Church must “shape the transition” not “manage the downfall”

Viennese theologian

Viennese theologian Paul Zulehner (pictured) is convinced that even though churches are increasingly less relevant in today’s world, they still have the ability to help society with today’s problems.

Carrying on in the same old way won’t achieve this, he points out. But churches can be “sparring partners for those seeking meaning” or “midwives of hope” in a world filled with fear, he suggests.

Catholic without attending Mass

Zulehner sees a future where the usual worship gatherings in ageing parish communities won’t be sufficient.

The Catholic Church is in the midst of a “turning point” he says. It’s going from a church of priests to one of baptismal vocations.

He refers to an online survey which the Austrian Partners Initiative set up and conducted earlier this year.

Kathpress says Zulehner presented the study’s first results in lectures in Vienna and Salzburg. He found in the “priestly church” the parish community centres on the priest, while in the “baptismal vocation church” it centres on the people of God.

Those who represent the former prove to be far more resistant to structural reforms.

The image of the Church has changed, he says.

The study pointed to strong agreement with the statement “You can be a good Christian even without Sunday Mass” – a blatant contradiction to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

In the baptismal vocation Church, celebrations of the Word led by women and men were accepted enthusiastically he says. The celebration of the Eucharist was called into question as the “source and culmination of Christian life” according to the Vatican Council.

Get on with it, reinvent

Zulehner would like to see more honesty in the Church.

It is better to admit that the main motive for structural reforms is a lack of money than to conceal dwindling resources and to put forward religious reasons, he says.

As the Kathpress press agency reported on Tuesday this week, the Viennese theologian and sociologist of religion explained: “Then it will be easier to be honest about who decides and what priorities play a role in the decisions”.

He also notes the Church is losing its political power, which harms people and society.

The Church must not “manage the downfall”, but must “shape the transition”. In this way, he opposed an “exhausting, even paralysing church depression”.

Challenges like wars, the climate crisis, migration and “robotisation” are issues Churches should engage with from a political perspective, he suggests.

To achieve this, Zulehner says “convinced Christians” are needed.

Their role will be to go into municipal councils, the Council of Europe, and the UN and bring the Gospel into concrete politics.

“Churches are not party-political, but politically partisan” he says.

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