The loss of political heavyweights

adminonNovember 15, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Voting at the ZdK plenary assembly this year only digital © KNA

Thierse, Kretschmann, Muller: The Central Committee of German Catholics loses prominent members. At the weekend, the ZdK will also consider the move to Berlin, also because of the greater proximity to politics.

It's a leaden time, and it's a challenging time: when the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) holds its spring plenary assembly on Friday and Saturday, the 230 delegates can expect little "business as usual".

Not only is the Assembly meeting completely online for the second time. Also the rotational new election of the 45 individual personalities takes place – at least in the first ballot – digitally and with several days lead time.

High expectations for Katholikentag 2022

Corona also has the 3. The ZdK has faced a huge challenge in organizing the Ecumenical Church Congress (oKT) throughout Germany – and with it the co-hosts from the ZdK. A laborious organization with constantly changing pandemic situations and unclear decision-making situations lies behind those responsible.

While politicians are currently considering new emergency brakes, it is clear that the oKT will only be a digital rump event from 13. to 16. May in Frankfurt takes place. At the plenary assembly, the delegates will be informed about the latest state of preparations.

It is hardly conceivable that under Corona conditions the oKT could send out a signal of new beginnings, as many had hoped. Delegates' expectations for the next German Catholic Congress in Stuttgart at the end of May 2022 are likely to be all the greater.

It is conceivable that tens of thousands of Catholics will once again be able to meet in person – at the invitation of the ZdK and the diocese – in a city that has long been very strongly Protestant and in which Catholicism is strongly represented by migrants.

Many applicants

In terms of personnel, the ZdK is facing an upheaval in several respects: In the new election of the 45 individual personalities, several prominent personalities are not running again. Political heavyweights such as SPD politician Wolfgang Thierse, Development Minister Gerd Muller (CSU), Baden-Wurttemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) and the President of the German Unesco Commission, Maria Bohmer (CDU), leave the body. Conceivable that the influence of the Catholic Committee in politics will wane.

At the same time, ZdK Secretary General Marc Frings can be pleased that with 105 men and women, more candidates than ever before have applied for the 45 places. Frings was impressed by the great willingness to volunteer for a strong lay Catholicism "especially in view of the current crisis in the Church. Observers expect the Assembly to become younger and more female.

Move from the Rhine to the Spree

The ZdK secretariat is also facing upheaval. Frings wants to report to the plenary assembly on the move, which will take place on 1 May. The ZdK will inform its members about the upcoming move from Bonn to Berlin on January 1 and about the new work concept in the capital. Some employees of the secretariat do not go with from the Rhine to the Spree.

The reason given for the move was greater proximity to political decision-makers. The political, media and social "presence" of the ZdK will be improved. Observers point out, however, that the Central Committee will then have to change its position – in terms of personnel and content.

Once again, the plenary assembly will deal with the permanent construction sites of the past years: Prague priest Tomas Halik is expected to speak on "The Challenge of Being a Christian in a Secular Society". Workshops are also planned on topics related to the Synodal Way reform process, which addresses sexual morality, the priestly way of life, power and the separation of powers, and the role of women in the church.

Sexualized violence

A separate program item is the topic of sexualized violence in the church. Assembly wants to engage in conversation with affected people. In addition, a new ZdK working group will present itself, which is to deal with abuse by laymen in the church.

ZdK president Thomas Sternberg had explained to it "that the crimes of sexualized violence are not only a question of clerics". The 'co-clericalism' in the congregations or abuse in associations must also be taken into account. But also the prevention concepts that have already been worked out in many cases.

The spring plenary session of the German Bishops' Conference begins this Monday with an opening service in Mainz Cathedral. Earlier, Cardinal Marx makes a statement. The election of his successor is eagerly awaited.

The sermon was delivered by the outgoing president of the Bishops' Conference, Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx. Beyond the personnel decision, Tuesday's election of his successor is seen as a signal of the Catholic Church's future course in its carefully initiated reform process. This was launched together with Catholic lay associations as the Synodal Way in Frankfurt am Main a month ago.

Signature Campaign

Before the opening service, Marx plans to speak this afternoon (14.30 clock) make a statement. Several critical movements within the Catholic Church will also make clear their expectations of the bishops on Monday.

Thus, the Catholic women's associations kfd and KDFB want to present to the presidium of the Synodal Way with Cardinal Marx more than 130.000 signatures handed over "for a gender-just and credible church. The Eckiger Tisch association, which represents the interests of victims of sexual violence in the Catholic Church, wants to lend weight to its demand for comprehensive compensation.

Kohlgraf: "We all have the same goal"

The Bishops' Conference comprises 69 bishops, auxiliary bishops and other senior clergy of the 27 dioceses in Germany. "There have always been certain factions in the bishops' conference," Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz told the German Press Agency. "We must manage to disagree on the matter at hand, but keep ourselves free of personal animosities. We all have the same goal, we want to proclaim the Gospel."

A razor-thin victory for U.S. President Barack Obama in the wrangling over health care reform: the U.S. Senate voted by the required 60 votes to allow a bill to proceed to debate. Earlier, high-ranking representatives of Christian churches had criticized the U.S. government's stance on the abortion ie in a manifesto. The smoldering conflict between President Barack Obama and the clergy is becoming increasingly clear.

In a manifesto, 145 representatives of the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches say they are not willing to obey laws that require their institutions to participate in abortions or force them to recognize same-sex partnerships as marriage. The document is titled: "Manhattan Declaration – A Call of Christian Conscience". It states, "We pledge to each other and to our fellow believers that no power on this earth, cultural or political, will intimidate and silence us." The goal of the manifesto, he said, is to signal to President Obama that Christian leaders in the country are united and unwilling to compromise on ies such as abortion, stem cell research or "gay marriage". The authors of the manifesto, commissioned in September, are Charles Colson, closest adviser to former U.S. President Richard Nixon, Catholic law professor Robert P. George of Princeton University, and Timothy George, dean at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. The signatories also include 15 Catholic bishops, among them the archbishops of New York and Washington, Timothy Dolan and Donald Wuerl. Health care ref bill The conflict between the U.S. government and clergy was already particularly palpable when the House of Representatives voted on the health care reform bill in early November. It includes an amendment drafted by conservative Democratic Rep. Brat Stupak that the bishops' conference in particular had lobbied to have inserted into the bill. The so-called Stupak Amendment prohibits funding abortions with public money. The only exceptions would be cases of rape and incest and danger to the life of the mother. The bishops' influence on the outcome of the vote has been widely discussed in media and Internet forums. Such interference by the church, it has been criticized, violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, which legislates separation of church and state. For years, the Catholic Church has lobbied for health care reform that would provide health insurance to every U.S. citizen. For this reason, many Democrats from the conservative camp give high priority to the opinion of the bishops' conference. Attempting a balancing act Obama, meanwhile, is trying a balancing act. On the one hand, he and his wife Michelle are supporters of the "pro-choice" faction, which demands that women should decide for themselves about abortion. On the other hand, he wants to prevent taxpayers from having to pay for abortions. White House chief counsel David Axelrod most recently said in an interview that Stupak's amendment would change the status quo on abortion – a change Obama won't accept. U.S. bishops also have little faith in Obama when it comes to gay marriage ie. While the president remains opposed to legal status for same-sex partnerships, he declared in October at the Human Rights Campain annual gala before about 3.000 predominantly homosexual guests: "Homosexual relationships are just as true and admirable as heterosexual marriages."Such statements have led many U.S. conservatives, such as Gary Bauer, president of the non-governmental organization American Values, to declare, 'It's hard to believe that Obama is really opposed to same-sex marriage; and based on the people advising him, you may even have to fear that he wants to abolish marriage." A reference to Cass Sunstein, White House information officer. Sunstein was most recently quoted as saying that marriage discriminates against single people and puts them at an economic disadvantage. Catholic outcry Such statements make many Catholics cry out. So at their fall plenary meeting in Baltimore that ended Thursday (local time), the bishops once again underscored their position, saying that legalizing "same-sex marriages" would harm society. So far, gay couples in the states of Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont can enter into civil marriages, but as of 1. January also in New Hampshire. Another ie causing strong dissonance between the church and U.S. government is stem cell research. A report condemning both reproductive technologies and scientific research on human embryos was adopted at the bishops' plenary session. In March, Obama had overridden the Bush administration's veto of public funding for stem cell research.

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