Award For Promoting "Freedom in the Church" by Dr. Patricia Fresen, RCWP

AWARD FOR PROMOTING "FREEDOM IN THE CHURCH"

On April 2nd 2011 in the Danube City Church in Vienna, more than 300 people gathered for
the conferring of an Award given by the Herbart Haag Foundation to people who have made a significant
contribution towards promoting Freedom in the Church. It was awarded to the leading bishop in the
Underground Church in Czechoslovakia during the communist regime, which ended in 1989.
(Czechoslovakia was later, in 1993, divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

The prize was awarded posthumously to Bishop Felix Davidek who died in 1988, so it was
accepted on Davidek's behalf by another bishop who had been ordained by Davidek.
Davidek was the leader of the Underground Church, the group that kept the church alive in the
face of brutal persecution by the communists. However, when the communist regime came to
an end, the Vatican, instead of recognizing the courage and prophetic action of those who had
led the Underground Church, silenced them. The reason? They ordained married men and also
women - the unforgivable sin.

In an article about the Czech church and this Award, in the church journal Kirche In, the heading is:
"What the Communists began, the Vatican has completed". As the Czech bishop said when he spoke:
We were called the Underground Church, now we are the Silent Church. And it was not the communists
who silenced us, but the Vatican".

Ludmila Javarova, who is now 80, was also present and she received a standing ovation when she
was called to the podium. She was ordained by Davidek and served as his Vicar General. It was wonderful
to experience the enthusiasm of the 300 people present for Ludmila as a woman priest. However, there
was not a single bishop or other official church representative present at the ceremony, other than a
bishop from the Czech Republic. There was no-one from the Vatican, neither the papal nuncio nor
Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna - they were all conspicuous by their absence. In contrast, there were
many younger people there, filled with conviction and enthusiasm for the prophetic stance of the church
during the communist regime. They also clearly had no problem at all with women priests.

Professor Hans Küng was the chairman of the ceremony and he presented the Award to the bishop and to
Ludmila.

Dr. Hans Jorissen, emeritus professor at the university of Bonn, spoke about the many ways in
which the official church tried to discredit Davidek. The most serious allegation against him was that he was
seriously schizophrenic - and therefore, the Vatican maintains, the ordinations done by him are questionable,
if not outright invalid. However, it has since been established that Davidek never had any form of psychological
testing, let alone being diagnosed - and those who knew him vouch for his soundness of mind and heart. This
allegation was simply one of several nasty attempts to deny the validity of the ordinations of the married men
and especially of the women ordained by Davidek, even though these were done in a time of desperate need
in a persecuted underground church.

The entire event was an unforgettable experience of hope and of the people moving forward in the church
despite the hierarchy, who are simply being left behind. It was clear that the more the ordination of women is
condemned by the Vatican, the more the people of God are opening their minds and hearts to its possibility.
And the more the Vatican hurls excommunications, silencing, suspensions and condemnations at anyone
who dares to differ in the slightest from the law they lay down, the more they are making themselves irrelevant.
The church of the baptized is coming into its own!