Two Farewells in the Austrian Church

In recent days the Church in Austria has bade farewell to two of its bishops. On January 13th, the Very Reverend Bishop Andreas Laun, O.S.F.S., formerly auxiliary bishop of Salzburg, was laid to rest in that city. On January 18th a Mass was celebrated in Vienna to bid farewell to His Eminence Christoph Cardinal Schönborn. Cardinal Schönborn is still among the living, and celebrated his farewell Mass himself. His resignation had not yet been accepted on January 18th, but it was expected that his resignation would be accepted today, January 22nd, his 80th birthday (as has now indeed come to pass). The two farewells contrasted in a number of ways.

Requiem for Bishop Laun in Salzburg

Bishop Laun’s Requiem was celebrated with noble dignity (by Novus Ordo standards)—with black Baroque vestments, and the singing of Mozart’s Requiem. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Lackner of Salzburg, with the sermon preached by Cardinal Erdő of Budapest. Among the prelates present were Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Bishop Marian Eleganti. Bishop Laun was a courageous defender of the Church's moral teaching—especially on the sanctity of human life (against abortion and euthanasia) and of the marriage bond (against fornication, contraception, homosexual intercourse, etc.). And he never shied away from conflict with the Austrian establishment. Of him it could be truly said: terrana non metuit, he did not fear earthly things. The congregation collected much of what there is of conservative Catholicism in Austria and Southern Germany. A great many pro-life activists were present—including a pro-life Austrian MP whom he recruited to the pro-life cause when she was a teenager. There were also many traditionalists there. Bishop Laun was a good friend to traditionalists, celebrating the traditional Mass on a number of occasions.

Farewell Mass for Cardinal Schönborn in Vienna

Cardinal Schönborn’s farewell Mass was rather different. It was celebrated in the style of the ‘big event Masses,’ much beloved of professional liturgy planners in the German speaking world. It had an ecumenical commemoration of Baptism at the beginning, an odd ceremony of passing the Gospel book around the Congregation, as well as other innovations. The music and vestments were modern and ugly. The congregation included the Austrian president (former head of the Green Party), the federal chancellor (a centrist), the socialist mayor of Vienna, and many other prominent representatives of the Austrian mainstream. A testimony to the harmonious relationship that Cardinal Schönborn has cultivated with the Austrian establishment.

Cardinal Schönborn is a profound thinker and theologian, capable of expressing the Church’s teaching very clearly at times. But as Archbishop he was shy of conflict, and at times evaded expressing the Church’s teachings on controversial matters by circumlocution, tergiversation, and misleading ambiguities.

The Holy Father accepted Cardinal Schönborn’s resignation today, appointing an apostolic administrator to serve until a successor is appointed. 

It is to be hoped that the late Bishop Laun is interceding at the throne of God for the Church in Austria, that a new Archbishop might be appointed to Vienna who does not fear earthly things, but only God alone.