Bishop of Linz lets priest with girlfriend off the hook. but for how long?

Pfarrer Friedl nicht mehr Dechant - Kirche & Politik - derStandard.at/Inland

Father Friedl no longer Dean
After commitment to lifelong companion – as a parish priest Friedl initially continues in office
Linz - The pastor of Ungenach (Vöcklabruck district), Josef Friedl, who recently publicly made known that he has a partner, is no longer Dean. This was agreed at a meeting with the Linz Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz on Monday afternoon. Friedl initially will continue in his office as parish priest. There were further discussions planned, announced the bishop.

The 65-year-old clergyman had made known and confirmed in a public panel discussion that he had a partner which had for a long-time been an open secret: He lived for many years with a woman, who was accepted in his parish. His girlfriend had helped him to care for Arigona Zogaj who after her flight took refuge temporarily in the parsonage (a famous case of asylum in Austria).

Cathcon: One suspects that Bishop Schwarz has no much longer in office, and his successor will have to pick up the pieces of this case, as quite a few others.

The Bishop needs to come clean- how many of these priests with partners did he know about and when? Did he take any action or did he just let the power drain into the hands of the Pastoral Council, who all will have the idea that this is a fruit of Vatican II. Cathcon agrees- but it is a very rotten one!