Synodal Path debates whether priesthood needed, redefines marriage
They have their final meeting coming soon, so their final view on the priesthood will be revealed. I fear the worst.
From 2021
The controversial "Synodal Path" now addresses the question of whether the Catholic Church needs priests at all. This was decided by the Synodal Assembly by vote yesterday (Thursday). It was also suggested to discuss an LGBT sacrament.
When asked if there should be a "discussion" about abolishing the priesthood, 95 Synod participants answered "yes" yesterday (Friday). Only 94 of the participants in the debate event voted "no". According to the statutory requirement that a simple majority is sufficient, this question is officially debated at the "Synodal Way".
With regard to the Sacrament of Matrimony, there are also moves that would claim to achieve a departure from the Church's teaching by vote. For example, the proposal was made to "make the sexuality of non-heterosexual couples" a sacrament.
Abolish priesthood?
During the deliberations on a basic text entitled "Priestly Existence Today", official participants asked whether the Church needed the sacramental priesthood at all. The reason given for this question was that lay people were thereby excluded from "participation", while the "power structures" of priests within the Church were consolidated.
The motion was whether the responsible working group should investigate the question of whether priests are needed in the Catholic Church at all. 95 participants voted in favour of the motion, 94 voted against it and there were nine abstentions.
Thus the motion was adopted and the working group of the Synodal Forum "Priestly Existence Today" has thus been given the task of "discussing" this question.
This raises the possibility that the demand for the abolition of the sacramental priesthood will eventually find its way into the final "decisions" of the already controversial "Synodal Path".
Participant: "Making the sexuality of non-heterosexual couples a sacrament".
Also yesterday, Friday, a first reading of the controversial basic text on the Synodal Forum "Living in Successful Relationships - Living Love in Sexuality and Partnership" took place. With 168 votes in favour out of a total of 214 participants, the draft text of Synodal Forum IV was adopted.
The chairman of this forum, Bishop Helmut Dieser of Aachen, explained that in future one would like to start "from the person" and no longer include, for example, natural law in the evaluation of sexuality, as the Church has done up to now for 2000 years and Pope John Paul II developed further in the "Theology of the Body".
The draft text now adopted by the majority also provides for the blessing of homosexual unions.
For some participants, however, these proposals did not go far enough. Mara Klein, a member of the "Cusanuswerk of the Catholic Student Community", told the synodal assembly verbatim:
"For the family alone, it would be appropriate if our text took this step and fully decriminalised the sexuality of non-heterosexual couples and made it a Sacrament."
Meanwhile, Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau had made a strong case for the Church's teaching on sexuality and marriage, stressing "that the 'theology of the body' is a personalist proposition." The Church's sexual morality is also perceived by many as "liberating", Oster stressed.
Can one vote on Sacraments?
Whether the synodal assembly will ultimately vote in favour of such proposals is unclear for now. Just as unclear, observers stress, is how Pope Francis, the Vatican and large parts of the universal Church would react if German bishops and officials "voted" on the sacraments of the Church. The only thing that is clear so far is that the event in Frankfurt claims to be able to do so.
Observers also point out that there is still no legal effect for a cross-diocesan implementation. Ultimately, it is up to each diocesan bishop to decide whether to implement the "decisions" of the Synodal Assembly in his diocese.
As CNA German has learned from Vatican sources, Rome continues to observe these events very closely. Even before the developments on Friday, fears were mounting from Germany and abroad that the Church in Germany could drift into a kind of "national church" through the "Synodal Way" and split off from the universal Church with a kind of "Reformation 2.0" through a new schism.
Especially a break of the German bishops and officials with the Church's doctrine of the sacraments could bring "the barrel to overflow" and force the Holy Father to intervene even more than he already has, Vatican insiders note to CNA German.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) defines the sacraments under point 1210 thus:
Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The Seven Sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.
Early warnings about the theological level of the process organised by the German Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics also came from German experts. For example, Helmut Hoping, a Professor of Dogmatics at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, stated in an interview with CNA German, literally:
"As little as the question of evangelisation and catechesis plays a role in the 'Synodal Path' the Church's faith in the Eucharist. On the contrary, the position of the priest in the Eucharist is questioned, and some believe that the position of the priest in the liturgy favours sexual abuse. The Synodal Forum 'Living in Successful Relationships' has a relationship with the question of the sacrament of marriage. This is because the majority of the forum's members opt for a changed theological view of non-marital partnerships and the blessing of same-sex couples and remarried divorcees."
As CNA German reported, a group of Catholics from the Diocese of Essen has made an official request - a so-called dubium - to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, asking whether the Church in Germany is not already in schism. As one of the initiators announced at the beginning of September, an answer is still pending.
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