Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, is advocating a General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops after German church completes its Synod, calling

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Bishop Georg Bätzing, Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, is advocating a General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops after German church completes its Synod, calling for the ordination of women, blessings for divorced and ‘remarried’ and homosexual couples

www.katholisch.de

Nach Synodalem Weg: Bischof Bätzing spricht sich für Synode in Rom aus

DBK-Vorsitzender hält Segnung wiederverheirateter und homosexueller Paare für denkbar
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By Synodal Way: Bishop Bätzing speaks in favor of the Synod in Rome​

DBK Chairman advocates blessing of remarried and homosexual couples

What happens after the Synodal Way? The DBK chairman has now spoken out in favor of a synod at world church level after the reform process in Germany has been completed. Bishop Georg Bätzing also explained at which points he sees room for church reforms - and where not.

The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK), Bishop Georg Bätzing , spoke out in favor of an all-church synod in Rome, which deals with the decisions to be taken on the synodal path of the church in Germany . He was “very much in favor of transporting the knowledge and decisions that we collect on the Synodal Path - also with regard to women and ministry - to Rome,” said the Limburg bishop in an interview with Publik-Forum magazine (Friday). " What arises synodally must also be synodally clarified and answered," said Bätzing . This principle had been strengthened by Pope Francis.

When the woman was ordained a priest, Pope Francis, like his predecessors, emphasized that it was a “closed question”, continued Bätzing . " But that cannot mean that the question of the ordination of women is not discussed further." The demand for consecration for women is " there, in the middle of the church" . The arguments put forward by the magisterium against female priests “are often no longer accepted,” said the DBK chairman.

In addition, said Bätzing for church reforms such as from the approval of other Christians to the Eucharist . " Christians can choose with good arguments and according to their own conscience to take part in the Eucharist or Communion of the other denomination. " There is now a very high level of agreement among the Christian churches regarding the " meaning of what we believe and celebrate" he his position. Also the introduction of a blessing to remarried divorced and homosexual couples is conceivable for the DBK chairman. " Quite a few suffer from the fact that their relationship is not fully recognized by the church ." Those affected would wait for a “sign” from the church.

(Continued in subsequent post)
 
(Continuation)

Bätzing also said that he did not share the discontent felt by so-called XXL parishes in several dioceses : " The time of the Catholic milieu is over ." This also ends “a focus on the priest, which I and many others no longer want ” . The reduction of the " resource priest " is not necessarily a damage to the vitality of the church , but leads to new “leadership models and forms of organization of various kinds” .

Whether in the corona crisis also d ie attention to the quality of service s grown. " People are back directly what suits them and not. We usually do not know! What " The BTB chairman feel that, as a challenge to change. " On this point there will be no relapse to the time before Corona," said Bätzing .

After the so-called MHG study on child sexual abuse in the church, the German bishops and lay people decided to start a reform process. In the Synodal Way, issues such as women’s access to ordination offices, the priestly way of life and sexual morality are to be discussed. The process started in December 2019 is initially scheduled to run for two years . (Rome)
 
I hope the translation is wrong. If correct, the Batzing is advocating positions that are contradictory to Church teaching, as well as revelation, from which Church teaching flows.

He also comes across as not being a fan of Saint Pope John Paul II, who ended the discussion on women ordination in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis:
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.
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I would also urge the Bishop to read Saint Pope John Paul II’s Ecclesia De Eucharistia on why those outside the faith cannot receive the Eucharist (except in very limited emergency situations).

As for blessing divorced and remarried & homosexual couples…perhaps he should re-read what the Bible has to say about those topics.
 
If read this “charitably”, I think the Bishop is being influenced by the low attendance of the Church in Germany, and that’s why he is looking at “changes” to boost Church participation.

If that’s the case, someone in authority (the Pope preferably, or the Primate of Germany) needs to tell him that making the Church more “progressive” won’t make people go more.
 
I don’t understand the whole situation. This “synodal path” in Germany is openly promoting objective evils. Rome publicly informed the German bishops, some time ago, that it was an invalid / illicit process… yet the German Church is moving forward with, apparently, no additional intervention by Rome? I don’t get it.
 
twf said:
I don’t understand the whole situation. This “synodal path” in Germany is openly promoting objective evils. Rome publicly informed the German bishops, some time ago, that it was an invalid / illicit process… yet the German Church is moving forward with, apparently, no additional intervention by Rome? I don’t get it.
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This is a good question, and one that we will likely not be getting an answer to for some time. I think the most likely scenario is that nothing will be done by Pope Francis until the German synod is completely finished and they have released whatever final document they plan on putting together. Pope Francis wrote that letter to the German bishops last year in a (somewhat feeble) attempt to keep them under control, but it obviously had no effect and stronger action will be required. The rumor was that the letter was originally much more strongly worded, but Cardinal Marx personally intervened with Pope Francis to help tone down the language. Cardinal Marx later said that there was “no clear stop sign” from Rome, so the synod began as scheduled. Ultimately no further action was taken by the Pope.

I don’t think anyone truly knows why Pope Francis has let it get this far. The most likely reason is that the Germans, who are major supporters of Pope Francis, are going to get as long of a leash as possible so that he doesn’t alienate some of his closest allies in the Church. Some people have suggested that Pope Francis is uncomfortable wielding his authority in a heavy handed fashion and shutting things down prematurely, but I don’t buy that explanation. He has taken quick and decisive action in the past…when he has felt like it. When the U.S. bishops were ready to enact child abuse policies for bishops before the Rome abuse summit, Pope Francis moved with lightning speed on the eve of the USCCB meeting to order them to stop. When the Knights of Malta had the scandal with contraceptives that led to the dismissal of their Grand Chancellor, Pope Francis called in the Grand Master for a meeting and demanded his resignation on the spot. When his comments in Chile were looking to severely damage his personal reputation in the media, Pope Francis called for an immediate apostolic visit to Chile within a week, received the resignations of all of Chile’s bishops, and removed the problematic bishop.

The point is, Pope Francis isn’t afraid to drop the hammer when it suits his agenda or purposes. It remains to be seen what he’ll do in this situation. The German synod goes through 2021, so it will be awhile. Many are taking it for granted that he will step in at the last minute and quash the German bishops’ heresies. I am not so sure. I think there is a chance that he will make things right, but I also would not be surprised if he tries to make some kind of a deal with the Germans to placate them. For example, allow some kind of “blessing” of remarried couples, but put a stop to “blessing” gay unions. I hope this is not what happens, but in the end I am doubting that his response will not be a simple, “No.”
 
Or perhaps he just wants this debate to occur in the open, because pastorally, he feels the Church needs a better way to minister to people on the peripheries. A way that stops demonizing all divorced and remarried as “objective adulterers”, or gays as “objectively disordered”, by using softer language. It would be consistent with his approach in Amoris Laetitia in particular, and his desire to minister to the periphery in general. It fits with his “the Church is a hospital for sinners, not a resort for the righteous” theme.

I would imagine he would stop short of full endorsement of remarriage after civil divorce, or same-sex unions, but would, like in Amoris Laetitia, allow a case-by-case pastoral approach that perhaps stops short of blessing error, but blesses the people involved and encourages them to strive on the path of righteousness.

I can think of a few cases where railing against objective sins for gays as an example, might not be a good approach. Think of an elderly gay couple, one of which has become infirm and depends on his/her partner for care. These sorts of cases require a delicate approach if we are not to turns souls away from God.

It’s one thing to teach doctrine, but it needs to be accompanied by merciful pastoral application.

Our pope emeritus was a brilliant theologian. Pope Francis is a gentle pastor. Both approaches serve the needs of the Church.
 
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The Germans are getting a pass here because by and large they support the current Pope. If this was some conservative group of bishops looking to debate the merit saying all masses in their country ad orientem, they probably would have been slapped down before they could schedule their first meeting. I don’t know what Pope Francis intends to do with this mess but openly debating heresy in the Church is not healthy or pastoral for anyone.
 
This makes sense to an extent, but there are still some oddities. For one, Rome has clearly stated that this entire process is invalid…yet since the initial “warning” appears to be letting it run its course. Additionally, the proposals being debated go far beyond the pastoral accompaniment proposed by Amoris Laetitia…especially in regards to the nature of sexuality / gender, same sex unions, and women’s ordination.
 
tseleehw said:
The Germans are getting a pass here because by and large they support the current Pope. If this was some conservative group of bishops looking to debate the merit saying all masses in their country ad orientem, they probably would have been slapped down before they could schedule their first meeting
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That is pure speculation.
 
KMC said:
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OraLabora:
It’s one thing to teach doctrine, but it needs to be accompanied by merciful pastoral application.
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Archbishop Chaput gave a simple statement that we should use as a guideline:
Truth without compassion wounds and repels; mercy without truth is a comfortable form of lying
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http://archphila.org/archbishop-chaputs-weekly-column-mercy-truth-and-belonging-to-jesus-christ/
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Good article from Archbishop Chaput. Also another relevant article from him that I recall about a different topic, but with exact parallels to the current controversy:

catholicphilly.com

What happens in Germany

Archbishop Charles Chaput offers six thoughts on questions German bishops are debating: Who can receive the Eucharist, and when, and why? What happens in Germany will not stay in Germany, as history has taught us.
catholicphilly.com catholicphilly.com
 
KMC said:
He also comes across as not being a fan of Saint Pope John Paul II, who ended the discussion on women ordination in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis:
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" Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ,"
"First, was not a collegial exercise of the teaching authority.
Second, the bishops of the world had not acted as judges.
Third, they had not listened to the ordinary faithful.
Fourth, the issue in question does not involve revealed faith or morals.
Fifth, the Bishops of the world had not wanted to impose a final judgment on the matter."

"The belief that only men can be priests because all the 12 apostles were men is scripturally unsound. The appeal to an ‘unbroken tradition’ of excluding women is as faulty as asserting that the world was created in six days because the fathers of the church, medieval theologians and all bishops thought so."
 
I suspect your source isn’t familiar with Church teaching.
  1. He was the pope, and by virtue of his office as Supreme Pontiff, it does not have to be a collegial exercise
  2. An exercise of the Supreme Pontiff is not subject to the bishops, unless he chooses to give them that opportunity, as like in an ecumenical council
  3. the Catholic Church is not a democracy
  4. Wrong, it involves Scripture and Tradition, and the authority given to Peter, the apostles and thus their successors
  5. see #2
edit: my tone was poor…edited for a more charitable response
 
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To Catholics, the Episcopal College only has infallible power if it is approved by the Bishop of Rome. That’s why Ecumenical Councils have to have a papal blessing to be considered valid.
 
And theology and canon law from Tradition (i.e. theories devolped by the Church Fathers) only have validity if they are in harmony with the other two sides of Doctrine: Holy Scriptures and the Magisterium. That’s why for example Young Earth Creationism or Limbo can be considered hypothesis, even when they were holded by some Church Fathers.
 
According to Wijngaards, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis does not fulfill the five criteria of an infallible decision by the “ordinary and universal magisterium,” as outlined by the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner.

" Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ," he said, “first, was not a collegial exercise of the teaching authority. Second, the bishops of the world had not acted as judges. Third, they had not listened to the ordinary faithful. Fourth, the issue in question does not involve revealed faith or morals. Moreover, fifth, the bishops of the world had not wanted to impose a final judgment on the matter.”

He continued, “The belief that only men can be priests because all the 12 apostles were men is scripturally unsound. The appeal to an ‘unbroken tradition’ of excluding women is as faulty as asserting that the world was created in six days because the fathers of the church, medieval theologians and all bishops thought so.”
 
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RidgeSprinter said:
According to Wijngaards, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis does not fulfill the five criteria of an infallible decision by the “ordinary and universal magisterium,” as outlined by the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner.

" Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ," he said, “first, was not a collegial exercise of the teaching authority. Second, the bishops of the world had not acted as judges. Third, they had not listened to the ordinary faithful. Fourth, the issue in question does not involve revealed faith or morals. Moreover, fifth, the bishops of the world had not wanted to impose a final judgment on the matter.”

He continued, “The belief that only men can be priests because all the 12 apostles were men is scripturally unsound. The appeal to an ‘unbroken tradition’ of excluding women is as faulty as asserting that the world was created in six days because the fathers of the church, medieval theologians and all bishops thought so.”
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  1. Fr. Karl Rahner died in 1984
  2. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis was written by Pope John Paul II in 1994
Fr. Karl Rahner never read Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. As a peritus at Vatican II, he would have been quite familiar with the authority of the Pope, as defined by Vatican I’s Pastor Aeternus, having seen and worked with it in Vatican II.
  1. Wijngaards? Is that laicized priest John Wijngaards?
    It seems Mr. Wijngaards is trying to argue that Fr. Karl Rahner would reject Saint Pope John Paul II’s authority on the matter?
I would not say that a laicized priest is the most persuasive source on this topic.
 
Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have reaffirmed Saint Pope John Paul II’s declaration.


cruxnow.com

Women’s ordination: One door closes and another opens

In the same interview in which Pope Francis said about a gay person who seeks the Lord, “Who am I to judge?” he also commented on women’s ordination saying, “That door is closed.” The Pope re-iterated the ban in his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium, saying that women’s ordination “is not a question […]
cruxnow.com cruxnow.com
 
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