A layman called Doctor Boss wants to push a Bishop around

Liechtenstein laity demand dissolution of the Archbishopric of Vaduz

"Almost worse situation than in 1997"

The 75th birthday of the controversial Archbishop Wolfgang Haas raises the question of the future of the Archdiocese of Vaduz, which was created just for him in 1997. The "Association for an Open Church" demands an end to the isolation.

DOMRADIO.DE: Let's take a look back: In 1997 Wolfgang Haas was inaugurated as archbishop of the new diocese of Vaduz against the will of the people of Liechtenstein. At that time, there was a boycott from large parts of the government and parliament. What was that time like? How did the people of Liechtenstein react when this step was then announced?

Dr Günther Boss (Theological Advisor "Association for an Open Church" Liechtenstein): One can already speak of a shock. There was a certain rigidity of shock. We knew that this idea existed to create a diocese of Vaduz or diocese of Liechtenstein. This was clarified by the Nuncio and later Cardinal Karl Josef Rauber, but his answer was negative.

So we had the information that a diocese of Liechtenstein would not come. And so the news came out of the blue in December 1997.

DOMRADIO.DE: It is said that Archbishop Haas not only represents an extremely conservative line, but that above all his style of communication or the lack of communication is the problem. How do you judge that? What kind of person is he in his dealings?

Boss: Yes, I would confirm that. Conservatism alone is not the problem. The later auxiliary bishop Peter Henrici said in a recent interview that he could not govern. And I translated it for me like this: he has no management qualities at all.

He cannot organise, he is not a manager. He is very inept with the media. He has not given any interviews at all for years now. He doesn't go to any radio, to any print newspaper. So he is very clumsy in terms of communication and also in terms of his management qualities.

Günther Boss

"He has no management qualities at all."

DOMRADIO.DE: The Archbishopric of Vaduz has an interesting reputation in the church scene. It is said that candidates for the priesthood who have been rejected in their dioceses like to go to Liechtenstein sometimes, be trained and ordained there and then sent back to their dioceses. You could call it a "Catholic scavenger hunt". From their inside view on the ground: Is there any truth to this rumour? Or is it just malicious gossip?

Boss: There is a lot to this rumour. I myself have been pointing it out intensively for the last few years. About two-thirds of this Archbishopric of Vaduz does not take place in Liechtenstein itself, but is basically spread throughout the entire world church. This is due to the fact that Archbishop Wolfgang Haas has ordained and incardinated well over 60 clergy in the Archdiocese of Vaduz. That means they are firmly integrated in the archdiocese. But they are not active on Liechtenstein soil at all.

The interesting thing is that we have practically no more vocations from Liechtenstein itself. Only one priest was ordained who comes from Liechtenstein itself. All the others come from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and some even from France. And it is indeed the case that he has also ordained very many priests who had been rejected in their homeland.

DOMRADIO.DE: The last time the Archdiocese of Vaduz made headlines was when it was the only Diocese in the world not to participate in Pope Francis' Synodal process. In Liechtenstein this is not necessary, said Archbishop Haas, because with you one can also communicate directly. Now we have just heard that this communication is not quite happening. As lay people in Liechtenstein, you then started your own Synodal process. How did that come about?

Boss: It is true that Wolfgang Haas was obviously the only bishop in the world to reject this process. Ukraine could not participate for war-related reasons. And the second diocese is actually the Archbishopric of Vaduz, which said we would not take part.

And the reason given was that the bishop said: We are so small and we can talk to each other at any time. That was seen as a bit cynical here, because the bishop himself can hardly be reached, neither on the phone, nor at the gate, nor in writing.

He has withdrawn very, very much in the last few years and lives very isolated. So we couldn't buy the idea that you could talk to him at any time.

Günther Boss

"That was seen as cynical here, because the bishop himself is hardly accessible any more."

We in the "Association for an Open Church" thought it was important that we did not lose touch with the universal Church, that we did not lose touch with Pope Francis. And so we formed an autonomous group that took this synodal process into its own hands, with a lot of effort and commitment.

We then wrote a final report, also after a long process. And the nice thing was that the Nuncio in Bern, Dr Martin Krebs, assured us that this final report would be sent to the Synod Secretariat in Rome. There is now the final report from Liechtenstein, written by the "Association for an Open Church".

DOMRADIO.DE: What do you demand in this final report?

Boss: The exciting thing is actually that we have very similar demands as Germany or Austria. I am surprised that the Synodal Way in Germany was viewed so critically by Rome, because the Austrian demands or the Liechtenstein and Swiss demands are very similar to those in Germany.

Something that is special for us now is that we are demanding to be part of a bishops' conference again. We are isolated. Wolfgang Haas is no longer part of a bishops' conference. This diocese was established in 1997 immediatly, i.e. directly subordinated to the Pope. And that, I think, is a big mistake.

So this is a special demand that we have. We absolutely want to be reunited with the diocese of Chur or possibly with the diocese of St. Gallen or Feldkirch. Geographically speaking, we are right in the middle of it. So all that would be possible. That is one of the demands that we have emphasised very strongly.

Günther Boss

"We have experienced an accelerated secularisation over the last 25 years."

DOMRADIO.DE: What does this isolation actually do to church life in the archdiocese? You are there at the source, you see that.

Boss: What we notice is that there was not such a re-Catholicisation by this Wolfgang Haas, as John Paul II might have wished, that everyone would become devout Christians again and church attendance would increase again and even politics would be coloured by Christianity.

On the contrary, I always maintain that we have actually experienced an accelerated secularisation over the last 25 years. In the 1980s, we were still a fairly closed Catholic milieu, but modern, just as the Swiss Church is. And that has now completely broken down.

Sixty to seventy per cent of the people have just said that they are no longer interested in the Church, and they no longer go. I think these are clear signs. There has been more of a distancing from the Catholic Church.

DOMRADIO.DE: Haas will be 75 years old this Monday and has to offer his resignation to the Pope. Whether that will come directly is not certain, since, for example, the equally controversial Bishop of Chur, Haas' successor there, Vitus Huonder, was also kept in office by the Pope for two years over the age limit. What do you think and hope? What will happen in Vaduz? There are rumours, starting with the possibility that unpopular bishops from Germany like Georg Gänswein could be parked there, and ending with the dissolution of the archdiocese.

Boss: We are almost in a worse situation than in 1997 in the sense that we have basically received no real official information at all. That is a very scary situation, especially for me as a theologian. Officially we know nothing.

We know that we have no say, because we have no cathedral chapter and we have no traditional rights. That is, we know that a successor is appointed solely by the Holy See.

We have always assumed that this archbishopric would be dissolved again after Wolfgang Haas' term of office and that we would return to the diocese of Chur, where we were for hundreds of years.

But the only thing we have now learned between the lines, also through the Nuncio and through our government, is that they want to maintain an archbishopric or a diocese of their own here. They want to keep this diocese within its borders. We know next to nothing about anything else.

Source

Cathcon:  Doctor Boss could hire himself out as a character assassin.  He asserts as facts that he has to believe because he hates so much.  A vendetta.

He published on article on "What can we learn from Luther?".   Nothing, Doctor Boss but you clearly have.