Inclusivity has its limits even for Synodalists. Demand to exclude (extreme) right-wingers from Church posts

Theme Week "Right-Wing Shift in Germany" - What Our Society Needs Now (2)

Stetter-Karp: AfD members must not be allowed to hold lay church office

Irme Stetter Karp is President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and she was also Co-President of the Synodal Path.

Wants to check on political party membership lists before offering employment

The strengthening of the AfD and thus of radical right-wing, racist and anti-democratic positions in Germany is worrying. How serious is the situation? How resilient is society? What can the church do? In a theme week, Kirche-und-Leben.de asks clever minds for their assessment. Every day. Today: The President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp.

In current polls, the AfD is at 21 per cent and thus in second place among the parties in the Bundestag. At the same time, President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Thomas Haldewang clearly sees extreme right-wing and anti-constitutional positions in the AfD. How dangerous is this situation?

It is dangerous. Anyone who looks closely must have observed for some time that not only do populist simple answers to complex challenges catch on, but also that trust in democratic parties and processes is being eroded step by step. 2024, with the European elections and the elections in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, will be a litmus test as to whether the seeds of right-wing forces will take root. All democratic parties are now called upon to actively compete for the trust of the population and to actively prevent the AfD from participating in government.

Some speak of an exhausted society: Corona, war and climate, refugee movements and economic slump are taking their toll on people. An ideal breeding ground for a creeping radicalisation of society?

I do not share the thesis of an exhausted society. We can be satisfied with the way Germany has coped with the pandemic in international comparison, and compared to the countries of the South, we have so far borne the smaller burdens in terms of the consequences of war and climate change. Isn't it typical that xenophobia is often propagated in places where relatively few migrants live? It seems to me that the challenges of the future are frightening people and that the necessary transformation process is deepening the rifts between those who are helping to shape change and those who simply want to smash everything: the European Union, democracy, our social achievements, the rules of coexistence in our society. It is a programme of destruction that characterises the AfD. It is not simply about evoking yesterday.    

In the CDU, too, positions close to the AfD are increasingly being voiced, for example on refugee policy. How does that fit with the C in the party name?

It doesn't fit with the commitment of a Christian Union. The Catholic Church has a clear global profile on the refugee issue. Xenophobia and Christian values: that does not go together. That is why I appeal to the party's regional associations not to pander in the coming election campaigns.  

The 2024 Catholic Gathering will take place in Erfurt, and a few months later there are state elections in Thuringia - with the right-wing radical Björn Höcke as leader of the AfD. How comfortable are you with the idea of having the Catholic Gathering there?

I am looking forward to the opportunity to face the challenges in church and society with many people of good will, with interesting guests from all over the world. We want to struggle for good, sustainable solutions in dialogue with each other, celebrate our faith and express our hope in many different ways. It is good and right that we have chosen Erfurt, because we should not hide our light under a bushel as Christians and there is nothing wrong with entering the very marketplaces where right-wing voices have become loud.

Is the Catholic Church taking a clear enough position on this shift to the right?

No, there is room for improvement beyond certain occasions and individual high-profile voices. This applies to bishops as well as to lay organisations and associations. During a dialogue trip in Poland and also during talks in Zwickau and Dresden in the past months around the awarding of the Catholic Prize against Xenophobia and Racism, I became particularly aware of how right-wing forces know how to divide a society, how agitation and discrimination intertwine. We must not look away, but look closely.

In view of its loss of relevance on this issue, what clout does the Catholic Church still have in society as a whole?

The credibility of the Catholic Church has suffered massively as a result of the abuse scandal.

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Cathcon: She finesses this argument by associating traditional Catholicism with the extreme right wing.  She is not acting in good faith but as a highly politicised actor.

Lay offices in the Catholic Church for AfD members? ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp says why that is not possible. Restorative positions, however, have also increased within the church, she says.

AfD members should not be allowed to hold lay offices in the Catholic Church, according to the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp. It is "clear that anti-Semitic, racist, inhuman attitudes and statements have no place in a Catholic organisation", she told the Münster-based portal "kirche-und-leben.de" on Tuesday. Legally, however, the respective statutes and election regulations are decisive. Then it would have to be examined whether such a candidacy could be rejected.

At the same time, Stetter-Karp admitted that restorationist positions had also increased in the Catholic Church. "The degree of clumsy simplification, the cementing of the traditional, the refusal to seriously face questions of the time and the agitation from the right have increased recognisably," said the president of the highest body of lay Catholics in Germany.

This was first the case with family policy issues. A second topic area for right-wing Catholics was "the rejection of democracy and the separation of powers". In this context, the Catholic criticised it as a "blatant political mistake that the Vatican does not allow democratic core principles to apply to the clarification of internal church questions". In this way, the church leadership indirectly devalues democracy as such.

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