Catholic Church Reform International

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Catholic Church Reform International

Contacts: Rene Reid [775-825-9196], Robert Blair Kaiser [602-942-4342]

Catholic Church Reform International, a network of more than a hundred church organizations and individuals from 65 countries seeking to reform the Roman Catholic Church, has expressed its solidarity with Martha and Gert Heizer of the Austrian group We Are Church in the face of their recent excommunication by Bishop Hermann Scheuer of Innsbruck.

Scheuer excommunicated the Heizers on May14 for celebrating the Eucharist without a priest in their home. The excommunication was approved by Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Heizers rejected the excommunication and intend to continue their work for church reform.Martha has, in fact, been unanimously re-elected as head of We Are Church Austria on June 11.

Other church reform groups such as the Austrian priests Initiative, We Are Church Italy, We Are Church Ireland, and Vision of the Faithful Netherlands have also criticized Bishop Scheuer of Innsbruck for initiating the excommunication.

These groups have pointed out that while the Heizers have been excommunicated for their liturgical practices, not a single priest child abuser has been excommunicated by any bishop or pope anywhere. In fact, Martha Heizer attracted worldwide attention in 1995 when she initiated a grassroots protest signed by more than 500,000 Austrian Catholics to remove Archbishop Hans Hermann Groer of Vienna, who was accused of child sex abuse. Groer resigned in 1995.

Christian Weisner, chairperson of We Are Church Germany, said, “Because of the scarcity of priests, many faithful have come together at home churches and are breaking bread together. Instead of punishing this, the church should be happy about it.”

Catholic Church Reform International, in letters to Bishop Hermann Scheuer of Innsbruck and to Cardinal Gerhard Müller of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, stated: “It appears that this excommunication signals an end of communication and the inability to settle differences of opinions and conflicts in accordance with the Gospel in a kind and loving way….We would like to hear from you the reason why this issue cannot be resolved amicably so that we can overcome the concerns of our members throughout the world and focus on providing input to the upcoming Synod on the Family in October.”