Hope For Gay Catholics? Top Cardinal OKs Openly Gay Man To Serve On Parish Council
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, who has close ties with Pope Benedict XVI, has overruled a local decision that had blocked a gay man from taking his place on a parish council in a northern Austrian town. Are the winds changing for gays in the Catholic Church?
From Pain In The Ass Herd To Farm Calendar Pin-Up, A Blind Donkey's Holiday Tale
Noldi, an eight-month-old domesticated ass, was born blind on a Swiss farm, and was never accepted by his herd, as he struggled to avoid running into obstacles. Farmers considered putting him down, until an outcry from animal rights groups led to a happy ending in Austria.
A Four-Star Vienna Hotel, Formerly A Hellish Orphanage
Shock is spreading across Austria where allegations are emerging of systemic violence, sexual abuse and child prostitution dating from the 1970s in Schloss Wilhelminenberg, a Vienna foster home. Some Austrian leaders want to change the statute of limitations for such cases.
An Open Clergy Rebellion In Austria’s Catholic Church
Hundreds of Austrian priests are challenging the standing leadership of Pope Benedict XVI and the local bishops, demanding modern-day answers to issues like communion for divorced people, women in the church hierarchy, and the taboo of priests who have a partner and children.
Austria's 1970s-Era “Ghost” Plant That Never Opened, Now A Global Symbol Of Nuclear Resistance
Long before Fukushima, or even Chernobyl, Austrians pulled the plug on nuclear power with a 1978 referendum. The physical legacy of that narrow vote is a completed - but never used - power plant called Zwentendorf, now open to the public.
Walk, Fast, Heal: Finding The Meaning Of Life In The Austrian Alps
The Kneipp spa-hotels in Austrian offer wellness holidays with a difference: the resorts are run by an order of nuns and base their holistic treatments on a tradition founded 100 years ago by a Roman Catholic priest.
Siege Of Sarajevo Redux: An Appeal To Free General Divjak
Jovan Divjak, who led Bosnia's defense in the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo, has been arrested in Austria on a Serbian warrant. Top French intellectuals demand his release, calling European policy on the Balkans a continuing “affront to reason.”