“Above all, they are our brothers and sisters”

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Poland's bishops' conference has condemned the attacks by hooligans on the first gay rights march in Bialystok. Aggressions like this must be clearly rejected, says the spokesman for the Bishops' Conference.

"Violence and contempt cannot be justified and accepted under any circumstances," their spokesman Pawel Rytel-Andrianik said Sunday evening. In the 300.000-inhabitant city, far-right soccer supporters had attacked the approximately 800 LGBT demonstrators with bottles, paving stones and firecrackers over the weekend. Police temporarily arrested 25 hooligans, according to the Interior Ministry.

Call for prayers in the cathedral

Rytel-Andrianik quoted the president of the bishops' conference, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki: "These people are not first and foremost gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals – they are first and foremost our brothers and sisters, for whom Christ gave his life and whom he wants to lead to salvation."At the same time, one must proclaim the whole Gospel and not stop "calling mortal sin what it is in essence"".

The Archbishop of Bialystok, Tadeusz Wojda, had called for prayers in the cathedral parallel to the march – "for the defense of the Christian vision of man, the family and the very highest good, children". Together with Orthodox Archbishop Jakub, he also invited people to a family picnic. About 400 people took part in the rally, according to the Polish news agency KAI. According to the report, they carried banners with slogans such as "Stop cultural Marxism". In all, there were about 40 counter-events to the so-called Equality March.

Archbishop Wojda: Categorical no to LGBT demos

Interior Minister Elzbieta Witek stressed that the police will always react firmly to violations of the law: "There was and is no permission for rowdy behavior."EU Council President Donald Tusk took to Twitter to blame the Polish government for the riots: "Hooligans, anti-Semitism, homophobia – nothing new. The tragedy is that power is their patron."

Archbishop Wojda had said "categorically no" to the demonstration for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in a statement read in all churches of the archdiocese on the first weekend of July. One must not allow that sacred values are mocked and religious feelings are hurt with impunity. At these parades, participants caused offence with their "uncensored attitudes and clothing," especially among children and young people, Wojda said.

The Archdiocese of Cologne is looking for possible victims of sexual abuse by a priest in the seventies. After the Sunday service, the Catholic parish of St. A letter to this effect from Vicar General Dominik Schwaderlapp was read out at the convent of St. John Baptist in Refrath, Bergisch Gladbach. The goal is to offer help to possible victims, the vicar general told this site. In the meantime, some of those affected have come forward.

The background to the event are accusations against a now deceased clergyman, who in the seventies had been a member of the parish of St. Peter's, which now belongs to the parish. Maria Konigin in Frankenforst (Bergisch Gladbach) was accused of having committed acts of sexual abuse against children and young people.The archdiocese wants to clear up the case as quickly as possible, the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger quotes diocesan spokesman Stephan Georg Schmidt, who spoke of a "bitter affair.". "We only recently learned of the accusation and then took action as quickly as possible."Psychologists and chaplains are available to care for possible victims. Vicar General Schwaderlapp calls on those who might be affected to contact the head of the archdiocesan seminary, Prelate Robert Kumpel. In the meantime, some people have come forward, said Schmidt.

Joachim Cardinal Meisner has revoked the theologian David Berger's license to teach Catholic religion in schools. The Archdiocese of Cologne on Thursday confirmed a report in the "Frankfurter Rundschau" newspaper. The reason is "publications and statements in the media".

The Cologne archbishop felt compelled to withdraw the so-called "missio canonica," the archdiocese said, because Berger's publications and statements in the media had themselves given the unchallenged appearance of "not conforming in doctrine and conduct of life to the moral and legal norms of the church," according to the archdiocese's statement.

Berger has thus "destroyed the bishop's trust, which is indispensable for the mission of proclamation" and can no longer credibly give religious instruction in the name of the church, the statement continues. The theologian, he said, had been given the opportunity to respond in accordance with canon law and had not contradicted his comments in the media. Berger, for his part, expressed anger in the "Frankfurter Rundschau" that Cardinal Meisner had not given him the opportunity to comment personally on the accusations.

According to the newspaper, the 43-year-old was released from his duties as a religion teacher at the municipal Ville-Gymnasium in Erftstadt (Rhine-Erft district) as of this Thursday. The theologian spoke of a "heavy blow" to peace within the archdiocese.
Archdiocese spokesman Christoph Heckeley stressed to the Catholic News Agency (KNA) that Berger's sexual predisposition as such had been irrelevant in the proceedings.

The theologian had publicly admitted his homosexuality in a guest article for the "Frankfurter Rundschau" at the end of April 2010. The Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome then expelled Berger because his attitudes contradicted "church teaching on some points". In November 2010 he published the book "Der heilige Schein" about his experiences as a gay man in the church.

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