An aggressive modernist accuses his opponents of being agressive

Bishop Helmut Dieser of Aachen experiences opponents of church reforms as vocal and "in a certain way also highly aggressive".

They repeatedly send the message to the advocates of renewal: "What you are doing is forbidden from the outset, because it leads the Church on an erroneous path".

Such statements, he said, were very suspicious

Bishop Helmut Dieser of Aachen experiences opponents of church reforms as vocal and "in a certain way also highly aggressive". They repeatedly send the message to the advocates of renewal: "What you are doing is forbidden from the outset because it leads the Church on an erroneous path. You must not think further in this direction." He considers such statements very suspicious, said Dieser to Cologne's "Domradio".

According to Dieser, there are also fears among members of the German Bishops' Conference of being water carriers for "wrong people". "That we are serving some gay lobby or that we are located on some false ideology."

"German issues virulent worldwide"

The bishop co-chairs the forum on sexuality and partnership at the Reform Dialogue Synodal Way together with the vice-president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Birgit Mock. The panel had developed a paper that also advocates a blessing for queer persons. At the synodal assembly in September, the adoption of the text on sexual morality failed due to a blocking minority of bishops.

The bishop stressed that the issues were not only virulent in Germany, but worldwide. "From that point of view, we are not isolated."

Women's ordination: Is John Paul II's decree not binding?

What is needed, he said, is an image of man that describes sexuality from Scripture and from the tradition of the Church "in a way that was perhaps not done in earlier epochs". Due to the progress of the human sciences, sexuality is thought of in a much more diverse way today and should not be reduced to procreation or the organisation of marriage.

Dieser described the ban on ordaining women as a burning issue: "Does John Paul II's statement that the Church has no authority to ordain women priests bind with ultimate infallibility or not?" After the Papal decision, unfortunately, there was no peace in the Church spiritually, he said. Instead, the struggle and the polarisation in the Church have become sharper.

All made clear for the Bishop here

Birgit Mock: Women also experience themselves as called

"In the end, it is always about the question of the same unavailable dignity of all human beings. Women also experience themselves as called to ordained ministry," said ZdK Vice President Mock in the same interview.

She stressed that the church must be understood as being in touch with the reality of people's lives. "In our forum, we have come to the certainty that there has always been a change in the church's orientation. We want to stand up for that today as well."

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