Vatican City, Nov 30, 2023 / 16:25 pm (CNA).
A prominent German bishop and steadfast opponent of the controversial Synodal Way has leveled his harshest criticism yet of the state of the Catholic Church in his own country, describing the German episcopacy as deeply “divided”— and warned of potentially catastrophic consequences for Catholic believers.
In the latest in a series of high-profile critiques of the German Synodal Way, Bishop Stefan Oster of the Diocese of Passau did not shy away from identifying profound theological disagreements as the source of division within the Catholic Church in Germany.
“It is a tragedy that we, German bishops, have so little agreement on key issues of anthropology and ecclesiology,” Oster told the Polish Catholic publication Gosc Niedzielny in an interview published Nov. 30.
The divided episcopacy “is obviously a disaster for the faithful in Germany,” said the 58-year-old Oster, who was tapped by Pope Francis to participate in the Vatican’s recent Synod on Synodality assembly after he was not selected as a delegate by the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK).
Divisions in the German episcopacy recently came to the forefront when Oster and three other bishops — Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Bishop Gregor Hanke of Eichstatt — boycotted a Nov. 10-11 meeting of a committee of Synodal Way leadership.
The committee was created with the intent of establishing a permanent synodal council of laity and bishops to govern the Church in Germany — something explicitly forbidden in a January letter from top Vatican officials to the DBK specifically approved by Pope Francis.
While his decision to not participate highlighted divisions in Germany, Oster explained his choice was “aimed precisely at maintaining unity with Rome.”
“I was faced with a choice: to clearly highlight the existing polarization among bishops or to highlight my path of unity with the universal Church,” said the Bavarian bishop, whose diocese is in the southeast corner of Germany and has the highest rate of Catholics per capita.
Growing criticism
The Synodal Way, which began in December 2019 as an initiative of the DBK and the Central Committee for German Catholics (ZdK), a lobby of lay Church employees, has come under criticism in recent weeks as its proponents push forward with efforts to change Church teaching and practice related to human sexuality, sacramental ordination, and Church governance.
In a Nov. 11 letter to four German laywomen who had written Pope Francis to express their concerns about the Catholic Church in Germany, Pope Francis wrote that “numerous steps” being taken by some in the local Church — including the work of the synodal committee — “threaten to steer it increasingly away from the universal Church’s common path.”
One of the Vatican’s top officials, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, also informed the German bishops in an Oct. 23 letter that changes in the Church’s teaching on same-sex sexual relations and male-only holy orders were not on the table in meetings between Rome and Synodal Way delegates moving forward.
In addition, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, wrote to Pope Francis in early October criticizing the Synodal Way, calling many of its resolutions “extremely unacceptable and un-Catholic.”
The leadership of the Synodal Way has largely decried or deflected these criticisms and has shown no sign of backing down from its controversial aims.
A synodal solution
The ratcheting up of tensions between German Synodal Way leadership and other Catholic leaders — especially Pope Francis — has led many to express concerns about the possibility of schism.
But in his recent interview, Bishop Oster was not without hope that a solution could be found.
He suggested that a “way out of the impasse” between Germany and the universal Church could be reached if the German Synodal Way “could now submit” and integrate with the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality — “with a clear acceptance of its content and decisions.”
“This would require great humility and would perhaps even mean withdrawing decisions already made in the Synodal Way,” such as the resolution to bless same-sex sexual unions.
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Bishop Stefan Oster has long been on the Apostolic tradition side likely why he hasn’t been reassigned and elevated to Archbishop. Card Rainer Woelki, Bishop Voderholzer, Hanke along with Card Gerhard Muller and some others form a hopeful nucleus for the return of the German Church to true practice of the faith.
Whatever faults we find in Francis’ pontificate, his lackadaisical efforts to tame the German apostasy stands out. It gives the now unequivocal impression that he is in tacit agreement, if not as a convenient fall guy to advance radical change in the universal Church.
Pope Francis’ pogrom of removing faithful prelates at will with no given justifiable rationale, to evict the aged retired from their Vatican apartments, sever their deserved income may strike fear in hearts. But I expect it will also strengthen the faithful bishops to resist and fight harder for the truth. As is Oster and friends.
The Church is being purified.
What’s happening in Germany might be called a Second Lutherian Revolt. True Catholic teaching will remain with a core of traditionalists – those who hold to the perennial teaching of the Catholic faith. Others will be sloughed off and proceed toward the inevitable splintering of heterodoxy and find itself in the dustbin of history.
Satan is always clawing at the outer peripheries of Christ’s Body – the Church – and will peel away those whose faith is weak and not Christ-centered. Stay close to the Eucharistic Christ, my brothers and sisters. As long as you remain faithful to the Eucharistic Christ, Satan’s power is ineffective.
Amen, Deacon. Amen.
AMEN!!!
Amen!!
The Evil One always divides. Then conquers. But not in the long run. It’s so difficult to wait for the end. Keep the faith. Believe in the Apostolic deposit of faith.
Amen. Pride divides. Praying for Bishop Oster and all involved. Thinking of Saints Francis de Sales and John Fisher. It could go either way. He is in a spiritual inferno whispering ‘fire’ as the German Church burns down around him. And yet he is “stucked” – it would be awful to see him get the Strickland/Torres treatment.
It must be noted that it was Pope Francis who appointed this bishop to the committee. The Trads are always trashing him, but here again we find him steering toward the middle course. Let’s give his due when he does!
The Trads? Do you mean Catholics who love Sacred Tradition and are holding out for the objective, traditional Truth of Christ? You say Pope Francis is “steering toward the middle course.” Between what – “blessing” sin and confessing sin? More like steering the Catholic Church off the cliff of pastoral heresy.
The Pope might not want division, but after a decade, who can say for sure? Church divisions are horrifying, especially ones that already exist. The flames of apostasy have already burned Germany to the ground. Now it’s just a few faithful survivors like Bishop Oster whispering “fire” as he struggles to salvage what he can, while surrounded by carpetbaggers in control. Forget the middle. After this disastrous pontificate, who wouldn’t settle for middling.
Prayer, mortification, fasting, penance, spiritual reading, works of mercy and compassion are effective aids that go a long way in strengthening faith, hope, unity, and love.