Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, chair of the German Bishops' Conference, stated "The figures show that the church is in a comprehensive crisis".

The statistics revealed a significant drop in Catholic Church membership. Approximately 403,000 Catholics left the church last year, reducing the total to 20.3 million by the end of 2023, down from 20.94 million the previous year.

Bätzing warned that resignation or fear are not the right responses. He emphasised the church's enduring mission to "proclaim the good news of the loving, creative and liberating God".

The bishop urged immediate church reforms, arguing that while they alone would not solve the crisis, the situation would deteriorate without them. "People still have high expectations of the church, particularly in social and educational sectors" he noted.

He emphasised the importance of aligning church priorities with people's real lives, particularly focusing on young people and their families.

Devastating abuse crisis

A total of 1,779,014 people have left the Church in Germany since 2019 in the wake of the devastating abuse crisis. Coincidentally, that was the same year that the Synodal Way was launched,

According to the bishops' conference figures, there were 20.3 million Catholics in Germany at the end of 2023. That figure represents 24 % of the total population of 84.7 million.

To leave the Church formally in Germany, baptised Catholics must book an appointment at a local registry office or court, provide official documents and pay a fee. They are given a certificate confirming they are no longer registered and therefore not liable for the country's church tax.

They also receive a letter from local Church officials informing them they can no longer receive the sacraments, hold Church posts or serve as baptismal or confirmation sponsors.

Sources

Katholisch

The Pillar

CathNews New Zealand

Until now, employees of Catholic institutions in Germany could lose their jobs if they were openly in a same-sex partnership or remarried after a divorce.

The change means no one need fear dismissal for those reasons.

Before the change can come into force, however, each of Germany's 27 dioceses must write the measure into their labour laws. That may take take a few months.

The country's various Catholic institutions employ 800,000 employees.

"Explicitly, as never before, diversity in church institutions is recognised as an enrichment," the DBK says.

"All employees can, independently of their concrete duties, their origin, their religion, their age, their disability, their sex, their sexual identity and their way of life," be representatives of a church that "serves people".

"So long as they bring a positive attitude and openness toward the message of the Gospel [and] respect the Christian character of the institution," it said when announcing the change in labour law.

A two-thirds majority of the DBK supported the amendment. The change agreed last Tuesday, came almost a year after 125 Church employees in Germany came out as queer together, in a protest to end discrimination.

The Central Committee of German Catholics said the move was "overdue," while the German Catholic Women's Community described the reform as a "milestone".

Christian Weisner from the advocacy group "We Are Church" welcomed the move but noted that it was "probably also due to the staff shortage".

No way!

Not everyone's happy with the labour rule changes.

Thomas Schüller, an expert on canon law, says the decision was "driven by the state labour courts", which have for a long time taken precedence in questions of Church labour law with regard to personal lifestyle.

Father Nelson Medina, a Dominican priest who holds a doctorate in fundamental theology, has harshly criticised DBK president Bishop Georg Bätzing, who supports the gay agenda.

Medina says Bätzing's pro-gay stance "is yet another belch of modernist heresy, which, like all great heresies, never really dies out completely".

(Synodal Way champion Bätzing says he will not prevent the blessing of homosexual couples, something that occurred en masse in May of this year despite the explicit prohibition of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.)

Father Juan Manuel Góngora, a Spanish priest who has more than 56,000 followers on Twitter, also disapproves of the change.

"Sin cannot be blessed," he says.

"The bishop should go back to the seminary to study or go over to the Protestant Deformation and stop annoying people."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• DW
• La Croix

Rather than meet as a single group in Frankfurt, the 230 delegates met in smaller groups due to the coronavirus pandemic.

About 40 people took part in the discussions in Berlin.

The Synodal Path (or journey) was first planned in 2019 as a response to the scandal of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Launched in January this year, the initiative is jointly organized by the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) and representatives of the laity, the ZDK.

Expectations at last Friday's meetings were high, especially on the part of the laity.

The discussions focused on two of the four themes of the Synodal Path — "the place of women in the services and functions of the Church" and "love within sexuality".

Participants were asked to react to proposals, such as:

Why not allow qualified lay people to deliver the homily during Mass and to provide baptisms and blessings for the sick?

Why not increase the already existing quotas for women in leadership positions in dioceses and general vicariates from 30 percent to 50 percent?

"I understand the request, but some of these proposals do not depend on us but on the universal Church," Bishop Ulrich Neymeyr said at the Berlin meeting.

Maria Flachsbarth, a Christian Democrat and member of parliament, said: "This kind of debate does not exist in any other part of our society. If we want the Catholic Church to remain relevant, we must finally act."

The issue of sexuality - within a committed partnership, casual sexual activity, before marriage or between people of the same sex - was also debated.

"The Church has been silent for too long on these subjects," theologian Eberhard Tiefensee said.

"It should recognize that it has no business in people's bedrooms."

Franziska Kleiner of the German Catholic Youth Organization has the opposite view to Tiefensee. She wants more guidelines from the Church, especially for "young people who change partners" on a regular basis.

At the end of the discussions, Reinhard Hauket, who is the auxiliary bishop of Erfurt, commented on the divergence of opinion.

"On some points, shared positions will be possible, but on others I fear that some participants will be disappointed at the end of the process."

The Synodal Path's working groups have until February to formulate amended texts for participants to vote on.

The final objective is to present concrete proposals to the Bishops' Conference and to Rome in 2022.

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Crux Now