"Austrian Dissident Catholics Urged -Maintain Church Unity"/Christian Century

http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-11/austrias-dissident-catholics-urged-maintain-church-unity
Nov 17, 2011 by Jonathan Luxmoore

..." In their 10 November declaration, the bishops rejected a 5 November call by Austria's We Are Church movement for laypeople to preside at Mass and celebrate the Eucharist. The bishops were also reacting to a July "Call to Disobedience" signed by 250 of Austria's 4,200 Roman Catholic priests, urging the ordination of women priests and distribution of Communion to non-Catholics and remarried divorcees...Hans Peter Hurka, We Are Church's chairman, told ENInews that Austria's bishops had pledged to hold a dialogue with Catholic clergy, but had rejected calls for a discussion of New Testament guidelines. He added that 505,000 Austrians had signed the movement's founding petition in 1995, adding that recent opinion surveys suggested 80 percent now backed its demands."All of this is seen as irrelevant by the bishops -- they don't seem to realize the train has already left and they're still standing on the platform," the lay Catholic said. "The situation is now beyond church control and the dangers of a schism are very real..."

Bridget Mary's Reflection
The "holy shakeup" continues to grow and Catholics worldwide are joining the movement for ality for gender justice in the church. Obviously, the priests of Austria and Ireland are leading the way toward a renewed priestly ministry in union with the people of God, not the backward slide to the clerical culture of the Medieval world that promotes a "magical" approach that focuses on the special powers of the priest to "confect" the sacraments, and the indulgences that the laity gain by attending  certain  churches and saying specfic prayers. These devotions indicate that the Catholic believers in the pew's primary responsibility was to pray, obey and pay ( as in make an offering for candles lit etc). Note that Pope Benedict promotes indulgenes today for certain devotional practices including pilgrimages to sacred sites.
The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests  focus on being living witnesses of the Gospel of compassion in serving our sisters and brothers, especially those in most need and in challenging structures that keep people on the margins and impoverished- we are called to speak truth to power, like Jesus did, so that justice will be a reality for God's people. Ordination is not about us, it is about being catalysts for justice in church and world!
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
sofiabmm@aol.com