“Chick shredding is ethically unacceptable”

adminonNovember 18, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Is the shredding of male chicks ethically justifiable?? Are we allowed to breed and consume animals? Agriculture Minister Julia Klockner invokes our responsibility for creation and calls for respect for our fellow creatures at Easter.

Before her start as Federal Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klockner was praised in advance. The CDU politician comes from a family of winegrowers in the Nahe region of Germany. The department and Klockner seemed to be a good match for each other. In the meantime, the minister has had to face repeated criticism from a wide variety of sides.

In an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA), the 46-year-old says why she nevertheless enjoys her work. And how she wants to reconcile society and agriculture.

CBA: Ms. Klockner, with regard to the relationship between people and the environment, the churches also speak of the "integrity of creation". From a Christian perspective, nature is never just a resource. Does it still play a role in day-to-day political business?

Julia Klockner: According to the Christian understanding, nature is entrusted to people so that they can use and preserve it. This responsibility, especially with regard to future generations, also plays a decisive role for me in my function as a federal minister. Because when it comes to the preservation of creation, it is above all also about our farmers, who sustainably, laboriously and with a lot of heart and soul produce our means of life, maintain and preserve our cultivated landscape.

But it's also about nutrition, about what we as consumers can contribute: living consciously, buying regionally and seasonally, not acting wastefully. And have respect for the animals. They are our fellow creatures, not disposable commodities.

CBA: Yet we breed and consume animals in large quantities…
Klockner: Animal husbandry is part of our society and our culture. That's precisely why it's important to adhere to ethical standards – from husbandry to transport to slaughtering.

CBA: What about the shredding of male chicks?? The University of Leipzig has developed a method to prevent this from happening. When will it be implemented?

Klockner: Chick shredding is ethically unacceptable, must end as soon as possible. My ministry has therefore funded said research by the University of Leipzig with five million euros.

A breakthrough has been made: the method for determining the sex of eggs is on its way to series production. Male chicks are then not hatched at all. In the coming year, the method will be generally available. Then the animal protection law takes effect, which prohibits shredding. This makes us pioneers in Europe and worldwide.

CBA: From the point of view of the "C", we have to learn a different way of dealing with nature and creation?
Klockner: Each generation must consolidate contact for itself, which also depends on the circumstances: In times of scarcity, it takes a different form than in times of abundance. We live in a time when there has been a drought summer with many empty fields and yet supermarket shelves are full. At the moment, the main thing we need to do is curb the problem of food waste – we throw away eleven million tons a year. But the handling is always a consideration.
CBA: According to which standards?
Klockner: For us, it's the Christian understanding of man and creation. But new answers to new questions must always be found here as well. We can see this in the way we deal with human beings and the ethical challenges they face.
CBA: Aid organizations such as Misereor and Bread for the World are calling for a change in agriculture: Fewer subsidies for large industrial farms and more funds for smaller, environmentally friendly agriculture. How do you see it?
Klockner: I advocate for agriculture that covers a wide area, is family-run, economically viable and socially accepted. This applies regardless of the size of the company. The decisive question is: How does the farmer manage his farm, how does he treat animals or the environment?? There are small businesses that don't work properly and large ones that are run in an exemplary manner – and vice versa.
CBA: The debate is also taking place outside Germany's borders.
Klockner: At the European level, we are currently discussing how agriculture can deliver more environmental services and how this is practical, feasible and rewarding for our farming families.

Digitalization is also helping them to work more effectively and conserve resources at the same time. So the direction is right, which is why the question arises as to where the demanded agricultural turnaround should go – back to the days of dark barns? Certainly not!

CBA: In the fight against food waste or over-sugaring, rely on voluntarism. Is that enough, given market forces? Doesn't the state have a duty of care with regard to the consequences of early obesity or diabetes??
Klockner: A law is not an end in itself. The essential criterion is whether measures are successful, whether the goal is achieved. Let's take a look at our reduction strategy: Among other things, a binding agreement has been reached with industry to reduce the sugar content in breakfast cereals by 20 percent and in soft drinks by 15 percent.

But we must not do the math without the consumer. Taste must evolve along with it. You can't just leave out ingredients. It is also a question of consistency or durability. I will take legal action on baby teas, banning the addition of sugar here – babies don't need it.

CBA: As the Federal Minister of Agriculture, you are constantly caught between different interest groups and are sometimes subjected to harsh criticism. Does the work still give pleasure?
Klockner: I want to reconcile agriculture and society, I make it clear to both sides that they have to move toward each other. There is not only black or white, but unfortunately many debates are conducted in this way. Compromise seems to be out of fashion. But for me it is a core element of our democracy.

We will not make progress as a society if everyone insists on their 100 percent demands. For me, it's about striking a balance. This may be tedious, but it is still a source of joy – without which it is not possible either.

CBA: You have a degree in theology and are a member of the Central Committee of German Catholics. What significance does Easter have for you personally?
Klockner: Easter is one of the most important church festivals, and it's no coincidence that it's celebrated in the springtime. It is associated with departure, resurrection. For me, Easter also means coming to rest, pausing for a moment. It is the encouraging message of our faith that our lives are redeemed and in God's hands.
CBA: We will celebrate the holidays?
Klockner: Easter is a cause for celebration. The Easter Vigil a ritual – and so is the first glass of wine after Lent (laughs).

CBA: What does the winemaker's daughter and former wine queen recommend for the festival??

Klockner: Gray Burgundy is always good, especially at this time of year…
CBA: And that also fits in with the Easter lamb?
Klockner: It always depends on the preparation. Incidentally, I am a fan of baked Easter lamb, we still have an old cast-iron mold from our grandmother. Tradition is also a piece of home.

A new abuse complaint has been filed against the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick has already been dismissed from the College of Cardinals and the clergy in the past following serious accusations.

As the "Washington Post" (Thursday) reports, the ex-cardinal is accused in a New Jersey court of procuring minors for abuse at his beach house to other clerics.

Plaintiff alleges he was abused between the ages of 11 and 16 by McCarrick and five other churchmen. The lawyer for the unnamed plaintiff, Jeffrey Anderson, said his client had described his case to investigators at the Vatican. Against McCarrick, who is now 90 years old, there had already been complaints of abuse from at least seven minors.

Deep fall

In 2018, he was accused of sexual abuse of minors and sexual misconduct with young men between 1970 and 1990. Pope Francis had accepted his resignation as a member of the College of Cardinals. In an August 2019 interview, McCarrick denied the allegations. He accused unnamed "enemies" of encouraging others to fabricate abuse stories about him.

When Catholics divorce and remarry civilly, they are excluded from the sacraments during the lifetime of the first partner. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch has now suggested reforms here, saying this is a question of mercy. He gets support from the moral theologian Prof. Eberhard Schockenhoff.

Good day to Freiburg, Prof. Schockenhoff! The indissolubility of marriage is a great good from the Catholic point of view – what do you think about the proposal of Archbishop Zollitsch??

Archbishop Zollitsch has in no way questioned the indissolubility of marriage. This is not at all up for discussion, it is a natural part of the Catholic Church's faith. What Archbishop Zollitsch has urged is a merciful way of dealing with those Christians who have failed in their first marriage, perhaps were also abandoned through no fault of their own, and who have now married a second time for reasons that they can justify in their conscience, in the interpretation of their life experience, perhaps also in order to take responsibility for the partner and children who live in this second marriage. These Christians have so far been excluded from communion and, by the way, have also been subject to other church penalties, z.B. they are not allowed to take on any church office, in the parish council or as a lector; with a church employer they may even have to fear dismissal. The proposal now is that these disciplinary measures of canon law, which the Church has so far considered indispensable, be reviewed and that a different path be taken, one that is more merciful and also more in keeping with the nature of the celebration of the Eucharist, which after all is not only a recognition of irreproachable behavior, nor is it only the celebration of thanksgiving by the redeemed, but at the same time has sin-forgiving power itself: the outstretched arm of God's love, which he holds out also to sinners, so that also the remarried divorced could participate in the celebration of the Eucharist. This would make clear that the church is also a community of reconciliation.
How could this more merciful way look concretely?? There is, for example, the possibility that the marriage is annulled, considered as not having existed. However, this procedure is very complicated and time-consuming. How could one shorten the procedure?

So this way exists, of course, and where it is possible, it should be followed, because then the way is open for a second ecclesiastical marriage. But in many cases this is actually not possible. And also where a first marriage was valid, but then failed and was separated and now the partners live together in a new union, there is the possibility that they are admitted to the sacraments, especially to the celebration of the Eucharist and to communion. The church could do this by recognizing the decision of conscience of the persons concerned and by lifting the moral condemnation that lies over a civil second marriage. As I said, this can be a responsible way, one cannot qualify from the outside every decision for a civil second marriage as an objectively grave sin. Nor can life in a civil second marriage be portrayed as continued adultery, as the church solution does, but it is quite possible that the individual, even if they have to repent for shares of guilt in the breakup of the first marriage, will make up for it. So that they can now live in the second marriage what actually corresponds to a marriage from the human values, also according to Catholic understanding, i.e. faithfulness, determination for each other, the mutual standing up for each other, responsibility for the children. And this is not an expression of irresponsibility or of persistence in obvious public sin, but it can be a responsible way of life. The Church should recognize this out of respect for the life experience of her faithful and her own judgment of conscience. And this recognition could be expressed, for example, in a blessing ceremony for Christians living in a civil second marriage or in an act of readmission into the communion community, there are various possibilities. With his initiative, Archbishop Zollitsch would like to open the debate within the German dioceses about it. This is certainly also to be seen in the context of the dialogue process.
In your book you also explain how, in your opinion, the previous regulation is based on erroneous developments in the understanding of faith and church practice. What mistakes do you think the Church has made in the past to develop such a strict understanding??–
For centuries, the Church had an understanding of marriage that was contractual in nature: marriage was seen not so much as a personal covenant of love, but as a contract, and its object was primarily the transfer of the right to the body of the other, to the sexual characteristics of the other, and this again primarily for the purpose of producing offspring. And this contractual model of marriage was overcome by the Second Vatican Council when it said: marriage is a covenant, a personal covenant, at the center of which is conjugal love, the giving of oneself, the mutual giving of oneself to the spouses. But the Council has not yet decided the canonical consequences of this changed understanding of marriage, That remarried divorcees, if they enter into a civil second marriage, are automatically in a state of continued sin and public adultery. This is actually only consistent under the condition of this former contractual marriage model. This is an undesirable development that the theology of marriage has actually already eliminated; now it would only be a matter of drawing the appropriate consequences from this new approach of the Council. Another undesirable development is the understanding of the sacraments, because every sacrament, especially the celebration of the Eucharist, is also an invitation of God to sinful people to take the outstretched hand of mercy, so that they can be brought back into communion with Christ and into the communion of his body, the Church. But this is precisely what remarried divorcees cannot experience. For them, the sacrament tends to become a sword of Damocles hanging over them, permanently excluding them, at least during the lifetime of the first partner, from the inner circle of the ecclesial community. These are undesirable developments that need correction.
If the church were now to cautiously change its position, how could this concretely succeed? If the pope had to formulate a kind of decree for this purpose?–
Not everything in the Catholic Church has to be regulated uniformly at the level of the universal church. In the theology of marriage, of course, the indissolubility of marriage, the demand for adherence to marital fidelity, monogamy, the orientation toward children as basic statements on the level of the universal church must be known together, that belongs to the Catholic understanding of faith. But pastoral practice in dealing with remarried divorcees may also vary from country to country. There also a local church could dare an advance, which is accepted then by the world church first of all or is also accepted positively. So this would not always have to be an act of the Pope from above, but there could also be the German dioceses among themselves, perhaps as a result of the dialogue process, come to a new arrangement, which they would of course then also implement in close consultation with Rome and the Pope. Such ways are quite conceivable, we had already 20 years ago the common pastoral letter of the Upper Rhine bishops; in the extension of these proposals one could imagine here quite a new solution.
The interview was conducted by Mathias Peter.

Book reference
Schockenhoff, Eberhard: Opportunities for reconciliation? The church and remarried divorcees
Herder Publishing House –Aufl./year: 1. Aufl. 2011
Format: 13.5 x 21.5 cm, 200 pages, paperback
ISBN 978-3-451-34117-5
€ 18,95

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