You would think the Roman Catholic Church in Germany and Austria would want to keep a low profile until the church sex abuse scandal blew over. But the Austrian Bishop Andreas Laun couldn't help but launch an attack on the 21 young people who died in the Love Parade tragedy.
Laun's piece Love-Parade, Sünde und die Strafe Gottes ("Love Parade, Sin and God's Punishment") was published on the Web site KATH.NET:
Das Mitleid mit den Opfern ist eine Sache, eine andere die
Feststellung: „Love – Parade“ und Teilnahme an ihnen sind, abgesehen
von ihrem abstoßenden Erscheinungsbild, objektiv eine Art Aufstand
gegen die Schöpfung und gegen die Ordnung Gottes, sind Sünde und
Einladung zur Sünde!(Sympathy with the victims is one thing; it is something else to conclude that the "Love Parade" and participation in it are – apart from the repulsive images – objectively a kind of a rebellion against creation and against God's order, (which) are sins and an invitation to sin!)
The bishop then turns to the topic of hell and implies that that is where God consigned their souls as punishment – a thought that must only add to the anguish of the families and loved ones of those who died in that terrible tragedy:
Treffend bringt der Prophet Jeremia (2,17) den Sachverhalt auf den
Punkt: „Dein böses Tun straft dich, deine Abtrünnigkeit klagt dich an!“
Jesus hat von der Hölle gesprochen, darum muss auch die Kirche davon
reden. Kann man an einen strafenden Gott glauben? Gegenfrage: „Kann man
einen nicht strafenden Gott glauben, an einen, der keinen Unterschied
macht zwischen Opfer und Täter?“(The prophet Jeremiah was quite succinct in getting to the point: "By your evil deeds you are punished, your apostasy accuses you!" Jesus spoke of hell, that's why the Church must speak of it. Can we believe in a punishing God? Question: "Can not believe a punishing God, to one that makes no distinction between victims and perpetrators?)
The unfortunate words of Bishop Laun point to a church that is in decline, a church that has perverted the meaning of the Gospel and has twisted the "good news" to marginalizing, condemning, and excluding all but the dwindling number of Catholics who blindly follow the unworldly edicts of the Vatican.
For the most part, the press reaction to the bishop's words was disbelief and ridicule. Only the Holocaust-denial site kreuz.net has come out in his defense.
