“More decision-making authority”

adminonNovember 3, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

According to theologian Manfred Lutz, the question of the position of women in the Catholic Church is "of central importance for the future of the Church". In an interview, Lutz speaks of an "urgent need for action".

Society no longer accepts that women can only perform menial tasks in any institution, Lutz told the website "Vatican News.". A positive step would be "if women were immediately given more decision-making authority in diocesan leadership and in parishes.".

The theologian made his comments after the General Assembly of the Vatican Authority for Laity, Family and Life, in which he participated as the only German member. Pope Francis, speaking before the body on Saturday, argued that more women should be brought into the Curia "to advisory posts, also to leadership posts".

Warning against unrealizable hopes

Lutz advocated giving women more decision-making authority instead of access to ordained offices. In this way, theological problems with the ordination of women could be avoided and, at the same time, priests and bishops could be relieved of power ies. If lay people took over some tasks, "the few priests could again be more free for pastoral tasks," Lutz argued.

With regard to the reform concerns of the Synodal Way in Germany, Lutz warned against unrealizable hopes. In the end, "the disappointed would understandably become all the more angry" and the committed would become discouraged.

As a layman, he is irritated by the fact that the reform debate announced in Germany for the Synodal Way focuses primarily on clerical ies. He expects new solutions if the importance of the laity is strengthened, if women in diocesan leadership and parishes are given more competence, and if there is "a little less talk about sexual ies," said Lutz.

At the start of the Three Kings' Singing Campaign 2012, around 3.000 children dressed as "Magi" from all over Germany paraded through Mainz singing. "We want to be close to the children all over the world and build bridges", with these words Cardinal Karl Lehmann welcomed the carol singers in front of the Mainz Cathedral. Under the motto "Knock on doors, insist on rights!"This year, the carol singers want to draw attention to the rights of children in Nicaragua.

In a celebratory service, Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz called children and young people witnesses of Jesus. The carol singing campaign is about building bridges to children around the world, Lehmann said. He praised the "great solidarity" of the carol singers and encouraged them in line with this year's motto "Knock on doors, insist on rights!" to knock even on closed doors.

World's largest aid initiative by child for child
The carol singing campaign is the world's largest aid initiative by children for children in need. The campaign is sponsored by the Aachen-based children's missionary organization "Die Sternsinger" and the Association of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ). In the period around Epiphany, 6. January, about half a million girls and boys dressed as Magi go from house to house nationwide. They are collecting donations and offering the blessing "Christus mansionem benedicat" ("Christ bless this house").

"The money collected will help many children around the world," emphasized BDKJ President Simon Rapp. Currently, more than 2.000 projects supported in 110 countries. The motto of the campaign "Knock on doors, insist on rights!" should make clear that the rights of children must be implemented and respected everywhere in the world, said the president of the Kindermissionswerk, Klaus Kramer.

target country Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, the target country of the 54. Sternsingeraktion, often no one cares about the rights of children. According to a study, more than half of all minors suffer violence within their own families. 14 percent of the boys and girls surveyed report sexual assault. Child labor is widespread in Central America's second poorest country. More than 600.000 children, about 23 percent of all girls and boys under 15, worked in 2008. Around one million children do not attend school.

Nine-year-old Ricardo from Juigalpa is lucky to be able to go to school since he no longer lives with his family. When he still lived at home, he and his three siblings had to go begging. If the children did not bring home enough money, they had to sleep on the streets. Ricardo's parents were often drunk. At some point, they left their children alone, and Ricardo lived on the street for a while. He found a new home in a center for boys and girls. The facility is supported by the carol singers.

Help for self-help
It is mainly projects like these in Nicaragua that the two organizers, the children's missionary organization "Die Sternsinger" and the Association of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), support with the donations they collect. There are self-defense courses designed to make girls strong and self-confident, in which they learn to protect themselves from assaults. Or a radio program broadcast throughout Nicaragua, in which children educate listeners about the rights of boys and girls; for example, the right to food, education and physical integrity.

The children in Nicaragua and the carol singers in Germany are united by their common commitment to the well-being of girls and boys – even if this task is not always easy. In the Central American country, as in the Federal Republic, the children are repeatedly faced with closed doors. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, half a million children and young people in Germany will once again parade through the streets dressed up as the Three Wise Men this year. "To enforce law and justice, you need perseverance and courage," says BDKJ president Simon Rapp. "Sometimes you have to fight for your ideals."

Cardinal Lehmann: convincing ambassadors of the church
The campaign, which has been running since 1959, has so far raised around 772 million euros for projects in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Oceania and Eastern Europe. Cardinal Lehmann described the campaign as a success story. The carol singers are "convincing ambassadors of the church" because they bring the good news of the incarnation of God to the people. There is also no shortage of public appearances by the carol singers. On 1. January, 23 of them from the diocese of Wurzburg celebrate the New Year's Day service with Pope Benedict XVI. in St. Peter's Basilica. As the Kindermissionswerk announced, three children in their carol singing costumes bring the gifts to the altar during the service. On 5. January, carol singers from all German dioceses are guests of German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). The following day, on 6. January, Federal President Christian Wulff will receive a delegation of 55 carol singers from the diocese of Essen in his Berlin official residence, Schloss Bellevue.

For a holistic economy

At an online discussion held by the Catholic Academy in Freiburg, stakeholders from the church, the Fridays for Future movement and the scientific community called for more efforts in climate and environmental protection. The church plays an important role.

During the discussion, Archbishop Stephan Burger renewed the goal of a climate-neutral diocese by 2030 in terms of mobility, buildings and energy supply. At the same time, he said, everyone is called to critically examine their own lifestyles. "A good life requires much less than advertising and consumer appeals would have us believe," Burger said.

In a video message, Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto called for solidarity with the countries of the South. "The greatest challenge of the present is to arrive at a new, holistic ecology. The exploitation of the earth, from which only a few profit, but from which so many poor and vulnerable people suffer, must finally stop," said the cardinal. There has long been a partnership between Peru and the diocese of Freiburg.

Demand for laws and government regulations

Tine Stein, a political scientist from Gottingen, said that overcoming the climate and environmental crisis would require more than changes in the lifestyles of individual citizens in wealthy countries. "We have to get to the big levers through laws and government regulations, for example in electricity production and by imposing strict requirements on industry and the construction sector," Stein said.

She stressed that the Catholic Church, through its worldwide presence and organization, is an important actor in promoting a political and social rethinking. At the same time, she attested to an "extreme credibility problem" for the church. The church will have a hard time standing up for fundamental and human rights if they are not fully guaranteed within the church.

"Politics reacts too slowly"

Stein mentioned the exclusion of women from priestly ordination and the slow processing of sexual abuse in her view.

Stakeholders from the "Fridays for Future" youth movement criticized politicians for reacting too slowly to the climate crisis. "So slowly the young activists are also running out of steam if politics doesn't act," said Freiburg Friday for Future representative Jule Pehnt.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply