German Catholic laity openly defying Vatican

Association of German Catholic Laity, ZdK: In Germany, the church has come a long way with baptism and preaching

After the Vatican's refusal of baptism and preaching in the Mass by lay people, the ZdK is not discouraged: It sees the letter from the liturgy prefect as the first step in a dialogue to bring the church up to date.

For the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), church practice in the baptism and preaching of lay people is more advanced than church teaching. On request, ZdK press spokeswoman Britta Baas told Katholisch.de that the Catholic Committee was happy about the letter from Rome. The post from the Vatican shows Rome's interest in the results and objectives of the synodal path in Germany. "Talks in Rome are overdue and are in the heart of Catholic civil society in this country," Baas continued.

The prefect of the Liturgy Dicastery, Cardinal Arthur Roche, in his letter to the Chairperson of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK), Bishop Georg Bätzing, made clear the current church teaching with regard to baptism and preaching. It is not surprising that Catholics in Germany are further along, their lives are changing every day. "In just a few years, no one will be able to seriously object to lay sermons and baptisms by lay people if the church still wants to be important to the local people. We already have a blatant shortage of priests," emphasizes Baas. Creating ever larger, ever more anonymous structures that are based solely on the presence of a priest will not preserve the life of the church. "Community needs togetherness," the ZdK spokeswoman said with conviction. It is therefore important that movement in the areas of baptism and preaching is perceived as an opportunity.

With his letter to Bätzing, which became known on Thursday, Roche once again impressed the German bishops on the applicable liturgical regulations on baptism and homily. In some German dioceses lay people have been preaching and baptizing for years. Most recently, the synodal path had demanded more leeway for lay people in the liturgy. With its action text "Proclamation of the Gospel by lay people in Word and Sacrament", the Bishops are called upon to develop a particular norm, i.e. a church law that applies to the area of ​​the Bishops' Conference, with which lay people are also officially allowed to preach in the Eucharistic celebration. A particular norm requires the approval of the Holy See. In addition, a consultation process is to be carried out to review the conditions under which lay people may administer baptism and assist with the sacrament of marriage. In Rottenburg-Stuttgart and Essen, baptisms by lay people are already permitted by the Diocesan bishops.

Source

Cathcon: Cardinal Roche, of all people, resists the greedy acquisition of priestly prerogative by arrogant pseudo-clerical German laity.