EKD synod begins in Dresden next Sunday. On the agenda are the topics of peace and dealing with the problem of abuse. But there could also be debates about how to deal with right-wing tendencies.
This year's synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) is to focus on the ie of peace and how the church deals with the abuse problem. The president of the EKD synod, Irmgard Schwaetzer, said in Berlin that it was also conceivable that the participants would want to talk about right-wing tendencies in the church and society after the resignation of Saxony's regional bishop Carsten Rentzing. However, the topic was not on the agenda.
Schwaetzer pointed out that the Saxon state synod, which takes place a few days after the EKD synod, will deal intensively with the ie. The background is texts written by Rentzing as a student, which the regional church office had classified as "elitist, in parts nationalistic and anti-democratic". You were at the 12. October, one day after his resignation, became publicly known.
The synod of the EKD comes from 10. to 13. The synod will convene in Dresden on November. Under the motto "On the way to a church of justice and peace", questions of peace ethics are to be discussed and a position of the synod decided in view of new forms of warfare and the denunciation of international agreements.
At the same time, it should be about social peace in his own country. Not only internationally, but also within society, the situation is increasingly serious, Schwaetzer said: "We have to ame that violence is on the rise."The synod will discuss what the church can do for cohesion and how it can counteract hatred. Strategies of non-violence would be at the center of the church debate. The peaceful revolution in the GDR 30 years ago is also to be remembered with contemporary witnesses.
Sexualized violence in the church
Also on the agenda are youth participation, budget discussions and sexual violence in the church.
According to Schwaetzer, there are plans to pass a law that would provide a kind of quota for young adults in the EKD synod. They are to be given full voting and electoral rights and would thus be involved in important decisions.
On the ie of abuse, the Council of Commissioners set up by the EKD a good year ago will report to the plenum on what has happened since the last synod meeting in November 2018.
In addition, the abuse commissioner of the federal government, Johannes-Wilhelm Rorig, and an affected person will be speakers or. Speaker expected. According to Schwaetzer, those affected will also participate in the working groups planned on the topic.
She could therefore well imagine that demands for compensation payments would be made at the synod, Schwaetzer said. So far, the Protestant churches make so-called support and recognition payments depending on the individual life situation of the persons concerned. Schwaetzer said she still believes this is the right way to go.
The Synod is the Parliament of the EKD. The 120 members are delegated by the regional churches for a term of six years and appointed by the EKD Council. They decide the EKD's budget and laws affecting the institution's organization.