Dr. Eduard Hapsburg Speaks on Church Crisis in Austria

On the afternoon of October 27th, Dr. Eduard Hapsburg spoke with Franciscan University students about the crisis of faith in the church of Austria.

With his perfect English, engaging personality, and personal experience working for the Austrian Catholic church, he electrified the room of students with some astonishing facts:

- that many confirmation candidates in Austria are unable to recite the Our Father
- in this historic bastion of Catholicism, adoration and confession are in many places taboo
- that priests are lonely, hopeless, overburdened, overworked, and under-appreciated
- that the contemporary situation in Austria is similar to the 7th century when the first Benedictines came to Christianize the land.  Austria is back to ground zero and is in need of missionaries again.
- that an overwhelming majority of Catholics are unable to explain the basic tenets of their faith, even those which work for the church.
- that there is an extraordinary church bureaucracy of over 60,000 employees, many which are without faith and working only to enjoy the salary and social benefits of a comfortable job.

He spoke of the need to pray, do penance, and encouraged lay missionaries to give their witness and talent to the German speaking lands.  He also spoke of Church wealth, the Church-Tax, and monolithic church bureaucracy which has become too comfortable and complacent.

But, even so, the current church structure is crumbling, he asserted.  Furthermore, he spoke of a new church organization which was beginning and would evolve over the coming years.

In the end, while the situation is dire, there is still hope, he professed.  Going back to the Reformation, he reminded the students that practically the whole land converted to Protestantism, before returning back to its Catholic roots. It has been worse.  In the past, it was easy to "go with the flow" of religion.  But, in today's climate, it is different.  Going with the flow means getting swept away in secular culture, not in the current of the church.  As such, tepid and lukewarm Christians will slowly trickle out of the church.  Nevertheless, pruned, it will grow again, it will grow anew.

As a final call to action, Hapsburg challenged all students, "If you don't speak of Christ, who will? Each one of you must be missionaries and speak about your Christian faith."