Female occupation

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Dogmatics professor Johanna Rahner is the new chairwoman of the Catholic Theological Faculty Association. She succeeds the church historian Joachim Schmiedl from Vallendar. The term of office is three years.

Theologian Johanna Rahner (57) is the second woman ever to head the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Tubingen (KThF), following the late Ilona Riedel-Spangenberger, a canon lawyer from Mainz. The body is the association of the 18 faculties and 35 institutes of Catholic theology at state and private universities in Germany.

Rahner was elected as the new chair of the Catholic Theological Faculty Association at its plenary meeting in Stuttgart over the weekend.

Meeting addressed standards for universities

The meeting focused on the implementation of Pope Francis' 2017 Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium. The letter regulates worldwide norms for universities and faculties. Because the situation in the Federal Republic with scientific faculties at state universities is unique in this form, the German bishops are currently negotiating with the Vatican Congregation for Education about the practical consequences of the paper.

On the German side, the Education Commission of the Bishops' Conference, headed by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, is in charge of this process. It has formed a task force that includes KThF representation.

One example of unresolved ies is that until now, only the first appointment for a profer for life required the nihil obstat ("nothing stands in the way"), a kind of ecclesiastical declaration of no objection. According to Roman regulations, the approval would have to be obtained again each time a professor changes in the future. This is considered unnecessary after general catching up in Germany.

Decline of theology students

Another topic of discussion at the plenary session was recent developments at universities. Examples of this are the new Institute for Catholic Theology at Humboldt University (HU) and the transfer of responsibility for the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Augustin from the Steyler Missionaries to the Archdiocese of Cologne.

In an interview with the Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA), Rahner called it a problem that the number of theology students has continually declined in recent years. He said this does not only concern the future staff for the church. Global companies and institutions could also benefit from interreligious and intercultural competence of theologians. Rahner also wants to strengthen the role of women in theology. She sees one reason for the decline in student numbers in the image of the Catholic Church, which has suffered greatly as a result of the sexual abuse scandal.

Rahner studied at Freiburg, where she earned a Ph. She habilitated in Munster. After holding teaching positions, she was a professor in Bamberg and Kassel before moving to Tubingen in 2014. Since 2019, the co-editor of the renowned scientific-theological book series "Quaestiones disputatae".

By Michael Jacquemain

St.-St. Paul's Cathedral in Munster © Friso Gentsch

The systematic causes of the crisis within the Catholic Church must be addressed quickly. This is what priests and pastoral care workers in the diocese of Munster have demanded.

“Profound things” are needed for the current mood in the church to change positively again, said the moderator of the priests' council, Father Christoph Gerdemann, in an interview with the diocesan newspaper “Kirche+Leben” (Sunday) in Munster. A further development of the church's sexual teachings and reforms in dealing with power are necessary.

This also applies to power, “which is exercised subtly, ignoring the respect and dignity of others,” Gerdemann said. He also referred to several priests in the diocese who had applied for leave of absence or sabbaticals. “Any time out is also a question to the image of priests and parish priesthood, as it is lived cultivated and expected in such a constituted church. There is a need for change.”

“Staff are running on fumes”

Michael Kertelge, staff representative for pastoral care workers, highlighted the strain the current situation is putting on all pastoral care workers. The major church ies are “lurching ahead of us like a backlog of problems”. Staff in abuse-affected communities in particular were “running on fumes”. Even when concrete cases have been “worked through,” rifts often remain in parishes.

On a “to-do list,” Kertelge said, are the ies of celibacy, same-sex unions in church ministry, the position of women in the church, and church leadership. In addition, he complained that there was no independent commission of historians in the diocese of Munster to come to terms with sexual abuse.

Against the backdrop of the abuse scandal, Pope Francis addressed the U.S. bishops in a letter, who have withdrawn for a week of prayer. In it, he urged U.S. church leadership to be united despite internal tensions.

The Catholic Church is experiencing a serious crisis of credibility due to abuse and even more so due to cover-ups, the pope said in the letter published Thursday.

Francis wrote that he had originally wanted to attend the meeting but could not "for logistical reasons". U.S. bishops hold spiritual retreat at Chicago archdiocesan seminary since Wednesday to reflect on causes and consequences of clergy sexual abuse. The retreat is led by the papal house preacher Raniero Cantalamessa.

Against a "culture of abuse"

The pope encouraged bishops to take steps against a "culture of abuse" and the church's credibility crisis. The "greatest temptations" lie in a lack of unity, in division and dispersion, he said. According to reports on social networks, around 230 of the total of 271 active and 185 emeritus bishops are taking part in the retreat.

"The credibility of the Church has been seriously undermined by these sins and crimes, but even more by efforts to deny or cover them up," Francis wrote. While opposing blanket discrediting, he stressed that the violations caused by abuse have also attacked the community of bishops and created divisions that go beyond "healthy and necessary disagreements and tensions".

"The faithful people of God and the mission of the Church continue to suffer gravely as a consequence of the abuse of power and conscience and sexual abuse, as well as the poor handling of it," the pope said. Equally damaging, he said, is "an episcopate that lacks unity and is more concerned with pointing fingers at others than seeking ways of reconciliation".

Lost credibility cannot be regained through "strict decrees or simply the creation of new committees," he said. Such measures alone threatened to reduce everything to an administrative problem. Francis also opposed ideals that are too high and the absolutization of a particular group, era or culture within the church. Catholicity "cannot simply be reduced to a matter of doctrine or law"; the church is a community of sinners and is in constant need of conversion.

Warning against self-defense

From the bishops, the pope demanded a new approach to leadership, as well as inner conversion and a new approach to power, money, authority and relationships. He warned against tendencies toward self-referentiality, self-preservation and self-defense in response to the scandal; doing so would "doom the bishops' action to failure from the start".

In view of the uncertainty among Catholics, the first thing to do is to strengthen a "common spirit of discernment". One should not seek the "relative calm" of a compromise or a vote in which there are winners and losers.

Francis appealed to U.S. bishops to "break the vicious circle of mutual accusations, undermining and discrediting". He said they must stop "projecting their own confusion and discontent onto others". (CBA)

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