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The German “Synodal Way” has adopted a controversial proposal to create a permanent body composed of lay people and bishops to oversee the local Church.
The country’s bishops initiated the “Der Synodale Weg” in 2019 in the wake of a damning report that showed the vast extent of the clergy sex abuse crisis. The aim of the Synodal Way has been to restore trust among the Catholic people in Germany.
Last Saturday, the Synodal Path delegates meeting in Frankfurt voted to create an “advisory and decision-making body,” known as the synodal council. They will “advise on major developments in the Church and in society”.
It will also “take fundamental decisions of supra-diocesan significance on pastoral planning, future perspectives and budgetary issues of the Church that are not decided at the level of the dioceses”.
However, the Vatican declaration in July states the synodal way has no power “to compel the bishops and the faithful to adopt new ways of governance and new approaches to doctrine and morals.
“Prior to an agreed understanding at the level of the universal Church, it would not be permissible to initiate new official structures or doctrines in the dioceses, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church,” it said.
The three-day meeting was due to discuss 14 texts, with nine to have their second reading. But only eight texts were considered, with four passing their second reading.
On the first day of the assembly, meetings were suspended due to protests and walkouts. The voting proposal for the Pope to open a discussion for changes to Catholic sexual ethics failed to achieve a two-thirds majority of the bishops.
The text was approved by 88% of the synod assembly, but by only 61% of the bishops who were present.
The proposed document called for revising Catholic teaching on issues such as contraception, same-sex partnerships and gender identity.
Meetings were suspended while bishops and lay delegates attended separate crisis meetings. The incident raised doubts of some bishops to participate in the reform process.
Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, the president of the bishops’ conference, and the leadership of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) – called what happened a “crisis”.
Read more at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/germanys-synodal-path-hits-a-bump-in-the-road/16583
“The problem is not the result of the vote, but the lack of visibility of those opposed,” said Bishop Bätzing.
“We had no warning of this disaster,” lamented Mirjam Gräve, a laywoman and member of the forum that prepared the text.
“There were no proposals from the opponents to change the text. This is systematic blocking in a process that is supposed to be synodal,” she said.
The texts that were passed will be presented to the pope by German bishops in the November “ad limina” visit.
Smaller meetings will be held to discuss the synodal forums, the priesthood, women in the Church and sexuality before meeting again in Frankfurt on March 9-11 for final votes on the initiative’s remaining documents.
Sources
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