Four Synodal Path delegates declare enough is enough

Through the Synodal Path, the Church in Germany is distancing itself from the universal Church, which is why they no longer want to go along with it: Four delegates resign their mandate in the reform process, they do not want to be present at the next assembly.

Four delegates for the Catholic reform process, the Synodal Path are ending their participation. The reason is that the Catholic Church in Germany is increasingly distancing itself from the universal Church, write Katharina Westerhorstmann, Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, Dorothea Schmidt and Marianne Schlosser in the "Welt" (online on Wednesday).

They had been delegates to the German Bishops' Conference since 2019. The declared aim of the Synodal Path had been to come to terms with sexual abuse. "In the course of this, however, central Catholic teachings and convictions were also called into doubt. We can no longer go along with this path, on which, in our estimation, the Church in Germany is distancing itself more and more from the universal Church," the article says.

The women write that they have decided not to take part in the final Synodal Assembly from 9 to 11 March and to resign from the Synodal Path. "We hereby resign our mandate."

Interventions had been ignored

The process had ignored "repeated interventions and clarifications from Vatican authorities and the Pope". Continued participation would mean "supporting a course that is obviously driving the Church in Germany into isolation from the universal Church. We cannot and do not want to share the responsibility for that," it says.

The resolutions of the past three years had not only called into question essential foundations of Catholic theology, anthropology and church practice, but in some cases completely redefined them. "In the process, it was not clarified what can be a valid theological argument," the four delegates criticise. Serious objections in favour of the currently valid church doctrine had hardly been taken into account.

At the Synodal Path, the German Catholic bishops and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) discuss the future of church life in Germany. The starting point is a church crisis that has been exacerbated by the abuse scandal. The main topics are sexual morality, the priestly way of life, power and the separation of powers as well as the role of women in the church. 

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