Pastoral workers discuss the "superfluous Church"

At the Day of Pastoral Services on Tuesday, around 300 pastoral workers in the Diocese of Essen took a look at the effects of the abuse scandal and the consequences of the reappraisal study presented in February.

The effects of the abuse scandal were the focus of the Day of Pastoral Services in the Diocese of Essen on Tuesday, 2 May. Almost three months after the presentation of the study on sexualised violence in the Ruhr diocese, around 300 pastoral workers discussed the effects on their work in parishes and institutions as well as the consequences of the study and the abuse scandal in general.

"A church that made these crimes possible with its structures and regulations must change and must not have a future," emphasised Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck right at the beginning of the day, which after two corona-related digital events was now able to bring the pastoral professional groups of the diocese together again in the usual presence format in Essen. The Salzburg theology Professor Hans-Joachim Sander was even clearer than Overbeck, calling the Church "superfluous" in his guest lecture - at least that Church "whose inner pastoral staff is sexually abused, whose episcopal leadership covers it up and whose central leadership in Rome drags out systemic innovation".

Cathcon: The Professor is on record saying that "less Catholic means more Catholicity".....

The more superfluous the church as an institution becomes in the view of many people, the more important the work of the pastoral workers on the ground becomes, according to Sander. However, it is by no means getting easier: "In your entire professional life, you will probably no longer be able to get out of the dichotomy that you are working credibly on the ground, but your church can no longer get out of being untrustworthy," the theologian emphasised. He added that the Church must put itself into perspective in order to bring its message forward: "Only those who consider themselves dispensable can make room for the Gospel." It is not a matter of saving the Church, but of bringing its message to the people. In this, pastoral workers are the interface between "the outside and the inside" of the church - whereby it is precisely the enquiries from the outside that drive church development forward.

A healing external perspective for the church

Vicar General Klaus Pfeffer emphasised how beneficial the external perspective is for the Diocese of Essen in the context of the reappraisal study. Especially the intensive contact with victims of sexualised violence, also recently at several events to present the study, was very valuable. Pfeffer reported on the open and intensive exchange about the depressing and disturbing results, which has been going on at various levels in the Diocese of Essen since the presentation of the reappraisal study in mid-February. Parallel to the various discussion formats, a separate working group in the General Vicariate is dealing with the 90 or so recommendations that the Institute for Practical Research and Project Consulting (IPP) gave the diocese in the reappraisal study. "This group summarises the recommendations on certain topics and asks experts to develop concrete proposals. In the autumn, there should then be clarity about which proposals can be implemented and in what order.

In addition to the presentations and discussions on the podium, there was also room for collegial exchange at the Pastoral Services Day. "In my parish, I have not yet been approached so often about the abuse scandal and the study on coming to terms with it," said the parish assistant and parish representative of the Essen parish of Saints Cosmas and Damian during a break. "I notice that we pastors have to make this a much stronger topic from ourselves." Bochum deacon, Winfried Rottenecker from the Parish of St Peter and Paul emphasised, "In the presentation of the results of the IPP study, I got stuck on the statement that a closed-off parish that is too preoccupied with itself even encourages abuse and tends to cover up abuse. As a deacon, I will work to make our parish as open and welcoming as possible." The priest, Stefan Wiesel is "sometimes surprised how many people still turn to me despite the abuse scandal and the results of the reappraisal study." Also against the background of his experiences with the university chaplaincy "CampusSegen", he suspects: "This trust can succeed because people turn to individual chaplains - and not to 'the church'." And Sabrina Kuhlmann, pastoral assistant in the Oberhausen parish of St. Pankratius reports: "In my work, both the prevention of sexualised violence and the further development of our church play a role." With regard to Sander's talk of the "superfluous church", it is important to her: "If we as a Church do not want to become completely irrelevant, we must hurry with this church development. In doing so, we must take the outside perspective and, above all, take the faithful seriously." She wishes "that the church sees itself more as a companion, counsellor and real pastor in this."

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Cathcon: They are instrumentalising the abuse crisis to de-dogmatise the Church.  No more doctrine and all that is left is a glorified social service.  It is all about them, not about Jesus Christ.