Head of German bishops enjoys experimenting with the souls of the faithful. In spite of low participation in the Synodal Process, he claims their support.

The joy of experimentation is needed in the search for answers

Interview with Bishop Dr. Georg Bätzing on the implementation of the decisions of the Synodal Path

Bishop Georg Bätzing at the Fifth Synodal Assembly in Frankfurt.

Have you heard about my new high explosive- perfectly safe to use?

Disappointment arises when nothing changes.   After an initial discussion in the curial and synodal bodies of the Diocese of Limburg, Bishop Dr Georg Bätzing talks in an interview about the implementation of the decisions of the Synodal Path.

The Synodal Path is over.   You played a decisive role in shaping this path and at the end you emphasised that it had been a success despite much gnashing of teeth and some criticism.   What do you base this experience on?

Bishop Georg Bätzing: We started the Synodal Path after the nationwide MHG study showed us the extent and systemic causes of abuse in the Catholic Church.   This is and remains the starting point for changes that we have made in this process as bishops together with a representative group of faithful from our country and in joint sponsorship with the Central Committee of German Catholics.   We have confronted these systemic causes in four substantive areas and we have passed resolutions.   It is always important for me to say: The Synodal Path did not write texts, it gave impulses to change the actions of the Church at all levels so that abuse is prevented in the best possible way in various respects.   In the process itself, we have, in my opinion, practised a culture of dispute at the height of the times; that is certainly not yet the ultimate for future synodal cooperation in the Church - but no one has claimed that either.   There is still much to improve here.   But how could this be achieved other than by practising together?

In a way, it weighs heavily that we did not succeed in involving and taking along a dissenting minority to the very end.   However, I would like to remind you that this group did not make use of its right, enshrined in the Statute, to cast its own votes and to attach them to the texts of the resolutions.   That would have been a constructive way.   The Synodal Path has come to an end with the fifth Assembly, but it is far from over.   For now the decisions must be implemented and the questions that need to be clarified at the world church level must be taken to Rome.   And above all, it will be our task to continuously develop synodality in joint deliberation and decision-making for the Church in Germany in accordance with the possibilities offered by canon law.   For major questions for the future of the Church regarding the transmission of faith, new evangelising impulses and possibilities of church commitment under the social framework conditions of our culture need our increased attention and willingness to experiment in the search for answers.  

BASIC TEXTS - NOT THE LEVEL OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

For many believers in the Diocese of Limburg, great hopes are linked to the Synodal Path.   In view of the statements from Rome, however, there is also great disillusionment and also concern that all the efforts in Germany have been in vain.   What do you say to people when you talk to them about this concern and their disillusionment?   Can you understand the faithful?

First of all: A large part of the recommendations for action and basic texts adopted in the Synodal Path do not touch the level of the universal church.   The basic text for Forum I ("Power and Division of Powers in the Church - Sharing and Participating in the Mission"), for example, offers so much creative potential and scope for developing synodal processes and structures at all levels of church life.   It also gives strong impulses on how authority and power in the church can be perceived in such a way that they are responsibly controlled and thus transparent and accepted.   It is worthwhile to work intensively on the implementation.

Disappointment will arise if nothing happens.   Shaping change is now the joint responsibility of bishops, priests, religious and lay people in their respective areas of responsibility.   I am very confident about this - especially in view of the results of our Diocesan project "Listening to those affected - preventing abuse", the recommendations of which could be almost completely implemented in a period of only two years.   This will make a significant contribution to the desired cultural change in our Diocese.

DELIBERATIONS, FEEDBACK, DECISIONS

A total of 15 texts have been adopted by the Synodal Assembly.   In a letter to volunteers and full-time staff in the Diocese of Limburg, you wrote that it is now a matter of looking at the decisions, discussing them intensively with each other and filling them with life.   Where do these consultations stand and what feedback or decisions have already been made?

I am deliberately referring once again to the reappraisal project in the Diocese, because some of the measures recommended there also touch on resolutions of the Synodal Path: the regulations for priestly formation have already been thoroughly revised in the Diocese of Limburg.   Since September, a new Equality Order for the Diocese has been in force and we have developed a Complaints Order.   Since the beginning of the year, the new Diocesan statute has been in place, which describes the Diocesan team and other new management structures as the highest curial advisory body.   In addition to the Bishop and the Vicar General, responsible leaders of the Ordinariate work together with elected representatives of the five regions in the Diocesan team.   Here they deliberate together and prepare the necessary decisions.   Now we are looking to set up the synodal bodies at all levels up to the Diocesan synodal council and to relate them to each other in such a way that they correspond even better to the diversity in our Diocese and enable decisions to be made on the basis of informed and competent consultation.   All this has also been the subject of the Synodal Path - in our Diocese it is already in the implementation phase.   As far as the other decisions are concerned, we are now looking very closely at the mandates and will initiate the corresponding consultations.   And finally: With the new Basic Order, we now have a fundamentally reformed labour law; there is also a resolution of the Synodal Path on this.

Let us look at the concrete decisions of the Synodal Path and the effects on full-time and voluntary workers in the Diocese of Limburg.   A few years ago, you already designed a process in the Diocese of Limburg that dealt with the question of couples who cannot or do not want to marry catholically asking for the church's blessing.   What to do?   Among others, same-sex couples or couples whose marriage had broken down and who are living in a new partnership were considered.   Will there be blessing ceremonies for these couples in the Diocese of Limburg?   How do you react when you learn that priests of the Diocese are organising blessing celebrations?

Yes, there will be blessing celebrations for couples who do not want to or cannot marry in church and ask for God's blessing for their already existing partnership.   This is what the adopted action text of the Synodal Path envisages.   The task that still needs to be done lies in a good liturgical-pastoral manual for such celebrations that expresses the special nature of this wish and of the church's offer and at the same time makes it clear that a blessing celebration cannot be a marriage or a sacrament.   This is where the boundary lies.   Since 2017, we in the Diocese have shaped a very intensive, theologically qualified process with excellent hearings, the result of which largely coincides with the wise and far-reaching argumentation found in the action text of the Synodal Path.   However, the action text itself also makes it clear that no pastor can be pressured into celebrating such blessing services.   Conversely, as bishop I want to support those couples who ask for such a blessing in finding the desired service of pastoral workers.   There are already such blessing ceremonies.   And I am grateful for that.  

WOMEN'S ISSUES AND GENDER JUSTICE

In interviews you have often said that the "women's question" is for you the most important question for the future in the Church.   What are you doing as Bishop of Limburg for more gender justice in your Diocese?

I still stand by this: The participation of women at all levels and in all decision-making processes of church life is crucial for the future in the social context of our culture.   I would like to see all ministries and offices open to women in the near or not too distant future.

As far as the sacramental offices are concerned, I personally support the vote of the Synodal Path to intensively promote the diaconate for women - and not to close the doors on the question of a possible admission of women to the priesthood in the world church, but to thoroughly weigh the theological arguments in favour of it.   Incidentally, many of the measures I have already mentioned above for our Diocese of Limburg lead to women being more involved in decisions than before.   And wherever this happens, I experience it as beneficial.   I therefore find it only logical that women are entitled to vote at the World Synod in October.  

The Synodal Path has also adopted the action text "Proclamation of the Gospel by Lay People in Word and Sacrament".   In brief, this concerns the question of whether qualified women and men who are not deacons and priests should be allowed to preach in the Eucharistic celebration.   The Vatican has rejected this demand.   Can you understand Rome's position?   Do theologians in the Diocese of Limburg have to expect sanctions if they preach?

When you say that the Vatican has rejected this demand, you are probably referring to the letter from the Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship.   But this only reflects what Cardinal Arthur Roche explained about the state of affairs at our meeting during the ad limina visit in November 2022.   And we know this state of affairs.   The text in question provides for the bishops to obtain a so-called indult in Rome.   This means that universal church law does not have to be changed, but that the special situation in our country is taken into account.   And the Prefect writes precisely at the end of the letter that we must seek further discussion on the matter.

As hardly anywhere else, there have been theologically qualified and pastorally competent women and men alongside priests and deacons in Germany for decades.   And in our Diocese (as in some other Dioceses) these pastoral workers have also been preaching in the Eucharistic celebration for a long time.   They bring their own life and faith experiences to the preaching, and that is a great benefit.   Not only should this practice not be restricted or withdrawn, but I would like these women and men to know that they are doing this with the consent of the bishop: They are doing this ministry with the consent of the bishop and in accordance with the applicable law.   They have the consent of the bishop - to put the legal framework in good order, that is the point of asking Rome to agree to a corresponding particular norm.    

OPINIONS AND EXCHANGE

You repeatedly plead for diversity in the Church and in the Diocese.   Apart from much approval for the Synodal Path and your clear positioning, there is also criticism.   How do you assess the mood in the Diocese and how are you in dialogue with critics?   Is there a fair, fear-free exchange?

I hope for the latter, and I know that this requires repeated signals on my part.   I am interested in us openly wrestling with each other and also arguing.   And that is why it is important that the faithful, the priests and the full-time pastoral staff can openly express their assessments and opinions, even their pangs of conscience.   Only in this way can we stay in touch with each other and not drift apart.   Polarisation is a great danger not only in society but also within the Church, especially when the respective protagonists and groups no longer talk to each other.  

However, I see that the overwhelming - often rather reserved - majority of the faithful agree with the goals and decisions of a church that is renewing itself and wants bridges to the social and cultural realities of our time.   It is precisely not my understanding of being Catholic that we see ourselves as a small, fine and segregated group in our society and form a life of our own that no longer seeks a connection to the great social needs and the life experiences of many people.   To be clear, I do not want us to become a Catholic sect.   I could not reconcile that with my mission as a bishop.   There are groups that are already talking about an imminent church schism, a schism.   I clearly do not see this danger.   However, I have the impression that those who particularly like to talk about it are obviously longing for it.

It is important for me to say that I also have responsibility for the faithful in whom fears and concerns about the processes of change are growing.   And precisely for this reason we need more synodality in the sense of a common search for what the Spirit of God is saying to us today and where he is leading us.   In this regard, the passages of the Acts of the Apostles are always very encouraging for me in the days of the Easter season.   What crises and conflicts the young Church was able to overcome by trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit!  That is how it grew - through a good balance of preserving and changing.    

In the Diocese of Limburg there has been a synodal order for more than 50 years, which regulates the co-existence of office and mandate.   Nuncio Eterovic told the German bishops at the Spring Plenary Assembly 2023 that there can be no such co-existence at any church level.   How can this be?   Do such Roman assessments have implications for the synodal members in the Diocese of Limburg?    

No, here I have to take the Apostolic Nuncio's side: He has in no way called into question the tried and tested practice of synodality in the Diocese of Limburg, which has also been approved by Rome.   But there is concern among our Roman interlocutors that the way we have practised synodality with each other in the Synodal Path and a Synodal Council, which we are moving towards in the Church in our country, could limit the authority of the bishop as it is theologically and canonically founded.   I think this concern is unfounded.   For even if we move towards joint deliberation and decision-making on certain issues between bishops and others in the Church, this does not weaken the authority of bishops; it only strengthens it.   That is my experience over many years.  

Joint consultation and decision-making is not directed against a bishop; the office of bishop is far too fundamentally anchored in the Catholic image of the Church for that and is also valued by the faithful.   Conversely, however, not only in Limburg have the faithful had to experience that episcopal authority was not sufficiently integrated into consultation and decision-making processes and was not exercised transparently.   Many speak of experiences of abuse of power.   And we can only counter this through participation, transparency, accountability and control.   That is what it is all about.  

WORLD SYNOD AND SYNODAL COMMITTEE

Where do we go from here?   In November, the Synodal Committee, which according to the Roman position cannot exist, is to meet for the first time.   Before that, the World Synod will take place in Rome.   How do you look forward to these two events?   

Once again, Rome has not blocked the work of the Synodal Committee but has only made it clear that there can be no Synodal Council that undermines episcopal authority.    But that is not what we are looking for either.    In this respect, there is no obstacle to the Synodal Committee.    However, there are still unanswered questions to be clarified, as has become apparent in an initial reflection among the Diocesan bishops.    The Synodal Committee has various tasks: It will deal fundamentally with synodality in our Church; it is to prepare the evaluation of the implementation of the decisions of the Synodal Path; it is to advise on such recommendations and action texts that could not be led to a decision; and it is to prepare a permanent Synodal Council in accordance with canon law.   The Roman reply to the five bishops who asked whether they may or must participate in such a Synodal Council only answered what is obvious under canon law: a bishop cannot be obliged to do so.   Everyone has to decide for themselves the question of participation.   For me, I have long since done so, because for me there is no alternative to the continuation of genuine, honest and effective synodality in order to shape a good future in our Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.   That is why I am also very excited about the experiences and the results of the World Synod, which I will be able to participate in this autumn.

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