Under Pressure, Austrian Bishop Changes Plan to Honour Late Cardinal Accused of Abusing Boys

Montreal Gazette
April 8, 2013

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Under+pressure+Austrian+bishop+changes+plan+honour+late/8210442/story.html

VIENNA - Reacting to criticism, an Austrian bishop says he has changed his mind and will not attend a memorial Mass for a cardinal accused of molesting young boys.

Agidius Zsifkovics, the bishop of Eisenstadt, was to participate in Monday's Mass marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer. But Zsifkovics says he decided not to "after numerous encounters and discussions over the past days."

Groer stepped down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995 after former theological students accused him of sexual abuse.

After Zsifkovics initially said he would attend the service, a statement on the website of "Those Affected by Churchly Abuse" late last month accused him of planning to honour a man who left "a trail of spiritual destruction."