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There is a rumbling in the Roman Catholic Church in Austria: With a “call to disobedience”, more than 300 pastors supporting Helmut Schüller have provided enough gun powder to ignite internal discussions in the church. In recent weeks the church leadership has called for the members of the priest-initiative to remember the vow that they took when they were ordained: They promised to respect and obey their bishop. However, if one reads the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia, or carefully studies the writings of Ignatius of Loyola, they will find other aspects: Obedience is first and foremost listening to God and includes one’s own conscience, and is thus also a critical corrective to simply executing the commands of men. Obedience also means putting aside personal preferences and observing common goals, to not consider oneself as more important than others in order to serve the larger community. What exactly does “obedience” mean in the Christian sense? Why is obedience so important for the Church? And why does the call to “disobedience” upset the Church so much?
Director: Julia Wallnöfer
BROADCAST DATE: 4. October, 10:30 p.m., ORF 2
