From the Ekonom:east Media Group: Roman Catholics in Vienna still protest over giving church to SPC

Members of the Roman Catholic parish of Neulerchenfeld in Vienna, whose church will be given as a present to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), are continuing to protest the decision of the Archdiocese of Vienna.

After collecting signatures against the decision, parish members – mostly of Polish descent – organized a protest in downtown Vienna late last year, and are now threatening disobedience to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Neulerchenfeld parish does not want to comply with the decision of Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schonborn, and 800 of its members were very surprised when the gift was made official with a contract earlier this month.

The parishioners claim they were not informed about the signing of the contract between the Archdiocese of Vienna and the Serb Orthodox church of St. Sava.

In a statement to the media, they said they will continue to fight for their church, and might stop paying church taxes.

The Archdiocese of Vienna and the Serb Orthodox church in Vienna signed a deal at the start of the year that the Roman Catholic church in Neulerchenfeld will be given as a gift to SPC.

The church is set to replace the Temple of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, located in Vienna’s 17th district, which was too small to hold all of the faithful. The church in Neulerchenfeld, also dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was built between 1733 and 1753.

The church given as a present is much bigger that the current Serbian Orthodox church and can hold over 1,000 people.

And from CWNews via ByzCath: Vienna: laity protest cardinal’s gift of parish to Serbian Orthodox

The laity of a largely Polish parish in Vienna are protesting Cardinal Christoph Schönborn’s decision to give their parish to the Serbian Orthodox Church. Pfarre Neulerchenfeld was constructed between 1733 and 1753. Austria’s largest newspaper reports that the parish has far higher Sunday Mass attendance than many other area parishes.

A parish with a large Sunday attendance of 800 plus, mostly Poles, is given away while other parishes with sparse attendance remain empty. What is interesting is that this is being done by an Austrian Bishop. Putting together some historical antecedents, something special to Poles is being taken from them by an Austrian, and given to what is in effect Russians. It would only be more ironic if the Austrians sent in German police to remove the Poles.

I am stressing the irony here to make a point. First, that these sorts of things remain in historical memory. Second, that the Roman corporate sole model of church property administration yields actions like these.

It is also unfortunate that a strong group of faithful in a living parish (not declining, priest-less, and empty) is being forced out by a bishop with absolute control, and without consultation. This general mode of operation in the Roman Church is becoming more and more familiar as church closings become more widespread. It remains that the only model capable of overcoming control structures like these is the democratic Church model as practiced within the PNCC.