Is it possible to have another great schism?

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I keep hearing/reading about the German church and wonder if it could grow, make changes, break away and spread further?

Or is it something that cannot happen?
 
It’s always possible for people to break away from the Church. That doesn’t mean it will happen in this case, though.
 
As an outsider looking in…I could certainly see it happening. I sense that the split could occur between the more liberal wing and the traditional wing. It seems these two sides are constantly battling between keeping the church traditions unchanging and those that want modernism to update some practices and beliefs.

I am NOT saying it will happen. I’m just saying I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it did. And I can see both churches being successful in their endeavors as well as being vitriolic against the other. It’s not too hard to see the writing on the wall starting already. Preventing it will be interesting but somewhat doubtful at success. JMHO
 
Pattylt said:
As an outsider looking in…I could certainly see it happening. I sense that the split could occur between the more liberal wing and the traditional wing.
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Yes, this would best define an actual schism. (Protestant denominations themselves come and go and don’t capture the definition of an actual schism).

Even then, a schism can’t happen just because a bunch of OF vs. EF people are bickering on CAF. It can’t even happen when a group of Sedevacantists break off on their own. It would occur within the Vatican proper. I don’t envision that happening in my lifetime or my children’s.
 
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Gripper said:
Or is it something that cannot happen?
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There have been schisms before, it could happen again. We do not know whether or not it will happen. What is important is that whatever happens we keep ourselves inside the Barque of Peter so that we may be protected from the waves.
 
The German bishops are undertaking a “synodal path” for the next two years amongst themselves. The topics they are considering/discussing are very similar to what was discussed during the Amazon synod, that is, ordaining married men, ordaining female deacons, female priests, blessing and normalizing homosexual marriages, etc.

By the way, someone just told me that the Amazon synod document will be released tomorrow and the ordination of married men will be promulgated…just something I heard. I’ll believe it when I see it…
 
It wouldn’t be a ‘great’ schism because the Church has already mostly puttered out in Germany, and I doubt a formal schism will happen anymore the way that it did in the past. In the past when people like Michael Cerularius commanded a lot of singular influence, they could refuse something and then as long as the emperor went along with it, the entire empire followed suit. Commoners in the east or in the west continued to go to whichever church was in their local community and they had no say in anything. The Great Schism was the product of just a few people on both sides being egotistical and then everybody else in the Christian world paid the price even though they never asked for it.

I think in the 21st century, there will just continue to be lots of intellectual gymnastics, rationalizations, and a socially awkward relationship between the German bishops and the Vatican. The Vatican as the international hub of the Church is more cosmopolitan and diverse, and the German bishops struggle to preach and evangelize in a specific, fairly homogenous country that has become extremely secularized since WW2, and they don’t know what to do about it or how to cope, and they themselves are influenced by the culture. I honestly do feel kind of bad for them and I don’t envy the position they are in.

But no, a formal schism is very doubtful in the 21st century imo.
 
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