I hope this comment from the original thread source (a blog) gives pause to some of the harsh criticism:
John Ashley writes: “And if the Cardinal believes the truth why then has he not explained it to the Austrian Catholics rather try to slough it off on the Pope. Such nonsense coming from the faithful(?) seems to be evidence of the incompetence of the bishops.”
My dear sir, how much more do you want Cardinal Schoenborn to do? There is scarcely a bishop in Europe who has made greater efforts to catechize his flock. In sermons, pastoral letters, city missions, monthly catechetecal talks, interviews, articles etc., he has constantly tried to teach the Catholic Faith which comes to us from the Apostles. But the flock has stuffed its ears. By provoking the evolution debate he hoped to prepare the ground again by turning people’s attention to “preambula fidei” without which he sees the gospel falling on deaf ears. It is a sign of what hard work sowing the gospel here is. The Cardinal is truly doing his best. You accuse him of being incompetent, but do you think his predecessesor, the outspoken conservative Cardinal Groer was more effective? Remember that Schoeborn witnessed Cardinal Groer brutally driven out of his office by the “official laypeople” who have run the Austrian ecclesiastical bureaucracy since Vatican II. The cleverly orchestrated campaign of slander drove Groer out (despite the fact that the false witnesses who accused him unnatural crime were all completely discredited in court). A little while later he witnessed the similar fall of the courageous, but imprudent bishop Krenn, through a similar conspiracy. If Schoeborn walks a bit too timidly at times (I don’t deny that he is sometimes too timid) one has to understand that he is trying to walk an extremely narrow line.
I can tell you that despite his timidity he he has done more to encourage the new evangelization here than practically any other bishop — especially through inviting thriving new religious communities and lay movements into his diocese.
Those who call him a protestant are simply ignorant of the facts. Would a protestant write this reflection on the primacy of Peter, and of his current succesor, Pope Benedict XVI: http://kath.net/detail.php?id=22084 ?
The petition, which he showed to Card. Hummes is the latest move of the same clique of people who organized the downfall of Groer and the “Latrocinium of Salzburg”. To blame it on Cardinal Schenborn’s “incompetence” that people twenty years older than he are still pushing the same nonsense that they were pushing before he became bishop is simply unreasonable.
As for those who think that he is a “protestant”, or that agrees with anything in the petition which he showed to Cardinal Hummes, they simply don’t know what they are talking about. There is not a single point in that petition that he has not repeatedly rejected on numerous occasions both in speech and in print (on priestly celebacy see for example, http://kath.net/detail.php?id=22612).
Cardinal Schoenborn is not perfect, but he is genuinely doing his uttermost for the Church of God. To those who confidently condemn him as a heretic I quote Bishop Krenn: “die Lügner sollen das Maul halten!”
Thank you for posting the comments from the blog thread. Cardinal Schonborn is, to a certain extent, in somewhat of a quandary. It is one that some future American bishops will also face. Take for example the situation here in Albany NY. By the time he retires, the bishop will have been serving 40+ years as head of this diocese. During his tenure, he has moved the diocese in a progressive direction. This has entailed scaling back by closing churches and schools, merging parishes and entrusting them to the leadership of Lay Ecclesial Ministers. Despite the papal decree on no female ordination, all candidates for the priesthood in this diocese are asked if they believe in women’s ordination. A “no” response is automatic rejection from service in this diocese. With 4 1/2 years to go, this bishop will entrust a secular run diocese to his successor. That bishop will be faced with an immense challenge, similar to that of Schonborn. He will have to gradually introduce orthodox Catholic teaching for fear of losing the existing Catholic congregation. It is a similar situation in nearby Rochester, NY.
Interesting information. I do think it odd that he would even present this “petition,” though.