Synodal process is all about laity trying to seize money and power

German Catholic Committee wants co-determination on church taxes

Church Tax- the petrol in the tank of the German Church

In reaction to the decision of the German bishops not to release the funds earmarked for the planned Synodal Committee

The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) demands more co-determination of lay people in church financial matters. "The bishops' monopoly on decisions about church taxes must be ended. Bishops have played the power card. Consequences must be drawn from this," reads a resolution passed by the ZdK main committee in Berlin on Friday. This was the committee's reaction to a decision by the German bishops on Tuesday not to release the funds earmarked for the planned Synodal Committee. This committee is to continue the reform process of the Catholic Church in Germany.

The 27 local bishops would have had to unanimously agree on the funding via the Association of German Dioceses (VDD). However, Bishops Gregor Maria Hanke (Eichstätt), Stefan Oster (Passau), Rudolf Voderholzer (Regensburg) and Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki (Cologne) voted against it, citing reservations from the Vatican. As a result, the Bishops' Conference announced that it would look for an alternative financing model to make it possible to continue working on the Synodal Path. However, the first meeting of the Synodal Committee should take place as planned on 10 and 11 November.

The ZdK Main Committee called on the bishops to quickly find a concrete way forward. The President of the lay umbrella organisation, Irme Stetter-Karp, had previously stated: "The fact announced from the Permanent Council of the German Bishops' Conference that four bishops do not want to co-finance the further course cannot stop us from reforms."

In the Synodal Path, bishops and lay people in Germany had been talking about reforms since December 2019 as a consequence of the abuse scandals. It was about more control of Episcopal power, women's rights and an appropriate way of dealing with the diversity of gender identities. The reform process is to culminate in a permanent Synodal Council in 2026 via an intermediate step in the form of a Synodal Committee. In this body, bishops and lay people are to deliberate and decide together.

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