When the parish priest of Amras, Austria, announced to his congregation that only those in the state of grace should receive communion – no adult came forward. Fr Busskamp had announced that Catholics who are divorced and remarried, or Catholics who do not attend weekly Mass were not worthy to receive Communion.
As the Mass was a First Communion celebration, there were a large number of adults and children present, but only the children came forward at Communion time.
Later Fr Busskamp did comment that he would not have refused Communion to anyone who came forward.
Abbot Raymond Schreier of the Premonstratensian Monastery of Wilten, to which the parish belongs, declared, “It was most unwise of him to act like this at such a ceremony. I have told him that. Behaving like a policeman shows a lack of pastoral sensitivity.”
He acknowledged that it was necessary to keep reminding people of the rules, but that such a situation should have been handled more sensitively.
With reference to the high number of Austrians leaving the Church, one mother of a first communicant was astounded that the few remaining Catholics were being antagonized in this manner.
In June last year, the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, which claims about 400 members, released a document, “Call to Disobedience,” that suggests saying a public prayer at every Mass for church reform; giving Communion to everyone who approaches the altar in good faith, including divorced Catholics who have remarried without an annulment; allowing women to preach at Mass; and supporting the ordination of women and married men.
While making it clear he could not allow an “appeal to disobedience” to stand because it “disrupts church unity,” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna gave the dissenting priests time to reflect. He said he hoped for an “amicable” solution.