https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Austria in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed The Austrian town of Saalfelden in the state of Salzburg is looking for someone to live in a nearby hermitage which was built more than 350 years ago in steep, rocky cliffs. https://www.thelocal.at/20170113/wanted-part-time-hermit-to-live-in-austrian-cave Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:08:13 +0100 wanted-part-time-hermit-to-live-in-austrian-cave The historic Alpine village of Hallstatt in Austria’s Salzkammergut Lake Region has started to employ ‘bouncers’ at church doors and cemeteries to prevent tourists from disrupting services and funerals. https://www.thelocal.at/20170112/bouncers-guard-hallstatts-church-doors-to-keep-tourists-away Thu, 12 Jan 2017 13:34:58 +0100 bouncers-guard-hallstatts-church-doors-to-keep-tourists-away A teacher in Austria is suing the church after receiving comments about her good looks and then being sacked after she remarried following a divorce. https://www.thelocal.at/20160316/austrian-pretty-teacher-sues-church-after-being-humilated-and-fired-vienna Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:19:23 +0100 austrian-pretty-teacher-sues-church-after-being-humilated-and-fired-vienna A Catholic priest from Lower Austria who had what he claims was a consensual love affair with a younger man has been sentenced to four years in prison for rape and sexual assault. https://www.thelocal.at/20160108/priest-sentenced-for-rape-and-assault Fri, 08 Jan 2016 12:03:36 +0100 priest-sentenced-for-rape-and-assault Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria has been hit by a sex scandal after a drunken monk was arrested after reportedly having sex with a minor on May 11th in Linz. https://www.thelocal.at/20150601/drunk-monk-had-sex-with-minor Mon, 01 Jun 2015 18:39:01 +0200 drunk-monk-had-sex-with-minor Two South African men charged with the rape and murder of a 86-year-old Austrian-born nun pleaded guilty on Tuesday, saying they had broken into the convent to steal food. https://www.thelocal.at/20150513/south-african-men-plead-guilty-to-rape-and-murder-of-nun Wed, 13 May 2015 11:32:01 +0200 south-african-men-plead-guilty-to-rape-and-murder-of-nun South African police said on Tuesday they had arrested three people for the rape and murder of an 86-year-old nun of Austrian origin nearly two weeks ago. https://www.thelocal.at/20150428/suspects-arrested-in-austrian-nun-murder Tue, 28 Apr 2015 22:56:53 +0200 suspects-arrested-in-austrian-nun-murder Police in South Africa are investigating whether an 86-year-old Austrian nun found murdered in a convent had also been raped. https://www.thelocal.at/20150423/murdered-austrian-nun-may-have-been-raped Thu, 23 Apr 2015 14:51:19 +0200 murdered-austrian-nun-may-have-been-raped A pair of angels that were stolen from a parish church in Voitsberg, Styria in 2002 have finally been returned after 13 years. https://www.thelocal.at/20150422/missing-angels-returned-to-parish-church-after-13-years Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:12:24 +0200 missing-angels-returned-to-parish-church-after-13-years Three drunk men were arrested after they stole money from a donation box during a church service in Vienna on Saturday evening and an outraged congregation stopped them from leaving. https://www.thelocal.at/20150413/drunks-stole-collection-box-during-church-service Mon, 13 Apr 2015 12:24:22 +0200 drunks-stole-collection-box-during-church-service A priest in Vorarlberg, in the west of Austria, has been slammed for “gross misconduct” after justifying priestly celibacy by alluding to Hitler’s infamous manifesto Mein Kampf. https://www.thelocal.at/20150408/priest-in-hot-water-after-mein-kampf-comparison Wed, 08 Apr 2015 12:17:18 +0200 priest-in-hot-water-after-mein-kampf-comparison An Austrian priest gave his congregation a surprise during a church service on Easter Monday in Donawitz, Styria, when he announced that he was giving up the priesthood to marry a woman he’d been having a relationship with for years. https://www.thelocal.at/20150407/priest-quits-church-to-marry-secret-lover Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:40:05 +0200 priest-quits-church-to-marry-secret-lover A sleep-deprived architect from Linz, Upper Austria, is appealing to the Pope in an effort to stop the cathedral bell near his home ringing during the night and disturbing his rest. https://www.thelocal.at/20150205/austrian-appeals-to-pope-to-stop-cathedral-bell Thu, 05 Feb 2015 11:32:00 +0100 austrian-appeals-to-pope-to-stop-cathedral-bell On the last school day before Christmas holidays, a school's vice-principal cancelled a planned school trip to Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral, because ten of the 23 students in the class are Muslims - and he was afraid they might cause damage to the church and its crosses. https://www.thelocal.at/20150106/school-director-bans-muslim-class-from-church-trip Tue, 06 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0100 school-director-bans-muslim-class-from-church-trip The bells of St Martins may soon fall silent if Pastor Reinhard Bell in Mühlkreis (Upper Austria) has his way, according to a report in Austria's largest circulation news daily, Kronen Zeitung. https://www.thelocal.at/20141208/ask-not-for-whom-the-bell-tolls Mon, 08 Dec 2014 18:20:00 +0100 ask-not-for-whom-the-bell-tolls Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger is a 58-year-old Austrian ex-nun, who made headlines when she was excommunicated by Rome in 2002. She spoke to The Local about her life and faith. https://www.thelocal.at/20141111/the-female-priest-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-vatican Tue, 11 Nov 2014 13:11:00 +0100 the-female-priest-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-vatican A young woman who made two porn films in a church in her village in Upper Austria will appear before Linz’s Regional Court on December 11th. https://www.thelocal.at/20141111/church-porn-shoot-actress-to-appear-in-court Tue, 11 Nov 2014 12:06:00 +0100 church-porn-shoot-actress-to-appear-in-court Defectors from a Catholic community called The Work (Das Werk), which is based in Bregenz in the west of Austria, have spoken out about abuse in the community. https://www.thelocal.at/20141110/life-in-austrian-catholic-community-was-hell Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:55:00 +0100 life-in-austrian-catholic-community-was-hell Austria’s High Court has rejected an appeal by the former head of a Catholic boarding school run by Kremsmünster Abbey who was found guilty of child abuse. https://www.thelocal.at/20141106/defrocked-priest-fails-to-appeal-abuse-sentence Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:55:00 +0100 defrocked-priest-fails-to-appeal-abuse-sentence Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has said that he knows some "marvellous" gays, amid a fierce debate in the Church over proposed reforms in attitudes to homosexuality. https://www.thelocal.at/20141017/austrian-cardinal-knows-some-marvellous-gays Fri, 17 Oct 2014 10:52:00 +0200 austrian-cardinal-knows-some-marvellous-gays