Posted on 07/12/2004 10:26:32 AM PDT by Land of the Irish
Roman Catholic leaders in Austria called an emergency meeting today after officials discovered a vast cache of photos and videos allegedly depicting young priests having sex at a seminary.
About 40,000 photographs and an undisclosed number of films, including child pornography, were downloaded on computers at the seminary in St Poelten, about 50 miles west of Vienna, the respected news magazine Profil reported.
Officials with the local diocese declined to comment but were meeting privately on the scandal, Austrian state television reported.
It said the seminary’s director, the Rev Ulrich Kuechl, and his deputy, Wolfgang Rothe, had resigned.
The Austrian Bishops Conference issued a statement today pledging a full and swift investigation.
“Anything that has to do with homosexuality or pornography has no place at a seminary for priests,” it said.
Church officials discovered the material on a computer at the seminary, Profil said. It published several images purportedly showing young priests and their instructors kissing and fondling each other and engaging in orgies and sex games.
The child porn came mostly from web sites based in Poland, the magazine said.
Bishop Kurt Krenn, a conservative churchman who oversees the St Poelten Diocese, told Austrian television he had seen photos of seminary leaders in sexual situations with students. Krenn, however, dismissed the photos as “silly pranks” that “had nothing to do with homosexuality”.
A group of St. Poelten Diocese officials planned to ask the Vatican to remove Krenn as bishop, Austrian radio reported.
Vatican spokesman Ciro Benedettini told the Austria Press Agency that the Holy See had no comment.
Krenn, 68, issued a statement calling the accusations groundless while conceding that he “may have made some wrong personnel decisions” at the seminary.
Vatican spokesman Ciro Benedettini told the Austria Press Agency that the Holy See had no comment.
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Roman Catholic leaders ... discovered a vast cache of photos and videos allegedly depicting young priests having sex at a seminary. About 40,000 photographs ...Looking on the bright side, it's encouraging to learn that there's no shortage of seminarians in Austria ...
This is all over the European press this morning. Apparently, Bishop Krenn has also been a strong proponent of doing little or nothing to sex offenders, and was known to have sheltered another bishop who had been removed from his diocese for homosexual activity.
Pretty depressing.
The Vatican will not shut this place down. It will thrive undisturbed, regardless of scandal. Yet Rome sought throughout the eighties to shut down the Econe Seminary in Switzerland for the high crime of being traditionally Catholic. And it sought ways to do this even though its own emissaries reported the seminary was above reproach both doctrinally and morally. Rome was not deterred by such a glowing tribute. It ignored its own report and seized on the pretext that the Archbishop had dared to question the wisdom of Vatican II. It did so even while knowing its own emissaries, the ones doing the evaluation in the first place, themselves publicly had doubted the Virginity of Mary and the Resurrection of Jesus--to the horror of Econe's young semianrians. It was this skepticism regarding actual Catholic dogmas which had led to the Archbishop's outburst--which in turn gave the cardinals in Rome the excuse they needed to shut the seminary down. What hypocrites! Now these same officials will look the other way in the present scandal.
“Anything that has to do with homosexuality or pornography has no place at a seminary for priests,” it said.
I think this needs to be re-written for a great deal of NO seminaries: “Anything that has to do with Scripture or Tradition has no place at a seminary for priests.”
"A group of St. Poelten Diocese officials planned to ask the Vatican to remove Krenn as bishop"
If this bishop is removed (don't hold your breath), it'll probably be because of promotion either to archpriest of a major Roman basilica or to the sacred college of cardinals.
Exactly. And the seminary will remain. Compare this with the treatment of Lefebvre. They sought to condemn him for daring to challenge the wisdom of Vatican II--and for this purported outrage, they sought to shut down his entire seminary, one that was above reproach doctrinally and morally. Never mind that it was filled to the brim with orthodox devout young men studying for the priesthood! The patent hypocrisy and injustice of this is mind-boggling, especially when the Vatican's inaction regarding genuine corruption and apostasy is so obvious!
Cardinal Arinze - "Youth will embrace religious life with right role models"
Today's seminarians reflect growing trend
Number of Seminarians Increases - Please Decipher This!!!!
In Seminaries, New Ways for a New Generation
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EVIDENCE GROWS OF DIRECT DISOBEDIENCE TO VATICAN IN MAJOR AMERICAN SEMINARIES
Pope to Church: Risky Seminarians Must Go
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http://oe1.orf.at/inforadio/35189.html?filter=1
Bishop Kurt Krenn, a conservative churchman
I wonder what makes this guy 'conservative' in the eyes of Europeans?
Probably the power of the pen.
"I wonder what makes this guy 'conservative' in the eyes of Europeans?"
Unfortunately the word "conservative" is constantly evolving. The current crop of so-called Catholic "conservatives" used to be considered "arch-liberals" in more sane times. The liberals who have now taken over most of our chanceries used to be laughed off as "heretics", but that word has fallen out of use (now called "hate-speech").
There are very good seminaries, and they are growing. This one was clearly not one of them - they have photos (which were graphically described in the European press, but which I won't go into here) of the seminary director with various seminarians.
My personal feeling about these people is that they should be taken out and strung up by their thumbs for the scandal they give and the vocations they discourage. But all it takes is a good bishop and a tolerably orthodox seminary, and vocations soar - I think there's a lot of what market analysts call "pent up demand" out there!
While bishops and priests are buggering altar boys and seminarians in nearly every diocese around the world, what do you think the holy father is doing?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Poland%20Pope%20Book
This brings back memories of the emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned. Nero's last words which were "Qualis artifex pereo" (loosely translated "What a loss I shall be to the arts") are possibly also relevant to the current pontificate.
Actually, I think the Pope may have realized - a little too late, as Pope Paul VI saw the smoke of Satan a little too late - that he hasn't done enough. I think he has an excessive devotion to "collegiality" and an almost naive faith in the goodwill of other bishops, particularly liberal ones. Or maybe I should say "had," because it seems to me that he has recently been attempting to correct this.
Better late than never. God will judge, but I would have preferred a Pope who spent less time trying to synthesize the writings of phenomenologists and personalists, and more time exercising a bit of authority.
However, it may not be too late. We have had a number of good bishops appointed (including to my diocese), so I am trying to be positive about this. The interesting thing is that with the new bishop, a lot of priests I had thought to be liberal flakes have suddenly emerged as orthodox, are starting Benediction with Exposition, devotion to the Sacred Heart, First Fridays, etc.
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