermann Groër (1919-2003) is commemorated by a relief on the facade of the parish of Hohenzell, District Ried (Upper Austria), an incomplete Bible quote is written in stone "Who however one of these little ones ...". On a board isn oted that the cardinal prayed there in 1989 for the unborn.

Sepp Rothwangl, chairman of the Platform of those affected by Ecclesiastical Violence outraged by the "hypocritical panel": it is a denial that the cardinal had sexually abused several pupils (the "Groër affair" which led in 1995 to a church referendum and a wave of departures from the Catholic Church).

As village priest Josef Bauer refuses to put an end to Groër worship in Hohenzell, Rothwangl has transformed the monument by himself on Monday: With an iron chain he fastened below the relief a massive millstone, from which extends the head of the Cardinal. "It is a reminder of the criminality of Groër which is denied by his followers as before," said the activist.

The passage from the Gospel of Matthew (18: 6-16) had been completed figuratively by the millstone. 

It says in Luke 17:2: 

It were better for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones. 

 Utilius est illi si lapis molaris imponatur circa collum ejus, et projiciatur in mare quam ut scandalizet unum de pusillis istis. 

 Father Bauer, who is considered a hardliner within the Church and according to media reports should not be averse to exorcisms, did not notice the changes to the monument. He had to see it first, the cleric said on Friday in an interview with COURIER. "There are many who come to Hohenzell and gratefully recall Cardinal Groër. Let's leave it at that."

And the sexual abuse of pupils for which the prince of the church is supposed to be responsible? Bauer: "Cardinal Groër was never convicted. For him, the presumption of innocence should apply."

For abuse victims statements like this are a slap in the face: Sepp Rothwangl says that nothing has changed the "irresponsibility of the Church" since the affair Groër. "This is shown by cases such as that of the Göttweig priest who wanted to tempt on twitter boys into prostitution and has only been brought to light by media pressure."

Similarly, the activists wish to demonstrate the following demands of the platform with the re-purposed memorial: Suspension of the limitation period for sexual abuse, an independent procedure for examining the crimes and adequate compensation by a tribunal.

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Bishop pulls out of Requiem for controversial Cardinal

"Many personal encounters of the past days" led to a new decision on the celebration planned for Monday - "Christian commemoration of the dead also means to take account of the living'

The Diocesan Bishop Egidio Zsifkovics Eisenstadt will not participate in a Requiem planned for Saturday on the tenth anniversary of the death of the former Archbishop of Vienna, Hans Hermann Groër. In a personal statement on the same day Zsifkovics justified his decision by "numerous personal encounters and conversations in recent days", which led him to pull out of his original commitment. He would not be now accepting the invitation of the Sisters of the Cistercian convent at Marienfeld to celebrate the traditional ecclesiastical "Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord" with the monastic community and commemorate at this Mass the late Cardinal Groer, the Eisenstadt Bishop said in a Diocesan press release.

The commemoration of the dead was for Christians "an inviolable value." It is not about"Transfiguration", but the "grateful remembrance of the good" in the life of the deceased, at the same time keeping their 'their fallibility and human error "in mind. " That is why we pray to God for our deceased and ask Him in his merciful love to complete in them, that which is left imperfect by sin," said the bishop.

Christians deny the non-respect, through ignorance of this "fundamental right of believers." for the individual deceased to be commemorated through the celebration of Mass.

Christian commemoration of the dead means, in the words Zsifkovics "but also, "to encounter those who still live. " "External circumstances and contexts that are calculated to injure the personal feelings of people" should not be ignored. Currently a commemoration of the dead, "which has in the last 10 years regularly been taking place with the participation of church dignitaries without causing offense,"had been partly exploited and led to a "distorted image that must cause many people pain and bitterness," said Zsifkovics

All this had"led to the inner belief that I as a bishop and carrier of these two values ​​- a concern for the living and the uninterrupted prayer for the dead - can protect and defend them the best by not attending today's Requiem " On 29 March of Eisenstadt Bishop had rejected in a press release, the criticism of his planned participation in the ceremony.

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Cathcon-  I knew a priest who was close to Cardinal Groër in his final years who was convinced of his innocence. On Good Friday in the year that he resigned he was pursued by a media mob between his palace and the Cathedral.  Cardinal Meisner preached at the Funeral Mass.  Details of the allegations

Here the Cardinal celebrates a Requiem for Mozart on the 200th Anniversary of the latter's death.

Cardinal's bid for the Papacy opposed by his country....and his mother and the rest of the family

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn’s elderly mother hopes he won’t become pope because she fears she would never see him and that he would be overwhelmed by Vatican intrigues.

“The whole family is afraid that Christoph will be elected pope,” Eleonore Schönborn, 92, told the Kleine Zeitung newspaper in an interview printed on Tuesday as 115 Roman Catholic cardinals gathered in Rome to pick the new head of the Church.

Recalling Pope Benedict’s farewell speech, which made clear that popes belonged entirely to the Church, she said her son’s elevation would mean “it is over for me. Then I will not see Christoph ever again because I no longer have the strength to travel to Rome”.

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See also

Austrians reject compatriot Schönborn for the Papacy

While in Italy, Cardinal Schönborn is seen as a promising candidate, the Austrians have apparently little confidence in the Viennese Cardinal. Such is shown by the publication of a survey of the Kronen Zeitung of 13 February 2013 which shows only one third of Austrians support their compatriot Schönborn as the new pope. Exactly 34.2 percent of respondents can imagine the Archbishop of Vienna in this highest office in the Catholic Church, but on the other hand 65.8 percent reject the idea of Schönborn as Pope. The election of a new pope could, however, take a long time anyway. Almost 750 years ago, the Papal election even took a whole two years, nine months and eight days.

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Cathcon- The Cardinal is not without enemies in Rome since he accused Cardinal Sodano of covering up the alleged abuse of his predecessor Cardinal Groër. That the Cardinal was the chief beneficiary of the fall of his predecessor is obvious. Cardinal Meisner at Cardinal Groër's Requiem stated, "I was ashamed and disturbed, because I did not at all feel like I had stood by him firmly enough" and Cardinal Groër denied the allegations to the end. Cathcon is aware of one traditionalist priest close to Cardinal Groër at the end who believed that the allegations were untrue. By the sound of this Cardinal Meisner would not lift a little finger for the Cardinal of Vienna in the Conclave, and given Cardinal Meisner's putative influence and friendship with the outgoing Pope, this could be highly significant. It would be wonderful again to have a Thomist on the Throne of Peter, but the Cardinal of Vienna by his own admission is a Thomist of the less than strict, some would say lax observance.

See Cardinal's Manifesto for the Papacy