Joining forces

adminonDecember 7, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Symbolic image Church on the way © leolintang (shutterstock)

Dual leadership, dual power: The four forums on the so-called synodal path of the Catholic Church in Germany are each led by a bishop and a lay representative. This was confirmed by the German Bishops' Conference on Thursday.

According to the German Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), ZdK Vice President Claudia Lucking-Michel will co-chair the forum on "Power, Participation and Separation of Powers" with Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann (Speyer). The vice president of the Catholic German Women's Federation (KDFB), Birgit Mock, chairs the "Sexual Morality" forum together with Bishop Georg Batzing (Limburg).

The working group on the topic of "Priestly Life" is the responsibility of the managing director of the Catholic Association for Social Services in Germany (SKM), Stephan Buttgereit, and Bishop Felix Genn (Munster). At the forum "Women in Services and Offices of the Church," whose participants the German Bishops' Conference published just a few days ago, the dual leadership consists of theology professor Dorothea Sattler of the University of Munster and Bishop Franz-Josef-Bode (Osnabruck).

Regaining lost trust

In addition, staff of the Bishops' Conference and the ZdK. The goal of the "synodal journey" is to regain trust lost after the abuse scandal and to provide "answers to the questions of our time". The exact composition of the groups can be found in an overview on the website of the German Bishops' Conference on the "synodal journey.

Only recently the composition in the forum "Women in ministries and offices of the church had become known. In all, eleven women and five men collaborate. The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, and ZdK President Thomas Sternberg had presented an initial roadmap for the reform dialogue at the beginning of July.

Status of the "synodal way" unclear

The starting signal for the actual reform talks is to be given at the beginning of December. The first big meeting is planned for spring 2020. The Bishops' Conference and the ZdK want to lay down the rules in a statute by fall. The dialogue is initially scheduled to last two years.

However, the canonical status and powers of a "synodal way" are unclear. Pope Francis, who wants to advance the synodality of the church and describes it as "a common journey under the guidance of the Holy Spirit," also stressed in a letter to Catholics in Germany that the term is still unclear and "certainly needs to be considered more deeply".

On Thursday, Section 219a of the Criminal Code, which regulates the ban on advertising abortions, was up for debate in the Bundestag. The coalition is divided in this topic. Can a consensus be found at all?

Interviewer: We can find information about the worst things on the Internet. We find instructions on how to build guns and bombs and much more disgusting things. Why in today's times the law must regulate that there must be no information about abortions on the Internet?

Christian Hirte (CDU Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Catholic Cardinal-Hoffner-Circle in the Union Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag): The law does not regulate this, section 219 prohibits advertising in a grossly offensive manner or by disseminating information to gain one's own pecuniary advantage. General information on abortion can also be found today.
Interviewer: I take up the great counter-argument from the side that wants to abolish the paragraph completely. If you can not properly inform about the possibility of abortion or the information is not spread on the Internet, as it was now with the court decision with the doctor from Giessen, then the pregnant women in crisis situations resort to much more drastic means, endanger not only the possible child, but also put themselves in danger. Is this not a legitimate argumentation?
Shepherd: This is not a legitimate argumentation from my point of view, because – as I said – even the information today is not illegal and punishable, but always only then – the law says quite clearly – if this is done in a grossly offensive manner or just with the intention of making a personal financial gain. In the overall mixture of paragraphs 218 et seq. in the penal code, it is a question of creating a finely balanced system, which, among other things, provides for pregnancy conflict counseling. In the nineties, after difficult discussions, the legislator took just the information offer as a very important part into consideration.
Interviewer: But if it is so easy to obtain the information, why is there so much protest against it??
Shepherd: I believe that those who are working very actively against this are not only concerned with the ban on advertising, i.e. with this paragraph 219a, but with the overall situation, with the circling of the entire pregnancy conflict compromise that was found in the 1990s. If you want to preserve the basic principles, you also have to preserve paragraph 219a, because it is part of the task of the law to take Article 1 seriously, which says that the dignity of the human being is inviolable. It is the duty of every state authority to respect and protect them. This also includes the fact that the legislator and the unborn human being cannot defend and protect themselves. That is why the state must take all measures to also launch a life-affirming and life-supporting framework legislation.
Interviewer: Now, this Thursday in the Bundestag, the second and third readings on the ie are scheduled to take place. The government is not in complete agreement. You as a union say: we must keep the paragraph as it is. The SPD says: We have to reform the whole thing. Is there any way to come to a compromise? After all, you can't just say we're just providing a little information about abortions.
Shepherd: The topic of information could certainly be discussed a bit more intensively from the Union's point of view. There is – as I said – already a whole range of measures today. But we could talk about whether to be more proactive in providing information, for example, at counseling centers, especially about those doctors who perform such abortions. But basically the conflict situation is relatively clear. The Union wants the protection of life to be guaranteed as far as possible. This also requires that one cannot allow advertisements for the abortion of life.
Interviewer: What do you think, how will it end?
Shepherd: I am there honestly over-questioning and cannot estimate that yet correctly. I find it problematic that we are voting at all, because we have agreed in the coalition, of course, that we will only initiate proceedings together. Therefore I cannot answer that yet.
Interviewer: That is, you also can't say what you would do as a union if the paragraph were to be reformed or abolished?
Shepherd: We already had a similar situation at the end of the last legislative period. There we had a vote on marriage for all, which then led to homosexual partnerships also being considered marriage. Also there it was so that the SPD committed a coalition break in all clarity; not in that the individual delegates had voted for this law "marriage for all", that is incumbent on everyone individually, but by the fact that the parliamentary group of the SPD had brought this at all with to the vote.

The interview was conducted by Renardo Schlegelmilch.

Laity: more gender justice in the church

Catholic laity spoke out in Trier in favor of improving the situation of women in the church. At the thematic forum "Women: Perspectives," they pleaded for a church that should be equally attractive to women as well as men.

In working groups, the 200 or so participants suggested setting up staff units for equal opportunities in the German dioceses and carrying out gender equality analyses. In addition, greater attention should be paid to gender equality when hiring employees.

More understanding for women

Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier argued that the ie of women in the church should not be viewed purely in terms of results. "This is a topic that has a lot to do with emotions and passion, and we have to treat it attentively and respectfully," said Ackermann.

Marienburg youth pastor Jan Lehmann pleaded for more understanding for women who are unable to pursue a career as priests in the Catholic Church. "To watch one's own life's dream die, I find that a quite terrible idea. Then to come with the Bible or tradition – that is not the adequate answer for me," criticized Lehmann.

Image of God not purely male

Helen Schungel-Straubmann, a theologian from Kassel, called for a change in perspective on the question of whether women should be allowed to hold ordained office in the church: "It's not a women's problem or a marginal problem, it's much more a men's problem," she said. The biblical image of God is not a purely masculine one. In some places, God is portrayed as a mother. "The men who wrote the biblical texts were always children of their time and represented male interests," Schungel-Straubmann said.

The forum, which lasted from Friday evening to Saturday, was the third and last round of discussions on the occasion of the diocesan synod called by Ackermann, which ends in December. The first forum dealt with the topic of "Divorced – Remarried". The second was under the heading "Sexuality. Life". The ies address questions that, according to church law, cannot be the subject of a diocesan synod itself, since answering them is beyond the competence of a diocesan bishop.

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