Secretary General of German Bishops Conference claims that Synod is not for making doctrinal statements
Dr Gilles, at the press conference opening the Spring Assembly, it seemed that the seats of the four recently retired women members of the synodal assembly were being reassigned. Why did a replacement fail?
That was a decision of the bishops' conference. The chairman said at the final press conference that it had been voted on. He had prepared several options. There was no possibility of clarification in advance because of the short time available. The Articles of Association provide that the body that appointed a member appoints a new member if someone resigns. According to the statute, the Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics can each appoint up to ten members to the Synodal Assembly. Both institutions originally decided to fill these ten spaces. Since the statute provides that the bishops' conference can fill up to ten seats, the bishops' conference acted in accordance with the statutes.
When the Synodal Path began in 2020, there was a consensus that women should be the central theme. It is therefore sobering for many that four highly qualified women who are financially independent of the bishops' conference have left because they feel marginalized and not taken seriously. Would you support a debate on this point at the Fifth Synodal Assembly?
Members have dropped out over time. But there was never a personnel debate about it, and that's not the case now either. It is simply a matter of respect that these four people have decided to resign. I would find it extremely difficult to discuss in absentia. I really wish they would continue to work.
"There are always members who over time dropped out. But there was never a personnel debate and that is not the case now"
But one problem - and that doesn't make the four women comparable to delegates who left for other reasons - was that they could no longer find any meaning in their participation because they had not been heard. Don't you see a need to talk about the phenomenon as such?
I can't share the big difference, and the mandate of the synodal assembly must be observed once again. There is always a discussion at the beginning about the general situation, that's where the location would have been. The members of the synod have a mandate and the agenda is characterized by the fact that topics are dealt with. For the question of what the Synodal Assembly can do as a body, the point is not who is currently a member. I don't know what other reasons the four of them had. And again: I would have appreciated it if they were there. Because we have the passage in the statute that women can vote specifically on application. This is very important. Therefore, every woman who walks out of the Synodal Assembly is a great loss.
If you look at the "declaration of farewell" published on February 22, at least one point should be relevant for theologians even in the absence of the four women for the synodal assembly: "It has not been clarified what a valid theological argument can be," says the text. Isn't this a point that those in the know should take seriously?
Yes, of course, that's very important. But I do not share this assessment in any way. The Synodal Path does not make any doctrinal statements.
(Cathcon: changing the moral teaching of the Church and opening the priesthood to women is not doctrinal! What rubbish!)
However, the orientation text reflects the question of what the basis of the considerations is at a high theological level. The text has been accepted by the Synodal Assembly, and with that the hermeneutic foundation has been laid.
Keyword world church: What's next?
I was allowed to be there in Prague. It was a great gift to be able to experience this and I found it very exciting to experience a great variety there - especially in the approaches to the topics. It wasn't a question of where someone comes from - is he a bishop, someone in charge in a diocese or a volunteer - and so there was a wide range and at the same time an equal footing in the conversations. I found it very impressive when a bishop talks about how he, as a father of a family, shapes his church and what challenges that entails. Our Catholic Church is already so broad and wide that we have many models. As far as the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany is concerned, we have of course experienced the Roman Catholic perspective and tradition. That's the wealth. I also met many interesting women in Prague and got into conversation with them. The themes of the synodal path in Germany are also shared in other local churches. The fact that things were not deepened in Prague was also due to the conduct of the conversation. Rather, headlines were collected. I'm excited to see what's to come. At other synods, I was sometimes astonished that completely different topics were set from other countries.
"The fact that things weren't deepened in Prague was also due to the way the conversation was conducted. Rather, bullet points were just collected."
Which ones, for example?
For example, the issue of polygamous relationships in the African Catholic Church came as a great surprise to me at the family synod. This shows that topics are tied to culture; There are some big differences, but sometimes there are also big similarities. After Prague, the question for me is how Synodality is now played out. There it became clear that one only experiences Synodality if one also practices Synodality.
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