Parish Initiative Switzerland
The Parish Initiative Switzerland is an online signature campaign that calls for a renewal of the Roman Catholic Church . It was created in 2012 in connection with the pastor's initiative in Austria and various similar initiatives in other countries. Due to the small number of pastors ( priests who lead a parish ), the form of a parish initiative was chosen.
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The aim of the initiative is to openly express and continue to practice what is “taken for granted in Swiss parishes today and leads to disobedience”. The parish initiative's self-evident features include the ordination of women to priests , which is not possible according to Roman Catholic teaching , sermons by trained lay people , the distribution of Holy Communion to members of other Christian churches or the equal rights of non-heterosexual people. It was signed by over 540 pastors and over 1000 sympathizers. (Status May 2013)
The text of the initiative has also been translated into French, Italian, English and Spanish.
Reactions
The parish initiative was condemned by the bishops of the bishoprics concerned ( St. Gallen , Basel and Chur ) and triggered different reactions. The pastors from the dioceses of Chur and Basel had to justify themselves in writing at the beginning of 2013, the pastors from the dioceses of Basel and St.Gallen were invited to a dialogue. The required written statement led to the “pilgrimage to Chur” in January 2013, during which the letters were handed over together. In January 2013, two conversations with Bishop Markus Büchel took place in St.Gallen , and in March and April five conversations between Bishop Felix Gmür and the pastors took place in the diocese of Basel .
In February, Bishop Vitus Huonder tried to intimidate his ministers and asked them to voluntarily return their Missio canonica , but no one did. However, the letter and the unprofessional style of communication of the Diocese of Chur led to the fact that the Schwyz regional church intervened and asked the bishop to enter into a dialogue, which the bishop refused in a media release.
At the end of March it became known that the bishops of the three affected bishoprics were being summoned to Rome. There are various interpretations of the reasons for this. The date of the visit to the new Pope Francis is not publicly known.
Web links
Web presence of the Parish Initiative Switzerland
article collection on kath.ch
International networking
At the end of January 2013, representatives of the various initiatives from Germany, Austria and Switzerland met in Munich to network. It was also announced that the initiatives would also be networked internationally in 2013.
Other similar initiatives exist in the following countries:
Individual evidence
- ^ Pastors launch appeal for disobedience, Luzerner Zeitung, September 17, 2012
- ↑ What we take for granted is an initiative text, on www.pfarrei-initiative.ch, October 29, 2018
- ^ Bishops condemn the Luzerner Zeitung initiative , September 21, 2012
- ↑ Catholic Church: Dissatisfied pastors present Bishop Huonder letters to Southeast Switzerland, January 13, 2013
- ^ Pastors meet with Bishop Büchel in Southeastern Switzerland, January 24, 2013
- ^ Bishop Felix Gmür talks to representatives of the parish initiative Solothurner Zeitung, May 1, 2013
- ↑ To the signatories of the parish initiative in the Diocese of Chur ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 272 kB) Diocese of Chur, February 22, 2013
- ↑ Schwyz Catholics warn Bishop Huonder ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Messenger of Urschweiz, April 27, 2013
- ^ About parish initiative: Bishops to Rome cited Neue Luzerner Zeitung, March 23, 2013
- ^ Reform groups build network on NZZ, January 29, 2013
- ↑ Pastors' initiative to become international ORF, November 26, 2012
