“Mood in communities at rock bottom”

adminonDecember 1, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The handling of the processing of cases of sexualized violence in the Archdiocese of Cologne has led to a crisis of credibility, according to Bonn City Dean Wolfang Picken. Now only total transparency and consistency will help, he said.

The Bonn city deacon Wolfgang Picken calls on former and active leaders in the Archdiocese of Cologne to admit on their own initiative possible mistakes in dealing with abuse cases and to draw consequences. The question already arises "why those responsible, who must be aware that they are guilty, wait for the publication of an expert opinion instead of taking immediate action and drawing the consequences from their misconduct". So they could avert much damage from the church, writes Picken in a statement published Wednesday.

The archdiocese of Cologne had commissioned a Munich law firm to provide an expert opinion on clergy abuse. The paper should also show how previous leaders handled cases.

New expert opinion on 18. March

Last October, however, the archdiocese cancelled publication of the report, citing "methodological flaws" in the report. It commissioned a criminal lawyer with a new expert opinion, which is due by 18. due in March.

But the ie is not off the table after this publication, Picken stressed. "We need to systematically deal with this and ask ourselves what the consequences will be for those named in the report."

Vatican examines allegations

The city dean called for transparency. He said the mood in the archdiocese has never been so at rock bottom. Because of the credibility crisis, even committed people would leave the church. It said this was understandable in light of the unprofessional crisis management of those responsible. "If clear consequences do not follow, the loss of credibility will remain permanent," warned Picken.

The city's dean did not directly criticize Cologne Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki. The is currently under fire because of the handling of the Munich report. In addition, the cardinal is accused of having been involved in cover-ups himself. He allegedly failed to report an abuse case from the 1970s, which he learned about in 2015, to the Vatican in breach of duty. Woelki has asked the pope to look into these allegations against him.

Sternberg: "Gross errors"

On Wednesday, the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, also commented on the incidents in the Archdiocese of Cologne in the "Bonner General-Anzeiger" newspaper. Due to "gross errors" all those dioceses would be set back "which approach this topic with greater consistency", said the highest German lay representative.

Sternberg expressed confidence that the situation would be clarified once everything was transparently on the table. "If it should then turn out that massive mistakes have been made, the amption of personal responsibility and also a resignation must be a possible consequence, just as Cardinal Woelki himself once formulated it."

Various personalities and organizations have already explicitly called for Woelki's resignation. At the turn of the year, Klaus Koltermann, a priest from Dormagen, joined this demand for the first time.

It is the central result of the bishops' meeting in Paderborn: a four-year dialog process is to contribute to the spiritual renewal of the Catholic Church. In an interview with this site, Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Heiner Koch would like to see a "dialogue outside all pigeonholes".de.

The dialogue process between now and 2015 will be primarily about the questions, "where do we stand in the conversation within ourselves in our search for God and how do we bring that faith to people under changed cultural and social conditions".

"What are the implications of this Godliness and holding high the torch of God in this society for the three basic ministries of liturgy, martyria and diaconia?" – in each case to a focus should take place in the years a discussion meeting at the federal level, said Koch. The series will open on 7. July in Mannheim, where about 300 participants are expected. Each diocese would provide 7 people, sent by the diocesan and priests' councils, and large parts of the German Bishops' Conference, representatives of the Central Committee of Catholics, religious and spiritual communities were also expected to attend.

Zollitsch dampens reform expectations
Earlier, at the conclusion of the bishops' plenary meeting in Paderborn, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, president of the bishops' conference, had dampened the expectations of reform groups: "There will be no revolution," the Freiburg archbishop said. The focus would be on renewals that correspond to the spirit of the Gospel.

Zollitsch announced that he would also speak with professors of theology who call for far-reaching reforms in a memorandum published in February. In the paper, which has now been signed by more than 300 professors of theology, the theologians promote an "open dialogue without taboos" about power and communication structures, church ministry, the participation of believers, and morality and sexuality.

Benedikt Kranemann, a liturgical scholar from Erfurt, has again spoken out in favor of critical theology at universities. "The problem is that the church needs a critical theology, especially today," Kranemann said in an interview.

He cited as an example the recent study on sexual abuse of minors. "Devotion to an institution is not what distinguishes a science, but hinders it," Kranemann told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Theology must not be "domesticated". "Whoever ignores this and does not accept the freedom of science, harms the church itself". Rome cannot proclaim a revolution of thought in the person of the pope and then demand that you register it with the Congregation for Education," Kranemann said. That the catechism can be changed, Pope Francis proved, he said, "when he determined last summer that the death penalty can never be permissible. This was different until then".

"Questioning the traditional in a different way"

Many questions arise anew "the more one compares the Catholic faith with other denominations and religions or gains insights into the historical development of rites and statements of faith," the scientist said. "Theological knowledge generally changes with the progress of science and also with the mentality of a time."

Today, the traditional has to be questioned differently, "and I have to be critical from my time and from today's state of research," Kranemann explained. "This permanent process of confrontation can lead to a more critical view, in any case to differentiations, changed assessments – or can also help to look at and appreciate the tradition in a new way."

"Pope expects impartiality"

The majority of German theology is on the course of the Pope, "who obviously expects an unbiased approach to theological problems," Kranemann said. But the question of how to discuss openly has not been answered, he said. "The fact that theologians are always in trouble with Roman authorities does not fit with a theology that must work freely."

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