Catholic counter-protest to “Blessing service for lovers” at Cologne Cathedral
“Blessing service for lovers” at Cologne Cathedral - Blessings under the sign of the rainbow
A “blessing service for lovers” took place this Wednesday at the foot of Cologne Cathedral. For many, this is a sign of diversity in the Catholic Church; For the Archdiocese of Cologne this is a violation of doctrine.
“For us, this is also a political statement for diversity and against exclusion,” says Antje. She and her partner Steffi have just been blessed as a couple by a Catholic priest. “If there were more priests like that,” she continues, “then the Catholic Church would have a completely different standing.” The two of them - like several hundred other people - came to the "blessing service for lovers" at the foot of the cathedral on the station forecourt on Wednesday evening.
Pastor Klaus Koltermann, who blessed the lesbian couple, wasn't actually allowed to do that because the Catholic Church forbids it. But that doesn't matter to him, says Koltermann. He has already organized three blessing services for lovers in his community in Dormagen and there has never been any trouble with the diocese leadership. The situation was different for Pastor Herbert Ullmann from Mettmann, who was reprimanded by the Archdiocese of Cologne in July because he had blessed homosexual couples in a church service despite the ban from Rome. Ullmann also came to the cathedral that evening, but he did not take part in the blessings - the diocese had forbidden him from doing so - but he definitely wanted to be there: it was impressive, he says - then he saw his Cologne colleague, Pastor Franz Meurer, the two greet each other warmly.
Why is Cologne dropping out?
The initiator of the event was the Catholic priest Wolfgang F. Rothe from the Perlach parish association in Munich. The idea came to him after hearing about Ullmann's reprimand: "I was stunned and horrified," said Rothe. Only in the spring did the majority of the Synodal Path recommend the blessing of same-sex couples or remarried people. "It was incomprehensible to me why the Archdiocese of Cologne would deviate from this and take a path that differs from most German dioceses."
“How about we celebrate a blessing service together on the Cologne Cathedral, i.e. directly in front of the cathedral?” Rothe wrote on Facebook at the beginning of August. His idea: He and clergy from other dioceses organize a blessing ceremony to protect pastors from the Archdiocese of Cologne from consequences under labor law. “I was surprised at how enthusiastically it was received,” he says, “so the whole thing became a sure-fire success relatively quickly.”
Protest against the protest
Numerous pastors from the Archdiocese of Cologne took part in the organization; At the service on Wednesday, they stand next to large sunflowers, talk to the couples and then place their hands on their heads in blessing. Two women start crying and then hug each other for minutes. "We bless. I don't worry about it," says pastoral advisor Markus Boos from Wuppertal when asked whether he doesn't fear a warning from the top of the diocese. "If loving people ask for a blessing, why shouldn't I grant their wish?" he asks.
A few meters from the blessing ceremony, a few dozen conservative Catholics demonstrate against the blessings. “Let’s stay Catholic,” reads one banner. Prayer groups online also called for people to pray for Archbishop Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki and the archdiocese at the evening mass in the cathedral, against the background of the campaign. The cathedral was so well attended that the evening mass had to be moved from the Lady Chapel to the crossing, as one of the cathedral sextons reports.
Violation of church teaching?
The top of the diocese also views the blessing ceremony critically: "When people gather to celebrate church service, it's something wonderful," says Vicar General Monsignor Guido Assmann in an interview with DOMRADIO.DE, but the occasion gives him "a stomach ache": "worship should never be a goal. It should in no way be a protest," he says.
Assmann can understand the public lack of understanding that the church blesses cars, animals or construction fences but not homosexual relationships: "That's a tension that we have to endure." He makes it clear that every person can be blessed, regardless of sexual orientation. But no same-sex relationships, the vicar general continued, "because they would then be equated with marriage."
As recently as 2021, the Vatican made it clear that it was "not permitted" to bless same-sex partnerships because such unions "could not be recognized as objectively aligned with God's revealed plans." And on the pages of the Archdiocese of Cologne you can read: "To this day, one can declare one's consent to something by "giving one's blessing." In this sense, a church blessing would "express the intention, ... a decision and a "To approve and promote life practices that, according to church teaching, do not correspond to God's creative will."
Does the teaching need to be changed?
Pastor Rothe disagrees: Even the Vatican has now recognized that this teaching discriminates against and hurts people. He points to the preparatory document for the Synod of Bishops in October, which asks how those who have been hurt by the church can feel recognized and free again. “Hopefully this question will be discussed in Rome,” says Rothe, “and today in Cologne we’ll show how it’s done!”
He has no problems with this in his home town of Munich: He repeatedly blesses couples there, regardless of their sexual orientation or whether they have ever been married: his archbishop lets him do it. Reinhard Cardinal Marx had just said in an interview that he would perform such blessings himself if asked.
Rothe does not believe that those who give blessings in Cologne will have to expect consequences and refers to the “Love Wins” campaign in 2021: At that time there were over 100 blessing celebrations throughout Germany: “The point of this initiative was because of the sheer number of blessings "To deprive the church authorities of the opportunity to exercise sanctions. That's how it is here in Cologne today."
.jpeg)
Comments