Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising (pictured) issued his apology on March 13 at a liturgy celebrating the 20th anniversary of a monthly LGBTQ Mass held in the archdiocese.

Speaking at the Mass at St Paul parish church, the cardinal said: "How many injuries we've caused in the life stories of many people, that touches me.

"I desire an inclusive Church. A Church that includes all who want to walk the way of Jesus."

The 68-year-old prelate, a member of Pope Francis' Council of Cardinal Advisers, also said: "The kingdom of God is to discover that God is Love — in all its dimensions." This included the sexual dimension but was not limited to it, he added.

"All human relationships must be marked by the primacy of Love. Then they can be accepted by God," he said.

Marx commented that a synodal Church means being open, learning and always breaking out anew in faith in the search for the "possibilities of God."

At a gathering after the Mass, Marx expanded, suggesting the "overwhelming majority" of German bishops agreed changes were needed on LGBTQ issues. He said it was a "huge issue" for the global church and is ultimately about "a paradigm shift."

Several German prelates have called publicly for changes in the Church's stance on homosexuality. There have also been similar appeals in neighbouring Austria.

German bishops who have so far publicly voiced support for blessing same-sex unions include Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen and Bishop Heinrich Timmerervers of Dresden-Meißen.

Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German bishops' conference, called in December 2020 for changes to the section on homosexuality in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This was promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 as an authoritative guide to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

According to CNA Deutsch, Bätzing said that he believed a change to the Catechism was necessary, expressing openness to blessings of homosexual unions, saying "we need solutions for this."

Sources

Catholic News Agency

New Ways Ministry

The Catholic archbishop of Munich and Freising discussed the possibility of a second resignation offer in a letter issued on July 23. He read out in churches in the archdiocese at the weekend, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner.

"I do not understand my service as a bishop as an office that belongs to me and that I have to defend, but as a mission for the people of this archdiocese and as a service to the unity of the Church," he wrote.

Read More

In his letter Francis says he agrees with Marx that Catholic leaders cannot adopt an "ostrich policy" in the face of the clerical sexual abuse crisis.

"If you are tempted to think that, by confirming your mission and not accepting your resignation, this Bishop of Rome (your brother who loves you) does not understand you, think of what Peter felt before the Lord when, in his own way, he presented him with his resignation: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinner,' and listen to the answer: ‘Shepherd my sheep.'"

"I am moved by the comprehensiveness and the very brotherly tone of his letter and feel how much he understands and has accepted my request. In obedience I accept his decision as I promised him," says Marx.

Nonetheless, he says he is finding the pope's decision to be a great challenge.

"After that, simply going back to the agenda cannot be the way for me and also not for the archdiocese," he says.

Rather than stick with the status quo, Marx says he plans to reflect on "what new ways we can go - even in the face of a history of multiple failures - to proclaim and witness to the Gospel" in the Munich archdiocese.

"The bishop [Francis] is not alone in this and in the next few weeks I will think about how we can together contribute even more to the renewal of the Church here in our archdiocese and as a whole; because the pope takes up much of what I mentioned in my letter to him and gives us important impulses.

"What I also underlined in my declaration remains: that I have to bear personal responsibility and also have an ‘institutional responsibility,' especially in view of those affected [by clerical sexual abuse], whose perspective needs to be included even more effectively."

Catholic commentator Robert Mickens says Francis's refusal to accept Marx's letter of resignation will be a major blow to doctrinal hardliners, neo-traditionalists and the Catholic Church's "no change" crowd.

Marx is "one of the most energetic and forceful proponents of ecclesial reform through synodality, a process of wide-ranging consultation of all the Church's members that Francis is trying to make constitutive of Roman Catholicism," Mickens says.

German bishops' conference chairman Bishop Georg Bätzing and Thomas Sternberg, president of the influential lay Central Committee of German Catholics, are pleased Marx won't be resigning.

Sternberg says Francis's letter of resignation showed "that the alleged dissatisfaction with the ‘Synodal Way' in Germany does not correspond to the multi-layered reality."

He was referring to the controversial multi-year process bringing together bishops and lay people to discuss four main topics: the way power is exercised in the Church; sexual morality; the priesthood; and the role of women.

Marx himself has not been accused of abuse but says he must bear personal responsibility as well as bear an "institutional responsibility" for the church's handling of clergy sexual abuse.

On May 31, CathNews reported Pope Francis ordered an apostolic visitation of the Archdiocese of Cologne, in Germany, to examine the pastoral situation and the handling of sexual abuse cases.

The archdiocese said that the pope's apostolic visitors would evaluate "possible mistakes" made by its leader, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.

Woelki has faced calls to resign since the archdiocese controversially declined to publish a report by the Munich law firm Westphal Spilker Wastl.

Source

• CNA
• La Croix
• NCR
• CathNews
• Image: DW

The Church is at a "dead end" and the reputation of its bishops has, possibly, never been lower, his resignation letter says.

The pope gave Marx permission to make his letter of 21 May public.

"It is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by Church officials over the past decades," the letter says.

While there are many reasons for the crisis in Germany and the whole world, "this [sex abuse] crisis has also been caused by our own failure, by our own guilt.

"This has become clearer and clearer to me looking at the Catholic Church as a whole, not only today but also in the past decades. My impression is that we are at a ‘dead end' which, and this is my paschal hope, also has the potential of becoming a ‘turning point'.

"Everyone must assume responsibility in whatever way they think right," he wrote.

Marx challenges his fellow bishops to use the opportunity of the Church's mishandling of abuse scandal to save the Church and reform it.

The German synodal path for church reform "will come about more easily if the Church learns its lesson from the [abuse] crisis. It is a matter of renewal and of reforming the Church," he says.

A large number of Germany's 68 bishops - including the bishops' conference head - say they respect Marx's decision.

So far there has been no comment from the Vatican.

However, the head of Germany's lay Catholics, Thomas Sternberg, says he is "shattered" by Marx's resignation.

Marx initiated the German synodal path for church reform with him in December 2019. "Should the Pope accept his resignation, that will leave a huge hole in the German Church", Sternberg says.

Fr Mark Butaye from the Belgian bishops' conference, has written an open letter to the pope begging him not to accept Marx's resignation and to allow him to continue with the German synodal path for church reform.

Butaye says Marx has the "full support" of Czech theologian Fr Tomas Halik and Austrian pastoral theologian Fr Paul Zulehner.

The French bishops' conference president says Marx's letter to the Pope "gives the reason for his decision - but it is his aloneness that impresses me."

Until Pope Francis reached a decision as to Marx's future (as he has to approve his resignation for it to take effect), Marx will remain in office and carry out his usual duties.

Source

• The Tablet
• Religion News Service
• Image: Crux Now

Cardinal Reinhard Marx says he wrote to German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday, declining to accept Germany's only federal decoration.

He was scheduled to receive the Federal Cross of Merit at Berlin's Bellevue Palace today, April 30.

In his letter to Steinmeier, Marx said he was convinced declining the honour was the right step.

He explained his move was in consideration of those "obviously offended by the award and especially ...the survivors [of sexual abuse],".

Furthermore, he didn't want to draw negative attention to other award recipients or the office of the Federal President, he said.

"The criticism that is now being expressed by people who are affected by sexual abuse in the area of ​​the Church, I take very seriously, regardless of the accuracy of the individual statements in open letters and in the media."

In an open letter to Steinmeier, a member of the Affected Persons Advisory Board of Cologne archdiocese urged Steinmeier to withhold the honour.

Peter Bringmann-Henselder - himself a recipient of the Order of Merit with Star for his work on behalf of abuse survivors, said he would hand back his own medal if the award to Marx went ahead.

If Marx were to receive the Federal Cross of Merit, it would call "everything into question for which we fight and work," he wrote.

"Otherwise, everyone who has already been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for their services to the victims of sexualized violence should return it, as it will lose its actual value, the honor of a meritorious activity, when it is awarded to Cardinal Marx."

Bringmann-Henselder added that he has the support of other Affected Persons Advisory Board members.

"We do not understand how you can award Cardinal Marx the Federal Cross of Merit, a man who is still criticized for not having consistently investigated cases of sexualized violence in his former diocese of Trier and who is accused of covering up cases in that context."

As archbishop of Munich and Freising, Marx had so far failed to publish a 2010 report on cases of sexualized violence in the archdiocese, Bringmann-Henselder continued.

This contrasts, he commented, to the Archdiocese of Cologne's 800-page Gercke Report, which was issued in March this year.

Marx has not responded directly to Bringmann-Henselder's letter's claims about the 2010 report.

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is reportedly planning to publish a new study documenting cases of sexualized violence between 1945 and 2019.

Marx says he hopes his decision not to receive the honour would show "that further processing and, if possible, healing in the area of ​​sexual abuse in Church and society remains an important concern for me."

Source

• Catholic World Report
• Image: DW

Cardinal Reinhard Marx said the not-for-profit organization Spes et Salus (Hope and Healing) would see the Catholic Church engaged in helping victims process their experiences.

Marx said his contribution constituted "by far the largest part" of his personal wealth.

He added the foundation should complement the church's commitment to prevention and to coming to terms with and acknowledging the suffering of abuse victims.

"Sexual abuse in the area of responsibility of the church is a crime," Marx said.

"It destroys the lives of many people and means heavy burdens for those directly affected, but also their families and friends."

According to a report commissioned by the Catholic Church 1670 priests (4.4% of Catholic clerics) abused 3677 people between 1946 and 2014 in Germany. Most of the victims were boys.

"The church system as a whole has become guilty here," said Marx. "Abuse has systemic causes and consequences."

According to the regulations of the Bavarian Concordat, Marx receives €164,000 before tax annually from the state government in his role as archbishop. Marx said he had always tried to manage the money allocated to him in his various posts.

Marx caused controversy with the 2019 announcement of a "binding synodal process". It was undertaken as a reaction to German Catholicism's rapidly diminishing numbers.

The Cardinal said the decline was a result of three key issues arising largely from the clerical abuse crisis. These were - priestly celibacy, the Church's teaching on sexual morality, and a reduction of clerical power.

Critics countered the "synodal way" would lead to a relaxing of the Catholic Church's position on priestly celibacy and homosexuality. Marx has also met opposition from some German bishops.

In June 2019, Pope Francis weighed in through a letter to the German bishops.

He reminded them they don't walk alone, but with the universal Church. The pontiff also stated a "structural" reform, simply changing to adapt to modern times, is not the solution.

Sources

Deutsche Welle

Crux

DE24 News

The new president says throughout the Church's recent history, "different popes have explained and underlined that women's access to the priesthood cannot be decided by the Church and Pope Francis is no exception."

"In the Catholic Church the magisterium of the episcopal college cum Petro et sub Petro [with Peter and under Peter] is the decisive instance.

"But that does not mean that we cannot continue to talk about the issue of the ordination of women, because it is a question presented by the Church itself."

The Church's reasons for refusing women's ordination "are no longer accepted" by large portions of the Catholic faithful, Bätzing notes.

Germany's new bishops' conference leader says he's happy the conclusions of a two-year "synodal path" in Germany eventually will be sent to Rome, including their resolutions on women and the role of ministers.

"I believe that what is expressed synodally must also be clarified and a synodal answer be found, not simply the answer of a Roman dicastery! I am confident in this," he said, adding, "This is the novelty which, with Pope Francis, has gained strength."

Bätzing, who took over leading the German bishops' conference from the often provocative Cardinal Reinhard Marx, is tasked with leading the German Church through the conclusion of its much-discussed "synodal path."

The "synodal path" partly responds to a call to restore trust, after a September 2018 church-commissioned report detailed thousands of clerical sex abuse cases spanning 60 years.

The "synodal path" is a joint initiative of the Central Committee of German Catholics and the bishops' conference.

Launched in November 2019, the two-year discussion is focusing on topics like the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the role of women in the church, married priests, the priesthood and clerical sexual abuse.

Speaking of the need for reform in the Catholic Church in Germany, Bätzing says the bishops launched their "synodal path" because "we want to question ourselves and look for what God has to tell us at this time, and how we can make our Church close to people and to the service of life."

"Many topics are also urgent in other countries. So, we will bring our reflections to Rome.

"There will not be a special German process, since we understand ourselves as part of the universal Church just as we are a particular church for Rome. The one presupposes the other and vice versa."

In relation to the debate about ordaining viri pobati, Bätzing points out says celibacy is a life "completely centered on God,". However, "it does not seem to me that it would be harmful for the Church if there were also married priests," he adds.

It would be "a great loss for the Church if there were only married priests and not those who choose celibacy for themselves,".

Source

• Crux Now
• Image: National Catholic reporter

Marx, who was tapped as the archbishop of Munich and Freising in 2008, was elected president of the German episcopal conference in 2014. In a Feb. 11 communique posted to the website for the German episcopal conference, he said during the conference's March 2-5 general assembly he is "not available" to be elected for a second term. Read more

The bishops' conference launched a two-year "synodal procedure" for church reform last weekend, on the first Sunday of Advent.

Working together with the lay Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), special synodal candles were lit before Mass in all 27 German cathedrals and the four co-cathedrals.

Conference president Cardinal Reinhard Marx and ZdK vice-president of the ZdK, Karin Kortmann, lit the synodal candle together in Munich Cathedral during Mass.

Marx's homily stressed the importance of listening to one another and reaching consensus, despite differences of opinion.

"After the ghastly experience of discovering that clerical sexual abuse occurred in the Church, it is now crucial to examine systemic dangers like bad governance".

"In order once again to become credible witnesses of joy and hope, we will have to remove certain obstacles."

In a video message after Mass, Marx and ZdK president Thomas Sternberg said: "Credibility is an absolute must and we want to regain it through self-critical discussion."

The next two years will see the synodal procedure focusing on resolving two specific systemic problems in particular.

These problems have resulted in the Church fostering abuse and standing in the way of credibly proclaiming the Gospel message.

In a combined letter to the German Faithful weekend, Cardinal Marx and Sternberg said it was time to admit "self-critically" that the Gospel message had been "obscured and even terribly damaged", particularly by the clerical sexual abuse of minors.

"We must take the consequences and make sure the Church is a safe place," they said.

Four days before the synodal procedure was officially launched, a group of diocesan press spokesmen from 12 dioceses called on the media's critical cooperation.

"Particularly as far as scandals, crises and conflicts are concerned, the only thing that helps is as much transparency as possible.

"We would be grateful if the media were to accompany this crucial debate on the future of the Catholic Church in Germany," they said.

Several bishops have spoken out about their hopes and fears regarding the procedure in sermons and interviews.

Among these was Cardinal Walter Kasper, emeritus President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

He said he hoped the participants in the four synodal procedure forums on "power and checks and balances", "sexual morality", "the priestly lifestyle" and "women's place in the Church" would "earnestly listen to one another and not just exchange maximum demands, otherwise the whole project will go wrong".

He himself was still "somewhat sceptical", he said.

In Bishop Heiner Wilmer's opinion, the discussions won't be easy and the German Church will be a different Church afterwards.

"It will certainly be more participatory and more feminine," he said.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: Catholic World Report

Some German bishops have spoken in favour of abandoning the celibacy requirement for priests and vaulting women into leadership roles now off-limits.

Some have urged updating the religion's stern sexual morality, saying the church can't afford to be out of touch or alienating. Earlier this year, one bishop spoke so understandingly of homosexuality that a 53-year-old priest in a nearby town came out as gay and thanked the bishop for opening the door.

"The old times are over," that bishop, Franz-Josef Overbeck, of Essen, had written to the members of his diocese, saying that his own views were evolving amid the church's "dramatic loss of credibility and trust."

But as Germany tests the boundaries of how much Catholicism can bend to the modern age, it is emerging as a center of tension within the divided global church.

Much of the concern originates in the United States, where some traditionalist bishops, along with Catholic conservative media outlets, are opposed to Pope Francis's advocacy for a more inclusive faith.

They say Francis is diluting moral teaching, pushing an anti-capitalist, pro-migrant agenda, and sowing confusion about what the church stands for. And Germany, they say, is a country whose appetite for change threatens to outpace that of the pontiff himself.

"The German bishops continue [to] move toward schism from the universal Church," Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila said recently on Twitter.

Others conservative higher-ups have warned that developments in Germany could coerce changes in global Catholicism that should instead be guided by the Vatican.

But German prelates and other church leaders, in interviews with The Washington Post, said they see a different risk: that their reforms won't go far enough.

These leaders have watched as more than 100,000 Germans leave the Catholic Church every year. They recognize that the sexual abuse crisis has intensified the discontent.

A report released last year found systematic sex crimes and coverup going back seven decades in Germany.

With the hope of making the church more relevant to people's lives, German bishops have finalized plans for a two-year program of meetings that begins in December and aims to reexamine some of the church's most contentious positions and teachings, including its restrictions on female leaders and its stance on sexuality.

The agenda goes much further than a just-concluded Vatican synod, at which bishops recommended allowing married deacons to become priests in the Amazon region.

"Do we want to be a closed church or one that embraces life and culture?" the bishop of Osnabrück, Franz-Josef Bode, said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Catholics in Germany have long been known for their liberal leanings.

That comes partly from the influence of Protestantism, even centuries after Reformation.

It also comes from newer factors: post-Cold War freedoms, protests from women's groups, emptying seminaries, the reform demands of large and deep-pocketed lay Catholic organizations.

Gregor Maria Hoff, a theologian who is consulting with the bishops on their meetings and is in favour of significant changes, said that "nine or 10" of Germany's 69 bishops have become forcefully liberal in recent years.

Even a handful of the country's conservative bishops — schooled in the mode of traditionalist Pope Benedict XVI, Germany's most famous modern Catholic — have moved to favour reforms.

Only a few German prelates, most notably Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, have been critical of the country's plans.

"People from the old system saw it was broken," Hoff said. "To be honest, this might be the last chance to change it." Continue reading

Their meetings followed correspondence earlier this month in which Ouellet told Marx earlier the proposed synodal process could not begin without the pope's approval.

Ouellet included a four-page legal assessment of the synodal plans with his letter, which concludes the proposed synodal assembly is "not ecclesiologically valid".

The legal assessment also says the synodal plans aim to treat matters of universal Church teaching and discipline which "cannot be the object of the deliberations or decisions of a particular Church without contravening what is expressed by the Holy Father in his letter."

Despite this, Marx, who is the president of the German Episcopal Conference, was positive about the meetings.

"In both talks, a constructive dialogue took place, which will feed into the deliberations of the general assembly of the German Episcopal Conference next week."

Marx said he Francis and Ouellet discussed the draft statutes for a "Synodal Assembly" that the German bishops plan to form in partnership with the Central Committee of German Catholics.

The final plans for the process are on the agenda for the conference's meeting in Fulda this week.

If implemented the German process is likely to involve the conference and the lay Central Committee leadership engaging in a two-year partnership which would begin in Advent.

The conference's new direction was driven by an independent study about the extent of clerical sexual abuse in Germany.

Source

• The Catholic World Report
• Crux Now
• Image: AsiaNews

Marianne Schlosser, who is a professor of theology at the University of Vienna, says she is concerned about the path's approach and methodology.

She was invited to contribute to the discussions after the conference had held two preparatory meetings.

Her expertise was sought for the Synodal Way's forum "on women in ecclesial roles and offices".

However, she says she can't identify with a number of issues in an intermediate report produced by the Synodal Way's preparatory group.

These include a "fixation on ordination" of women.

This "fixation" was neither theologically and historically nor pastorally and spiritually justified, she says.

The Catholic Church teaches that it has no authority to admit women to priestly ordination.

Schlosser says as this topic is not about discipline, it cannot be "negotiated in a synodal forum with mixed members" - that is, between bishops and laity.

She also expressed the fear of a progressive polarization of the church in Germany.

Pope Francis appointed Schlosser as a member of the International Theological Commission in 2014. She was also appointed a member of the study commission investigating the female diaconate in 2016.

She is an advisor to the Faith Commission of the German bishops' conference and since January 2018 a member of the Theological Commission of the Austrian bishops' conference.

Schlosser was the Ratzinger Prize recipient in 2018.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Fondazione Ratzinger

However, Cardinal Reinhard Marx is defending the "synodal procedure" the German bishops have initiated with the Central Committee of German lay Catholics, against Rome's attempts to question its canonical legality.

He says the German bishops have the right to debate matters on which the Magisterium has already ruled.

Marx announced plans for a "binding synodal process" earlier this year.

The planned "Synodal Assembly" documents were approved in August by the executive committee of the German bishops' conference, ahead of a final hearing at a full meeting which will be held next week.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, says the Assembly must conform to guidelines issued by Pope Francis in June.

He was referring to a letter Francis wrote to the German bishops warning them to respect the universal communion of the Church.

"Every time the ecclesial community has tried to resolve its problems alone, trusting and focusing exclusively on its forces or its methods, its intelligence, its will or prestige, it ended up increasing and perpetuating the evils it tried to solve," Francis wrote.

Ouelett's letter also points out that a synod in Germany cannot act to change universal Church teaching or discipline.

A four-page legal assessment of the German bishops' draft statutes was attached to his letter.

The assessment, which came from the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, says the German bishops' plans violate canonical norms and set out to alter universal norms and doctrines of the Church.

It notes the German bishops' proposal to discuss four key themes: "authority, participation, and separation of powers," "sexual morality," "the form of priestly life," and "women in Church ministries and offices."

"It is easy to see that these themes do not only affect the Church in Germany but the universal Church and - with few exceptions - cannot be the object of the deliberations or decisions of a particular Church without contravening what is expressed by the Holy Father in his letter," the assessment adds.

Marx repudiates the Vatican's assessment of the synodal process for the upcoming meeting and the topics it plans to discuss.

"The suspicion on Rome's part that by discussing such subjects as power, women's position in the Church, sexual morality and the priestly way of life, the German bishops were ignoring their true calling as shepherds was unacceptable", he says.

"We bishops are doing what we are committed to as shepherds in order to liberate evangelisation and proclamation of Christ's Message from the obstacles which stand in the way."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• Image: Crux Now

They have to stop poorly managed spending and investments from undermining the operations of the Catholic Church's global headquarters.

The forthcoming financial statements will be the Vatican's first to completely follow international public sector accounting standards.

The Holy See's deficit doubled in 2018 to roughly €70 million ($76.7 million) on a €300 million budget.

Vatican officials say this reflects persistent inefficiencies and hits to investment income.

In a letter in May to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Francis asked him to "inform the respective [Vatican] heads about the gravity of the situation" and to find immediate remedies.

Marx has arranged with Vatican department chiefs to meet on 20 September to address the issue.

Some Vatican officials have complained for years that the Holy See is lax about controlling spending and income.

They instance cases of redundant jobs, wasteful procurement and a costly car fleet. Real-estate holdings around Rome are sometimes not maintained and rents not collected.

The Vatican also took a heavy loss last year on a loan to a Catholic hospital.

This outcome is a far cry from Francis's hopes for financial reform at the Holy See.

Back in 2013 when he was elected, allegations of corruption were rife as were stories of waste and incompetence.

By 2014 Francis had established several new bodies to control finance and appointed Cardinal George Pell as the head of finance.

Pell and established interests at the Vatican clashed and Francis curtailed his role.

Since Pell's return to Australia to answer sex abuse charges, the Vatican finance leader's role has been vacant.

Also vacant is the job of auditor general.

Libero Milone, the only person the Vatican has ever appointed to the role, resigned in 2017 accusing powerful officials of obstructing him.

Some Vatican officials think a management vacuum contributes to the Holy See's poorly planned spending.

"What the Holy Father is calling for is that we need an administration, that is the Holy See administration, to be self-sustainable," says Joseph Zahra, the top layman on the Council for the Economy, which supervises Vatican finances.

Zahra says the 20 September meeting will address short-term measures to reduce the deficit and will raise these matters at Vatican officials' awareness.

"Many of them don't realize the situation the Vatican is in. They think that money is no problem."

Source

• The Wall Street Journal
• Image: Crux Now

How to do you see the crisis that the Catholic Church is experiencing today?

Since Vatican II, we have asked ourselves how the Church should situate itself within a modern, pluralist society where people are free to believe or not that Jesus was raised from the dead and that they can actually meet him.

What we need to imagine is not 'a new Church' but a Church that situates itself 'in another way.'

Catholics themselves have said they want change.

However, this is a slow and painful process. Raising awareness does not occur at the same pace everywhere and some prefer to seek security in the past.

This is reinforced today by a loss of credibility resulting from the revelations of sexual abuse, as well as from a lack of financial transparency and a culture of secrecy.

This crisis has forced us to re-launch our substantive work. The Church can no longer be satisfied merely to preach.

Pope Francis has clearly understood this, as illustrated by his way of addressing himself to Catholics and seeking a new way of inviting people to faith.

The German Church often appears to be at the forefront of calls for reform. Is it also ahead of the curve in its understanding of the changes now under way?

Some find us ahead, but others regard us as heretics! However, we have many professors of theology, including many women, who teach in around twenty theological faculties and institutes. They are able to write, discuss and publish, and thus feed debate.

In addition, lay people are very well organized in parishes, dioceses and movements of the faithful, as well as in the Central Committee of German Catholics.

In the current crisis, this latter group has worked closely with the bishops but has also played a critical role.

Finally, Germany is the only European nation where there is no single dominant church, but rather two of them. Protestants are as numerous as Catholics.

Protestant theologians also freely express themselves in newspapers and on TV, which helps stimulate debate.

Do you have any concrete proposals in Germany to 'rebuild the Church'?

We don't have a 'German response' to the crisis! The path ahead needs to be sought with the universal Church and not just in Rome.

We cannot conceive of the universal Church without the local Churches. It is not a pyramid.

People can learn from the Church in Germany. But let us not forget that, like other countries, we have had our failures.

Everywhere our Churches are losing members, except perhaps, it seems to me, in South Korea. Why? Because Christianity there looks like a religion of the future.

We need to convince ourselves once again that the Church is a force for progress, a response for today and for tomorrow. And to achieve that it is necessary to return to the Gospel and to charity with the poor.

For us Christians, every man and women, whatever his or her color, religion or sexual orientation, is made in the image of God.

We belong to the same family and this affirmation in its radicalness distinguishes us from other religions. That is the message that is most necessary today!

Does this mean that structural reforms are secondary?

Witness is a priority. But, obviously, I am also in favor of better organization and a better distribution of responsibilities.

It took me several years to become aware of it, but it seems clear to me that we can no longer call synods of bishops without also inviting lay people, both men and women. This is urgent.

Another problem arises from the confusion of priesthood and power. It is our duty to better distinguish this and to envisage greater access to power. We also need to find ways of involving women in the governance of the Church.

Ultimately, a new reflection and vision of power will be necessary.

During our Plenary Assembly two weeks ago, we as bishops also worked on the life of priests. How can we form priests capable of living out celibacy in a fulfilling manner?

And can we help them to do so? Have we ordained men who lack sufficient emotional maturity?

In my view, celibacy is possible. But it is also necessary to integrate community aspects. Reflection is also needed on the issue of viri probati [i.e. the ordination of mature married men of proven virtue].

We need to tackle all these issues, as well as certain points of our sexual morality — for example, homosexuality. And that includes among the clergy.

How do you respond to those who fear that these changes are going too far and that they challenge the Catholic faith?

I receive letters from people who suspect me of watering down doctrine. We need to be firmer and clearer, they say.

Obviously, that is not the case. Faith is not a burden, but a pathway. Nor is the objective to 'adapt to the spirit of the times,' as some people fear.

What the Second Vatican Council asked us to do is 'read the signs of the times' in the light of the Gospel, which is much more challenging.

If we read the Gospel together at Mass every Sunday, and if together we serve the poor, then we will manage to find the right path.

Sowing division and mistrust among ourselves is the work of the devil.

Seek together what the Lord expects of us. And accept that several paths of faith exist.

• Image: Fatima Perspectives

I noted with interest your recent announcement of a "binding synodal process" during which the Church in Germany will discuss the celibacy of the Latin-rite Catholic priesthood, the Church's sexual ethic and clericalism, these being "issues" put on the table by the crisis of clerical sexual abuse.

Perhaps the following questions will help sharpen your discussions.

Local binding Synod

How can the "synodal process" of a local Church produce "binding" results on matters affecting the entire Catholic Church?

The Anglican Communion tried this and is now in terminal disarray; the local Anglican churches that took the path of cultural accommodation are comatose. Is this the model you and your fellow-bishops favor?

Celibacy and sexual abuse

What does the celibacy of priests in the Latin-rite have to do with the sexual abuse crisis?

Celibacy has no more to do with sexual abuse than marriage has to do with spousal abuse.

Empirical studies indicate that most sexual abuse of the young takes place within (typically broken) families; Protestant denominations with a married clergy also suffer from the scourge of sexual abuse; and in any event, marriage is not a crime-prevention program.

Is it cynical to imagine that the abuse crisis is now being weaponized to mount an assault on clerical celibacy, what with other artillery having failed to dislodge this ancient Catholic tradition?

Sexuality and personhood

According to a Catholic News Agency report, you suggested that "the significance of sexuality to personhood has not yet received sufficient attention from the Church."

Really?

Has St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body not been translated into German?

Perhaps it has, but it may be too long and complex to have been properly absorbed by German-speaking Catholics.

Permit me then, to draw your attention to pp. 347-358 of "Zeuge der Hoffnung" (Ferdinand Schoeningh, 2002) the German translation of "Witness to Hope," the first volume of my John Paul II biography.

There, you and your colleagues will find a summary of the Theology of the Body, including its richly personalistic explanation of the Church's ethic of human love and its biblically-rooted understanding of celibacy undertaken for the Kingdom of God.

Sexual behaviour today

You also note that your fellow-bishops "feel...unable to speak on questions of present-day sexual behavior."

That was certainly not the case at the Synods of 2014, 2015, and 2018, where German bishops felt quite able to speak frequently to these questions, albeit in a way that typically mirrored today's politically-correct fashions.

And I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering just when the German episcopate last spoke to "present-day sexual behavior" in a way that promoted the Church's ethic of human love as life-affirming and ordered to human happiness and fulfillment, at least in the years since its massive dissent from "Humanae Vitae" (Pope St. Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on the ethics of family planning)?

But that, as I understand Pope Francis, is what he is calling us all to do: Witness to, preach, and teach the "Yes" that undergirds everything to which the Church must, in fidelity to both revelation and reason, say "No." Continue reading

• George Weigel is an American author, political analyst, and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation.
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"We women want to see genuine change in our Church. We want to contribute and have our say. We want women and men, on equal footing, to follow their calling in harmony and move forward in the same direction: that of Jesus Christ, who asked us all to bring his message of love to the world," the parishioners say.

They want women in the German Catholic church "not to step foot in a church" to wear white, and to stop "all voluntary service" from 11 to 18 May.

"We will celebrate Mass outside, in front of the church," they say in their campaign.

The idea of striking began during a monthly meeting focusing on the papal encyclical Laudato si'.

"We were dejected by the revelations of sexual assault committed by priests and by the persistent exclusion of women, which is one source of the problem,"Elisabeth Kötter says.

They - along with other women - decided to go on strike.

Their campaign is called "Maria 2.0," and its logo is an image of a woman with her mouth taped shut.

"We wanted to give some direction to the increasing and longstanding unease that we've all felt," Ruth Koch says.

Thanks to social media, the call quickly spread across the diocese. Around fifty visitors left messages of support on the women's Facebook page:

"Finally! A practical campaign, we've waited a long time for this!" "Let's not keep quiet anymore, this is urgent."

Among the supporters were both women and men of all ages.

The Catholic Women's Association of Germany (KFD) has guaranteed its support.

Organisers confirm Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck and his vicar general, Father Klaus Pfeffer, are following the Facebook page.

"The call is also aimed at all those who have suffered at the hands of the Church and have left," Kötter says.

The organisers have written to Pope Francis. They gave the letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx to pass on to the pope at the summit on sexual abuse last month.

The women want a change in the sexual moral code that is in keeping "with the reality of human life," for the lifting of mandatory celibacy for priests and for women's access to all ministries.

Source

• La Croix
• Image: La Croix

These include priestly celibacy, the Church's teaching on sexual morality and a reduction of clerical power.

Marx, who is the president of the German bishops' conference, says the bishops unanimously decided these three topics would be subject to a process of "synodal progression" that could lead to a binding, but as yet undetermined, outcome.

In his opinion the Church needs synodal advancement, which Pope Francis endorses.

The sexual abuse scandal and demands for reform have changed the German church, he says.

"We will create formats for open debates and bind ourselves to proceedings that facilitate a responsible participation of women and men from our dioceses.

"We know about the cases of clerical abuses of power. It betrays the trust of people searching for firm footing and religious orientation. What must be done to achieve the necessary reduction of power and to construct a fairer and legally bound order will be to clarify a synodal path."

In this respect, the German church has undertaken a number of projects which are now nearing completion. These include:

• Working out how to move forward following the sexual abuse scandal, taking into account advice and information from a range of experts.
• Debates on celibacy, which require further study.
• Developing Catholic sexual morality.

Source

• America Magazine
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: America Magazine

Church leadership is responsible for this, says German Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

Speaking at a news conference, Marx said the Church needs "more open and clear dialogue, accountability and a willingness to see abuse survivors and critics who push for remedy and reform not as enemies, but as "as cooperators with the Holy Spirit,". Read more

"The Church has always viewed the unity of Europe positively, even today.

"Nationalism is one of the biggest causes of war," adds Marx, who is the President of the German Bishops' Conference.

During a recent visit to Poland to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the Solidarity movement which played an important role in establishing a democratic Polish state, Marx said he thinks European "interconnectedness necessitates that we stand up for each other so that something positive can be the outcome."

With Brexit on the horizon, progress towards a "social Europe" should be made, Marx suggested.

The challenges and tensions Europe faces due to migration mean it is essential the European Union's (EU) member states "develop common guidelines for a refugee and migration policy," Marx said.

"We are interconnected with each other through various forms of solidarity.

"Through the European Union, for example, through treaties, through parliament, through guiding principles.

"We can't do this without each other.

"Europe does not run by itself. I believe that the Church must never cease working or doing something for the unity of Europe.

"As a church, we should stand up for a society of responsible freedom. That is why democracy is the mode of governance to be sought."

Source

• The Tablet
• Crux Now
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