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	Stirrings of Rebellion By Elena Curti The Tablet July 8, 2011 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogsub.php?id=148&ti=17 We've had it in Ireland and now it has emerged with even more vigour in Austria: Groups of priests are taking a stand on issues they feel their superiors have got wrong. In Ireland, the 400-strong Association of Catholic Priests have been waging a campaign against the new translation of the Mass for months. In Austria we report this week that 250 priests have challenged church authority by saying - among other things - that they will give Communion to non-Catholics and support the ordination of women and married men. It's no coincidence that these stirrings are happening in Ireland and Austria, both Catholic countries that in recent years have seen truly appalling cases of clerical sex abuse and cover-up. In Ireland there has been a series of independent reports that have set out the true scale and horror of what has happened. The latest on the Diocese of Cloyne is due to be published on Wednesday. Austria has the unhappy distinction of being the only country to have a cardinal - Hans Hermann Wilhelm Groer - exposed as an abuser. In both countries Catholics have abandoned the Church in droves, vocations have all but dried up and the dwindling number of priests have been asked to shoulder more and more work as parishes close or amalgamate. Significant minorities of priests - not all of a liberal bent - have been watching developments from Rome with dismay. Among other things they have chafed at is the Vatican's outreach to the Society of St Pius X and the welcome to married former Anglican clergy to become Catholics priests in the new ordinariate (and the possibility of ordaining married lay men as priests on a case by case basis) while the celibacy rule for Catholic men seems set in stone. Much is being done by the Vatican to accommodate conservative minorities whether it be those attached to the Tridentine Rite or disaffected Anglicans. For many Catholics in Austria and Ireland the importance attached to these developments is incomprehensible. The arguments being put forward by the Irish and Austrian priests will resonate with many faithful who having witnessed the damage wrought by a once authoritarian and clericalist mentality in their countries now also want to see things move in a wholly different direction.
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