The German Response

Stephen White of Catholic University reflects on the recent response of Bishop Georg Bätzing to concerns about the German Church’s “Synodal Path.”

“For all the talk about the need for unflinching reform in the wake of the abuse crisis, the most controversial proposals coming out of the German Synodal Path have little obvious connection to the abuse crisis. In fact, many of the Synodal Path’s recommendations from its latest session are precisely the same set of issues Catholic progressives have been pushing for decades: end priestly celibacy, ordain women, abandon the Church’s teaching on the nature of human sexuality and human acts (i.e., drop the Church’s “outdated” prohibitions against contraception and sodomy).

“A Church that has lost faith in its own teachings cannot be a credible herald of the Gospel. Nor is this a problem that can be resolved by choosing more socially acceptable teachings. The faith in Germany will not be revived by a Church that sees her own teachings as obstacles to be overcome rather than Good News to be proclaimed.”

Read the whole column.

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