Vienna, Austria Cuts 75 % of Parishes/ Needed Women Priests in Austria and Elsewhere!

 There would be no shortage of priests in the Roman Catholic Church if the church would embrace the gifts of prophetic women, like Bishop Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger from Austria and the approximately 150 women priests in the international movement who are leading the way to a more just and egalitarian church. (Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp, www.arcwp.org)

"The 660 parishes in the Archdiocese of Vienna are to be drastically reduced over the next 10 years to just 150. The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, made the announcement to a startled audience of journalists at the annual media reception at the archbishops' palace on 20 September. The main factors behind the restructuring are the declining number of churchgoing Catholics and the shortage of priests. Parishes in the archdiocese will in future be much larger, with three to five priests in charge, one of whom will be responsible to the archbishop. Each of these large parishes will be run jointly by priests and lay Catholics.
Cardinal Schönborn described the move as "probably the greatest structural reorganisation of the Vienna archdiocese for 200 years". "