Theologian wants debate on priests being able to live "alternative lifestyles"

Linz theologian Csiszar expects debates on compulsory celibacy as well in "ORF-Religion aktuell"

The women's issue in the Roman Catholic Church will be a topic at the World Synod in Rome next October, and debates on compulsory celibacy for priests can also be expected, she said: Linz pastoral theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar, who will be at the Synod of Bishops as a theological advisor, said in the Ö1 program "Religion aktuell" on Thursday. She pointed out that, for example, the ordination of women to the diaconate is also being discussed in other parts of the universal Church than the European-Western one.

And from the national syntheses in which the local churches outlined the Church's path into the future at the request of Pope Francis, the theologian said it is likely that the Church Assembly will also consider the question of whether the current celibacy regulation under Church law is still livable: when asked whether priests must live celibate lives or whether there might not be alternative lifestyles for them, Csiszar literally said, "Why not?"

The theologian, who also took part in the European Continental Assembly on the Synodal Process, which took place in Prague this February, sees this reform process as a learning assignment with regard to diversity: It is not a matter of excluding those "if they don't think the way we would like them to". According to Csiszar, dealing with otherness beyond traditional ways of living a faithful life is an exciting task for churches and religious communities.

Synod: 375 "members," 75 "experts"

The Vatican published a month ago the list of members and other participants for the Synod of Bishops for a More Synodal Church, to be held Oct. 4-29 in Rome. The Austrian Bishops' Conference will be represented at the synodal assembly by its president, Archbishop Franz Lackner. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who is a member of the Vatican Synod Council, is also an official member of the Synod of Bishops. In all, the synod has some 375 members ("membri"), including about 275 bishops, a little more than 50 priests and religious, and about 45 women and men in the laity.

In addition, there will be eight "guests/observers" as well as about 75 men and women who will participate in the assembly as so-called "experts" in the sense of theological advisors or as employees of the Synod General Secretariat without voting rights - among them also the pastoral theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar, who teaches as professor of pastoral theology at the Catholic Private University (KU) Linz

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