Polish Catholic Action delivers thundering and devastating rebuke to German Synodal Path
Meeting of German and Polish lay Catholics
28 May 2023
The stay in Warsaw of representatives of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and the Maximilian-Kolbe-Werk Association, provided an opportunity to meet with representatives of Polish Catholics in Catholic Action. The theme was the role of the laity in the Church, in each country.
Presenting the involvement of lay Catholics in Poland, the multiplicity of movements and associations and their charisms were recalled. Referring to Catholic Action, the importance of the formation undertaken and the deepening of faith to undertake wide-ranging apostolic and evangelisation activities in the social space was emphasised. Our guests heard more about the co-operation with the hierarchy of the Church, the patriotic activities undertaken, the presence in the work of local government and Parliament, up to the presence in the media.
Due to the decreasing number of priests in the German Church, the faithful are playing an increasingly important role. They take over many tasks and a large group works professionally in the Church. However, the greater role of the communities does not translate into Mass attendance and sacramental life, which is very weak.
Among the topics of the meeting was also participation in the work of the ongoing Synods. The Universal Synod of Bishops, convened by Pope Francis, to which Catholic Action also contributed its Synodal discernment, and their own Synodal Way, charted in Germany, where the meeting highlighted four levels of work: child abuse by priests, women in the Church, hierarchy and sexuality.
It should be noted on this occasion that in Germany, the demands of Pope Francis were rejected and the Synodal Path, which had been created, was followed. Only members elected in parity (230 persons) by the Episcopate and ZdK work in it. The German Synodal Path, through its resolutions, escapes formal accountability, but in practice nevertheless exerts pressure on the whole environment of the Church in Germany.
The Synodal Path gives the signs of the times an important place, a concept that is unclear and variously interpreted. Among the demands were the separation of the authority to govern and the authority to ordain, the blessing of same-sex couples, the backbone of the Church built on the Gospel and the office of Bishop was broken, with a new way of electing him by the Synodal council. It is also worth adding that the Holy See has issued a statement that the Synodal Path does not have the authority to oblige bishops and laity to accept new rulings on matters of faith and morals. It must be added, however, that in Germany not everyone agrees with the Synodal Path, believing that it does not lead to true renewal, leaving out the core of the crisis of faith. There is a danger that the German Synodal Path leads to placing itself above the Episcopate. It also poses a threat to the unity of the Church.
In spite of the noble goal of strengthening Christian witness, the German Special Path does not build on the Gospel and often contradicts the principles of faith, as the Polish delegation tried to convey with its testimony of exchanging ideas and experiences of living according to God's law.
This was the third such meeting in recent years and at the same time the first during the ongoing synods. Catholic Action presented the guests with an icon of Our Lady Queen of Poland and a report on war reparations.
The German side was represented by a group of representatives of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) headed by its president Dr Irme Stetter-Karp and Maximilian-Kolbe-Werk, an association whose main aim is to help ghetto victims and former concentration camp prisoners, by its President Peter Weiss. The delegation of Catholic Action in Poland was led by President Urszula Furtak.
Urszula Furtak,
President of Catholic Action in Poland
This follows criticism from Polish Catholic Bishops in August of last year
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