“At the moment” not possible

adminonDecember 27, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Limburg Bishop Georg Batzing does not consider blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples possible at present. He justified his view by saying that blessing ceremonies for gay or lesbian couples would contradict his church's stance.

As reported by the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (Friday), at a discussion event in Oestrich-Winkel, Hesse, Batzing responded to the question of whether he would be willing to organize blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples: "I cannot do that at the moment."He added that this ie is being discussed in the diocese.

Avoid division

Batzing justified his view by saying that blessing ceremonies for gay or lesbian couples would contradict the attitude of his church. "If Bishop George says there are blessing ceremonies for homosexuals in Limburg, then tomorrow Bishop George will no longer exist, because the Holy Father says that the bishop no longer has the connection to the Church," Batzing said, according to FAZ. He said he wanted to avoid such division.

Dialogue forum of the Catholic Church

Batzing spoke at a dialogue forum of the Catholic Church in the Rheingau region, which was attended by around 80 people. Organizers were the parishes of St. Peter and Paul and Holy Cross together with the Catholic district office Rheingau and the adult education Wiesbaden-Untertaunus. The dialogue forum was held under the motto "More than you see. Church. Where to?"

Cultural Integration Initiative presents theses for successful coexistence © Arno Burgi

Today, the non-partisan "Initiative for Cultural Integration" is presenting principles for a successful coexistence – the churches are also participating. The initiative is critical of the term "Leitkultur," which has been the subject of much discussion in recent weeks.

There was a great deal of excitement when German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (CDU) presented his theses on a German Leitkultur about two weeks ago. An initiative that is also working on principles for successful coexistence was also irritated. She wants to present her thoughts today. Rejects the term Leitkultur. What makes the whole thing even more tricky is that representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior are also involved in the ideas for a successful coexistence.

The managing director of the German Cultural Council, Olaf Zimmermann, on whose idea the founding of the initiative goes back, was appalled: The term "Leitkultur," which the interior minister prefaced his theses with at the beginning of May, was "burned," he said in an initial reaction. The term divides instead of unites. For this reason, the "Initiative for Cultural Integration" decided not to include him in its considerations.

Dialogue between natives and strangers

After the long first weekend in May, a crisis meeting of the parties involved took place. That is 28 groups from politics and society, including the churches, the Coordination Council of Muslims, the Central Council of Jews as well as trade unions. As a representative of the church, Hamburg's Archbishop Stefan Hebe recently commented at a Cologne congress. He is "not at all" attached to the concept of a guiding culture. "It is important to me that we are in conversation about what holds our country together," he declared. These are, for example, the Basic Law, equality between the sexes, education and culture. And: locals and foreigners should participate in the dialogue.

In the meantime the waves had smoothed out again somewhat, so Zimmermann in the apron of the conception. As planned, the Minister of the Interior will give a speech at the presentation of the theses developed by the initiative at the Max Liebermann House of the Brandenburg Gate Foundation in Berlin-Mitte, but later than initially planned: First, the initiative wants to explain its ideas. Only then will the Minister of the Interior speak about "values, culture and social cohesion".

Discussion set in motion

In retrospect, Zimmermann can also see something good in de Maiziere's initiative: Perhaps it is also quite positive that a discussion has been initiated. Because in terms of content he agrees with some of the theses of the Minister of the Interior.

However, important points are missing. For example, de Maiziere did not mention the rights that individuals have vis-à-vis the state, such as freedom of speech. Nor does he mention gender equality or the importance of civic engagement. He was also irritated by the order of the theses, Zimmermann said. He said it was surprising that de Maiziere began by shaking hands and showing his face in greeting.

Discussion with religious representatives

There will certainly be more to talk about this on Tuesday. After the speech by the Minister of the Interior, a discussion is therefore planned in which, in addition to de Maiziere, various religious representatives will participate. These include the auxiliary bishop of Munster, Christoph Hegge, the federal political representative of the Protestant Church in Germany, Martin Dutzmann, the president of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, the chairman of the Coordination Council of Muslims, Aiman Mazyek, and the president of the Federal Working Group of Immigrant Associations, Ali Ertan Toprak.

In addition, participants plan to debate volunteerism ("panacea of civic engagement or excessive demands on volunteers"). Minister of State for Culture Monika Grutters (CDU), WDR Director-General Tom Buhrow and State Secretary in the Ministry of Labor Thorben Albrecht are among those expected to attend the discussion on culture and work as integration factors.

The organizers are putting an "exclamation mark" on the event's conclusion: In the early afternoon, the participants plan to present the theses to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).

Canon Law: Marriage Law in the Codex Iuris Canonici (CIC) © Harald Oppitz (KNA)

According to Catholic understanding, marriage is a sacrament. This sometimes makes things difficult – especially when the marriage is breaking up. In East Germany, the Erfurt marriage court is hearing this and other cases.

The head of the Erfurt church court, Monsignor Heinz Gunkel, simply wanted to know and asked Siri: "Will you marry me??"

The digital voice assistant's response was adorably unromantic: "There is nothing about marriage in my contract."It is not always so easy to be legally precise in matrimonial matters – especially in the Catholic Church.

Unlike Protestants, where according to Luther, "Marriage is a worldly thing," for Catholics marriage is a sacrament and thus indissoluble.

No divorce, but annulment proceedings

The Church does not recognize a Catholic "divorce" – but of course marriages still break down. If one of the partners subsequently wants to remarry in church, the path usually leads to the church court, the Offizialat, in order to have the first marriage annulled via "marriage annulment proceedings".

In eastern Germany, the Interdiocesan Office in Erfurt is usually responsible for this. As a Catholic church court, it is responsible for the dioceses of Dresden-Meissen, Erfurt, Gorlitz and Magdeburg. This Monday it celebrated its 40th anniversary.

At the same time, Bishop Ulrich Neymeyr announced an expansion: It is planned, he said, that the archdiocese of Berlin, which so far still has its own ecclesiastical court, will also join the Interdiocesan Offizialat Erfurt starting in 2020. At present, the legal details are still being clarified.

"Difficult when the first contact is canon law"

Around 50 to 60 cases are heard in Erfurt every year. About half of these are so-called marriage annulment proceedings. According to Gunkel, an East German peculiarity is the additional high number of so-called "proceedings for the dissolution of marriage in favor of faith".

The point here is that an unbaptized person who has previously entered into a civil marriage and divorced can seek dissolution of his first marriage. It is the prerequisite to then be allowed to marry a Catholic partner. "Of course, that's not easy when the first contact with the church for these people is directly with canon law," Gunkel reports. "There it is important to convey in a good way that law has an auxiliary function."

The Offizial therefore has a great responsibility. "He needs a great openness to the people who come to him in order to do justice to them. Our experience is that many couples say in the course of the proceedings: here we have really talked deeply about our marriage for the first time," said Gunkel, who is retiring in August after 19 years as officiant.

The main grounds for annulment, according to him, are the ie of "lack of marital capacity," such as when couples have married very young. Or the question of inner freedom. "What is increasing now is the question of sexual orientation, when in the course of a marriage one partner finds out that he is homosexual," Gunkel said.

What makes marriage a sacrament?

Again and again, the Catholic understanding of marriage engages a broader public: whether in matters of labor law, for example, when a Catholic hospital terminates its remarried head physician. Or at the introduction of "Marriage for All".

But what constitutes the sacrament of marriage in concrete terms?? It is difficult to describe what the theological specifics of this union of two people are, notes the Erfurt dogmatics professor Julia Knop: "To equate the sacramentality of marriage simply with its indissolubility would be undercomplex."

Throughout history, sacramentality has been justified in very different ways, he said. In the meantime, there is a legal narrowing to the consensus between the partners, the "yes" word, which, however, is dogmatically difficult: "Because such a consensus is first of all something human, which two people balance out with each other. But that is something different from what we as a church actually understand as a sacrament, namely the unconditional devotion of God, which is precisely not based on human preliminary performance."

If one asks where in a wedding service this unconditional devotion of God becomes most clearly visible, "then I am at the blessing and not at the conclusion of the contract".

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