That was all?!

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270 bishops agreed on 94 statements on marriage and the family. Statements that are all somehow good and right. But nevertheless disappoint, means our site editor-in-chief Ingo Bruggenjurgen.

It is good that the Catholic world bishops have not thrown the Christian system of values overboard on the questions of marriage and family and have not closed the door to new developments. They also found the strength in their language to move from a lecturing church to a welcoming church. But even if all those who were present emphasize that this synod was a great step for the church, many Christians in this country had expected more from their leaders.

Even well-disposed observers are rubbing their eyes in surprise: The new pope unexpectedly invites to an extraordinary synod, for the first time worldwide the committees and faithful are asked for months and involved in the consultation process … Then 270 bishops from all over the world meet in Rome to adopt a joint paper that is supposed to show the pope and the faithful the way in the important questions of marriage and family – and then at the end there are 94 statements on the table, which are all somehow good and right – but often already known and little concretely spoken into the present time. One may be proud of the point that women should be given more responsibility in the church? That one wants to meet remarried people more openly and that homosexuals also have their place in one's own family? That was really all? More was not possible, since the experiences and ideas are very different worldwide and cannot be measured only by Western European standards?

Precisely because the German-speaking group, including Cardinals Gerhard-Ludwig Muller and Walter Kasper, unanimously (!) has compiled a good, much-noticed interim report, one cannot deny it good will. But just trying is sometimes unfortunately not enough. Even some bishops find it regrettable that the group's much-noticed confession of guilt fell by the wayside and did not appear in the synod paper, despite their intervention in the final round.

In their home dioceses, it may not be easy for many bishops to recapture the disappointed expectations of some of the faithful. Reference will be made to the Pope in this regard. The synod can, precisely because it has not been defined by concrete demands, now determine the further path itself in the greatest freedom. But it was Francis who demanded more autonomy and participation of the dioceses and bishops at this synod!

Now the ball, which the synod bishops only kept in play but did not get into the goal, is back in the hands of the Pope. The already made clear in his closing speech that he is often closer to the people of today in word and deed than some bishops. "The true defenders of doctrine are not those who defend the letter – but the spirit – not the idea, but the person!" And mercy, he said, must be above all else. Cardinal Marx also admitted self-critically: "The pope always gets us moving again!"

So the pope from the other side of the world is stirring hearts from top to bottom, and he clearly has a plan. From the 1. Advent, he has prescribed a year of mercy for his church. This is encouraging, even to those who had actually expected a little more from their bishops at this synod.

Text of the congregation for education generates criticism

Gender symbols © shutterstock

The fuzzy term "gender" alone often arouses tempers. The Vatican wanted to contribute to smoothing such waves in the church. However, his latest text, "As man and woman he created them," is drawing criticism.

On Monday, the Roman Congregation for Education published a document on the subject of gender theories and education, which was met with sometimes harsh criticism. Main reproach: The text does not correspond to the state of the discussion. Wide fields of relevant research would be omitted, as well as medical, psychological or social science studies would not be mentioned, affected persons would not have been consulted.

"As man and woman he created them"

The document, "As Man and Woman He Created Them," criticizes notions that advocate "manipulation of the body at will" and condemns radical theories to that effect. It promotes gender polarity and demands respect: no one should be persecuted or discriminated against, for example, because of his or her faith or sexual orientation.

But as far as emotional life and sexuality are concerned, there is a "real educational emergency," the document's introduction states. The text therefore attempts to distinguish between gender research and gender ideologies. The authors fell for the talk of a gender ideology, staging inaccurate accusations as "paper tigers," criticizes the Osnabruck theologian Margit Eckholt.

Similar comments were made by Paul Zulehner, pastoral theologian emeritus of Vienna, and his colleague, moral theologian Gerhard Marschutz.

U.S. Jesuit James Martin, involved in pastoral care with gay people, expects the short-term effect of the text to be "ammunition for Catholics who deny the reality of a transgender experience and dismiss such people as ideologues". It is not as claimed that gender theories represent an arbitrary appropriation or attribution of gender identity. It is much more a matter of the experiences of those affected.

Most of the criticism in the Vatican not comprehensible

In Rome, however, much of the criticism cannot be understood. It is neither the task of the Congregation for Education nor the concern of the letter to clarify the gender ie, the Undersecretary of the Congregation for Education, Frederick Bechina, told the Catholic News Agency (KNA). Others in the Vatican are responsible for this. Rather, he said, they have responded to requests from Catholic schools, universities and bishops' conferences.

For years, the ie has come up in about two-thirds of all bishops' ad limina visits to Rome, Bechina said. The knowledge is very different, bishops and school directors are unsure how they should position themselves. Eastern European representatives often reacted reservedly, others claimed that with them this was not an ie.

Church schools are being put under prere, individual voices criticized, combined with accusations of ideological colonialism. Bechina cannot be more specific about this.

Behind all this is the question: who decides what children and young people learn in school and when about sexuality, gender and family, how they find their identity. There the Catholic principle is: this is the right and duty above all of parents. Schools have a subsidiary role, must respect parents' beliefs and culture, the document says.

Debates likely to continue

There is a need for an alliance of family, school and society to develop "educational programs on affectivity and sexuality" that "respect one's own level of maturity in these areas and at the same time promote respect for the body of the other". The president of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, can understand this: It does not make sense, he says, "to already open up to elementary school or kindergarten children what different possibilities there are, without that currently being their problem.".

The subtitle of the Vatican text indicates that the debates will continue. "Toward a dialogue on the question of gender theory in education," it says carefully. Given recent reactions, it is foreseeable: This road will still be long. The head of the Congregation for Education, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, also acknowledges this. Also the church must correct "perhaps some too entrenched positions in the view of nature, which completely disregard the cultural aspects," said the clergyman.

At the same time, he dismissed premature conservative fears about the gender ie: "First of all, you have to listen carefully and calmly to what it is all about. Then, he says, it is a matter of representing one's own Catholic position in the face of theses that are indeed exaggerated and, finally, of clarifying locally how to deal with concrete questions. Moreover, the Church must endure such tensions, Bechina added. For some, even the most recent document is too liberal.

Resignations in the Catholic Church in Carinthia have increased since the allegations against the former bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt, Alois Schwarz, became known. This also has consequences for his current office, according to journalist Klaus Prompers.

Interviewer: Why do these reports come up only now?

Klaus Prompers (Journalist): There were already first reports in summer, when Schwarz was transferred, so to speak, from Carinthia, from the diocese Gurk-Klagenfurt to Sankt Polten, near Vienna. But that was only a small flare-up at that time. However, the subsequent diocesan administrator Guggenberger, the cathedral provost of the diocese, has arranged that several measures that the former bishop Schwarz had taken for Gurk-Klagenfurt are to be annulled.

It began a clarification of the diocesan budgets of the last four years on the one hand. On the other hand, the clarification of the so-called Mensalgut [Note. d. Red.: Church assets of a Catholic bishop for personal use]. Mensalgut is a very foreign term, it goes back to a foundation, in this case of St. Hemma of Gurk, the provincial saint of Carinthia, who left a large sum to the bishop. I would say we are talking about the diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt being basically the richest diocese in Austria, after the end of World War II. In the area of the Mensalgutes there is no accountability at all. We know this from the situation in Limburg.

Interviewer: It is about money that has disappeared. That is, this nevertheless damning balance of the 17 bishop years of Bishop Alois Schwarz have probably triggered the anger of the cathedral chapter?

Prompers: Not only the anger of the cathedral chapter, but also that of the faithful. Bishop Schwarz was brought there by the Vatican as an auxiliary bishop in the summer of 2001, as bishop for the diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt. As early as 2006, there are complaints about his behavior. This is traceable in the media, but certainly even more traceable in the archives of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, as well as the Archdiocese of Vienna. It was not only a matter of finances, but he must have cultivated a very authoritarian style in the course of the 17 years he ruled there. Strengthened by a relatively close relationship with a director of an educational house, Andrea Enzinger, who must have influenced him very strongly. Of course, no one knows for sure.

Interviewer: That is, the bishop, who was committed to celibacy, had a wife at his side?

Prompers: That doesn't seem to me to be the main thing, because he also denies that sexual relations should have occurred there. This may be believed at first, but the more decisive point is that this lady has also run down this Bildungshaus Sankt Georgen in the last four years. This is an educational house with 64 rooms. It has now shown an occupancy of only 47 percent during the year, which is a disaster. In part, this has contributed to the deficit. The cathedral chapter complains after a detailed audit by auditors that at least 1.9 million euros have been squandered, and the provost of the cathedral has announced that recourse of a financial nature will also be sought against the former bishop.

Interviewer: Now the diocesan administrator wanted to make everything public in a press conference. Is that correct that the Vatican has forbidden this project?

Prompers: In this specific case, the Congregation of Bishops did that, because it is the highest examining authority for missteps of a bishop – whether they are of a financial or other nature. In the meantime the Vatican has even acted further. Salzburg Archbishop Franz Lackner, who is responsible for the diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt, is to conduct an audit. He will do so from mid-January, as he said.

Interviewer: Where is the challenge now?

Prompers: The difficulty lies in two things. First, it has led to increasing departures from Carinthia's Catholic Church since all this became clearer and more transparent this summer. There were already this year up to now 1000 resignations more than in the previous year.

Secondly, the distrust of what has happened in the past is of course overwhelming. Many have expressed themselves in many e-mails, letters, telephone calls to the cathedral chapter. So the diocesan administrator Guggenberger, who is also the provost of the cathedral, felt compelled to appear before the press together with the college a week after the Vatican had banned it. Above all, of course, to create transparency before Christmas. For Bishop Schwarz had quoted from the until then confidential expert opinion and the audit report and had always said that he was not substantially at fault. He was already somewhat in debt, but nothing substantial, according to Schwarz. With 1.9 million euros, you could say it's already something substantial.

Interviewer: How will the situation in Carinthia develop further??

Prompers: Has to be seen, but it has caused a wave of mistrust in Carinthia and beyond. Especially since many say that basically in the Bishops' Conference of Austria from 2008 the complaints about the authoritarian style of Bishop Schwarz were known.

Interviewer: Now the Vatican will send a special investigator to Carinthia, who has all kinds of things to clear up. Dare you predict how something like this will turn out and whether it will bring peace again?

Prompers: First, I think the Vatican will appoint a new bishop for Gurk-Klagenfurt very soon, in order to contribute a little bit to the pacification. And I dare to predict that Alois Schwarz will not be tenable as bishop in Sankt Polten either. So he will have to vacate his chair, so you have another sedis vacancy. This means that a new bishop will have to be sent to St. Polten once again. Because what he has done in Carinthia for 17 years is certainly so serious according to all that is known so far. By what one can read from the audit report on the Internet, his position as bishop in Polten will also not be tenable.

The interview was conducted by Uta Vorbrodt.

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