CNA Staff, Sep 25, 2023 / 11:23 am (CNA).
The German Bishops’ Conference convenes its plenary assembly today, setting the stage for what promises to be a pivotal gathering amid a period of unprecedented tension within the Church in Germany — and with the wider Catholic Church.
On the official agenda for the gathering from Sept. 25–28 in the town of Wiesbaden are topics ranging from handling spiritual abuse to preparations for the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome.
However, overshadowing discussions are the profoundly divisive issues brought to the surface by the controversial German Synodal Way, particularly the blessing of same-sex unions — an issue that has seen acts of open defiance across Germany against clarifications from the Vatican.
At the center of this maelstrom is Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, archbishop of Cologne, who faces mounting pressure from multiple fronts, including local media — and some clergy: In open defiance, several priests conducted an event blessing same-sex couples outside the iconic Cologne Cathedral Sept. 21.
According to AP, the ceremony was punctuated by people singing the Beatles’ song “All You Need Is Love” while waving rainbow flags.
Such stunts, covered extensively by the media, are a challenge to Woelki. The Cologne archbishop has reprimanded a priest over blessing same-sex unions, emphasizing that such events are not possible, as explained by the Vatican.
This admonishment drew sharp criticism from Birgit Mock, vice president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), who labeled Woelki’s actions “beyond incomprehensible.” Mock, who also heads the Synodal Way’s working group on sexuality, has been a staunch advocate for blessing same-sex unions, putting her at odds with Woelki and the official Vatican stance.
Adding fuel to the fire, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, on Sept. 14 criticized Woelki for having “lost acceptance” with people, CNA Deutsch reported.
Addressing Pope Francis’ criticism of the German Synodal Way, in which the pontiff said Germany does not need two Protestant churches, Bätzing said that he could, in principle, tolerate contradiction. But, “I find the Protestant thing disrespectful; I disagreed. [Pope Francis] also accuses us of being elitist, by which he means the theologians. However, we are envied for [German theologians] in the universal Church.”
Some German theologians have publicly turned their back on the Synodal Way.
Bätzing’s recent public criticism of Pope Francis comes after a July meeting in Rome attempting to bridge the deep concerns and growing divide between the Germans and Rome.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a formal declaration on March 15, 2022, stating unequivocally that the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions.
The continued open defiance over blessing same-sex unions — supported by prominent prelates such as Cardinal Reinhard Marx — is a symptom of how difficult attempts to dovetail the German Synodal Way with the Synod on Synodality are.
The stakes could not be higher as the German bishops convene in Wiesbaden, and Woelki, portrayed in some German media as a polarizing figure amid the tensions, according to CNA Deutsch, could face a critical juncture.
With financial, social, and theological pressures mounting across German dioceses, the decisions made this week in Wiesbaden could have far-reaching implications, not just for Woelki and his brother bishops but also for the global Catholic community as it gears up for its synodal gathering in Rome.
The Church in Germany is facing an exodus of historic proportions. More than half a million baptized Catholics left the Church in 2022, the highest number of departures ever recorded. These mass departures led several German bishops critical of the Synodal Way, including Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau and Bishop Bertram Meier of Augsburg, to acknowledge the Church’s need to regain trust with “patience and credibility.”
The meeting in Wiesbaden is a crossroads of whether any agreement about finding the right direction ahead can be achieved — or if concerns over another schism from the land of Luther are justified.
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The ZdK’s what’shername says that Cardinal Woelke’s action is “beyond incomprehensible.” Well, he/she/it at least got that right. What is beyond comprehensible IS comprehensible!
Butt, what is really “incomprehensible” is why der Synodal Weg was awarded seats at the Vatican Synod (!) in Rome, when the Vatican previously identified der Synodal Weg as a “non-synod.” Also incomprehensible is how the underlying (and lying?) abuse in Germany is the mixed voting structure (a “backwardist” echo of France’s 1789 Tennis Court Oath!)–and how this capitulation became a template for the expanded Synod (now non-synod?) in Rome.
The archbishop of Cologne is “beyond incomprehensible”…such a robotic comment echoes the days immediately following German liberation (World War II):
When Dr. Konrad Adenauer again had been made mayor of (the same) Cologne, British leftists ejected him from his office under the (written) pretext that he (incomprehensibly!) “lacked the qualifications to run a city as large as Cologne” (von Kuenelt-Leddhin, “Leftism: From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse,” 1974, p 325).
Adenauer soon became chancellor of a West Germany (1949-1963) restored as a valued member of the civilized world.
Adenauer also is remembered for this prophecy about today: “In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity.”
What has happened now within the Church in Germany–except for Cologne and a few other pockets of functional memory? And, might history sort of repeat itself? “God is full of surprises!”
Hitler on the Left? The Right owns him!!!
No, your assumption is a myth of leftist renditions of false history, a lie repeated by intellectuals to exonerate the left of its biggest sin. The left is rooted in the moral nihilism that gave rise to Naziism as well as all totalitarian states and, as the Church in Germany proves, Germany has never fully removed itself from moral nihilism post Naziism. Anti-Christianity merely morphs into different socially acceptable forms. And the moral nihilism of liberal democracies are too corrupt with their own depravities to have ever noticed.
Nazi means National Socialism. Hitler was a Socialist.
Antifa and the summer of 2020.
No, the Left ‘owns’ Hitler. Ceded by poseurs who were taken aback by the violence.
The Church can no more ‘bless’ sodomy that it can deny Christ.
Read your history please. National Socialism….🙄
Its not what’s in the spelling, darling. Nor in the acronym. Its what the group represents in reality.The Nazi’s were totalitarians, no matter what initials you give them.
Hitler’s Germany is almost a hybrid accident of history, all pointing to his inevitable rise on the shoulders of Luther’s individualism (a central aspect of sola Scriptura versus Tradition which includes the writing of scripture). Disintegrating individualism seeks a magnet. I quote from one of von Kuenelt-Leddhin’s earlier pieces (“Liberty OR Equality,” 1952, 394 pages with 990 fine-print footnotes). He concludes a later chapter in italics:
“It is the combination [!] of the degenerative process of Protestantism with Catholic absolutism and extremism [meaning absolutes] which became such a dangerous mixture [in Germany]” (p. 232). Perfect tinder for the rise of the Hitler messiah. Railing in part, it is true, against the crushing burden of reparations under the Versailles Treaty (which all parties were willing to review, except decimated France which, itself, in order to keep from going under, needed the resource shipments of the Ruhr Valley).
The above quote/finding is preceded by a fascinating figure delineating the “Genealogy of National Socialism.” It looks like a pinball machine with Waldo, Morsiglio, Wycliffe, the Hussites and Lollards at the very top, then mostly centering on Luther, and then a cobweb of interacting influences—finally nine vertical lines all converging on National Socialism. Near the middle, Calvin/Knox/Anglicanism drops off the chart, as does modern capitalism (but interactive Marxism proceeds through Socialism/Communism, and filters into National Socialism, alongside radical democracy the French Revolution. But largely Luther—in tinder box Germany.
Statistically, the author also displays supporting maps, very detailed voting districts, of the religious (Protestant and Catholic) distribution and voting results in 1932 and 1934. Nazi predominance and Catholic concentrations (primarily Bavaria in the south and very Western Germany) are inverse of each other. The concentration of Communist votes is also least in Bavaria (which incidentally was the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI).
Many pointy-headed academicians are anesthetized by mutually favorable peer reviews, and therefore are too often clueless about the deeper and spiritual currents of history. The Land O’Lakes Declaration illustrates.
I agree that Erik Von Kuenelt-Leddhin was more than an astute historian and political philosopher. And the young, indoctrinated into simplistic notions of a political spectrum designed to keep them from understanding the origins of evil, would do well to accomplish an effective quick path to a truthful understanding of history after reading his book “Leftism.”
Wondering why you felt it necessary’s to criticize “such a robotic comment the author of the article?
For 2,000 years the Catholic Church followed Christ to say sodomy is sinful. If Synods of People now try to “bless” sin by calling sin “love,” it’s illogical to think a serious minded same-sex couple would trust the Church. Inventing a ritual that violates Sacred Scripture and Tradition today would not prevent that Church from changing their mind again.
This has always been about an angry power grab. It’s purpose is suicidal.
Unfortunately, there is little resolve to fight back against the tide of deconstructing the Church illustrating how paper thin the faith has been in the lives of millions. When a pope repeatedly insists that mercy mercy mercy can be construed exclusively in terms of exonerating sinners from guilt while mercilessly ignoring the victims of sin, exactly like the wacko liberal “moral theologians” of the silly seventies “rethinking” moral precepts, and many Catholics are more willing to get hostile towards those who say moral relativism is wrong because it is an offense to God and humanity than say the Pope is wrong, we know the spirit of Luther and the reality of Satan are alive and active throughout our Church.
Excellent.
The GAY Lobbyist will never stop, it is what they do. Gays will not be good Catholics period. Forcing acceptance allows them another achievement to avoid recognition of their sins. In American we have been forced to accept and now being forced to accept children as gay. Children need crossing guards to cross the road but some how they are capable of claiming homosexuality. Rampant sexual diseases can’t even stop them. Catholic Church is the last challenge, so they’re putting everything they have into changing the faith. It will then be rolled out worldwide. The Pope needs strength to see the big picture and how they are using Germany. Pray for the Pope that he can see through this game and the sinful nature of these people.
Poor thin Cardinal Woelki and maybe a couple other guys pulling at the rope for orthodox practice. They have no chance in a tug of war versus all those enormous prelates on the sodomy side. Just think of Cardinal Marx at the rear with the rope around his Eminence, digging in for all the friends he has “blessed.” It’s not very sporting.
What do all these things have in common?
– Paschale the Anti-pope.
– Martin Luther
– WWI
– WWII
– V II (inculcating the “spirit” of the Council)
– Klaus Schwab
– The massive influx of Syrian Refugees across Europe
Give up?? (By #2 above, you should have known. Feel free to add to my list.)
As a devout Catholic of mixed German-Austrian ethnicity, I get your point. I earlier replied to this idea with reference to Roger Scruton’s (British philosopher and commenter on moral culture) concern about Germany and her people. He considered the nation had not effectively mourned their loss nor acknowledged or recompensed its past moral failures.
OTOH, ought we neglect the good people and God-given blessings from Germany? Think of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (who died at Auschwitz), St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Bruno (founder of Carthusian order), Albert Magnus (teacher of St. Aquinas)!
Many good inventors and scientists (e.g., Einstein) were of German origin. German manufactured goods are usually of long-lasting quality (cf. goods from China). The great orthodox Catholic philosopher von Hildebrand and preacher Bonhoeffer spoke courageously against crimes and moral degradation of Naziism, at great personal loss. Think of the greatness of Beethoven’s art.
VCII did not go awry simply because of Germany! Rome had influence too! Paul VI hailed from Italy as did John XXIII. And Bugnini.
Thank God the Holy Spirit has retired because of His Long Age and exhaustion and has passed the legacy of its Gifts and His Wisdom and Love to several German women and her ampulous priests friends. I was concerned about the transition but now I see that the Holy Church can be at ease and in peace. These folks know better than anybody else what the Church needs to do to lose every single faithful on Earth at speedlight and to turn Jesuschrist’s eternal words into fluffy slogans.
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki is a remarkable standout in the Catholic Church; he resists the Vatican, as well as the most radical Leftist national Catholic majority in the world. It seems His Holiness fears him, since he had been accused of unproved allegations of mishandling clerical abuse and remained defiant claiming innocence. Many others might have buckled.
We may see in Woelki, Strickland, certainly Vigano, perhaps Cordileone to name a few who will form a proactive counter movement to the irresistible tide of error fomenting from the Vatican in the guise of enlightenment. The real deal on Christ’s true nature. As if, as Card Walter Kasper has articulated his ideations, Jesus now has misgivings on the efficacy of the crucifixion. Has changed his mind. And is in agreement with His Holiness’ doctrine. The one fervently protected by his personally appointed defender of the faith, DDF perfect Card Víctor Fernández. Looks like rough sailing ahead. I’ve always loved storms.
Feasts Sts Cosmas and Damien, twin martyr physicians who would have looked at those who persecuted them with the eyes and heart of The Lord , pleading -‘ Lord deliver them from the demonic powers , generational spirits …to turn to You with trust and gratitude for being forgiven ,for the price You paid for same, we too love and forgive them with Your Love and mercy ..’ -good Patrons for those who have become blinded to trust that The Lord can bring deliverance and healing , in bringing wounded occasions unto The Mother to be united with her sorrows , for the Holy Spirit Love to be poured forth , unto generational lines too that often succumbed to carnal kingdoms of lusts and power , also accept the Fatherly blessing of the Holy Father that he/ The Church does not judge any one as being beyond God’s grace and mercy to live in holiness and chastity , its joy and peace ..for here and hereafter .
More of the access and awareness of the Divine Will teachings too possibly a powerful antidote ..
Why has this ‘situation’ been permitted to go on for so long? We all know that the blessing of same-sex unions will never be permitted. Why have those who have promoted this in the Church, not been silenced? What about the sin of scandal?