German Bishop considers Germany a mission country

 

Germany now a ‘mission country,’ Bishop Bätzing says amid declining Catholic numbers

By AC Wimmer

CNA Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 09:32 am

The German Bishops’ Conference president has called Germany — a nation whose very history is entangled with the Catholic Church — a “mission country.”

In an interview with the Society of the Divine Word’s German-language magazine, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg said: “We live in a missionary country when we realize that less than half of Germany’s citizens still belong to the Christian denominations.”

According to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, Bätzing said evangelization had been a central theme “since [Pope] John Paul II and also for [Pope] Francis.”

The German prelate continued: “But the other half are not simply faithless or don’t ask any questions, and in this respect, I believe we need to do much more.” 

“We should get in touch with these people, talk to them without being intrusive. These times of a mission with a negative tone are over, but speaking and answering questions about the hope that fills us, as the letter to the Hebrews says, is part of Christianity.”

Bätzing has led the Diocese of Limburg since 2016 and the German Bishops’ Conference since 2020. In 2016, more than 630,000 Catholics resided in Limburg. By 2022, this number had dropped to fewer than 540,000. 

The Catholic population in Germany, a nation of about 83 million people, has significantly decreased.

In 2020, there were approximately 22.19 million Catholics. However, by 2022, this number had dropped to about 20.94 million.

Researchers paint a stark picture of the future: In 2019, a project of scientists at the University of Freiburg predicted that the number of Christians paying church tax in Germany would halve by 2060.

Three years later, in 2022, more than half a million baptized Catholics left the Church, figures released by the German Bishops’ Conference confirmed. 

At the time, Bätzing stated on his diocese’s website that the “alarming” figures underscored the need for continued “cultural change” and the implementation of the German Synodal Way resolutions.

However, the German Synodal Way, which has advocated for significant changes to traditional Church teachings since 2019, has not stemmed the dramatic decline in Catholic numbers. 

A 2021 report by CNA Deutsch noted that 1 in 3 Catholics in Germany were considering leaving the Church. The reasons for leaving varied, with older people citing the Church’s handling of the abuse crisis and younger people pointing to the obligation of paying church tax, according to one earlier study.

The German Bishops’ Conference currently stipulates that leaving the Church results in automatic excommunication, a regulation that has sparked controversy among theologians and canon lawyers.

In June 2019, Pope Francis addressed a 28-page letter to German Catholics, urging them to focus on evangelization amid a “growing erosion and deterioration of faith.” He warned against relying solely on internal strengths, stating: “Every time an ecclesial community has tried to get out of its problems alone, relying solely on its own strengths, methods, and intelligence, it has ended up multiplying and nurturing the evils it wanted to overcome.”

The Synodal Way initially struggled to embrace this call. In September 2021, a motion to emphasize evangelization was narrowly passed but was initially rejected due to misinterpreting abstention votes. Bätzing later confirmed the proposal had been accepted, acknowledging the procedural error.

One year later, in September 2022, Bätzing said the shortest definition of religion was “interruption” and that some forms of continuity people seek from religion are “frankly suspect.”

A warning of schism from Germany

 After Rome intervenes in German Catholic reform project, cardinal warns of possible schism

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna
(CNS/Paul Haring)

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna warned of schism as German bishops want to keep to their reform course despite the latest letter from Rome, which halted the vote on the statutes of a Synodal Committee.

The move has proceed "in dialogue with Rome," the president of the German bishops' conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, said in Augsburg Feb. 19. He called the coordination of fundamental church reforms with the Vatican "a matter of course."

That is why, he said, "out of respect for those responsible in Rome," he had removed the controversial voting from the agenda of the bishops' meeting in Augsburg, at which the establishment of a Synodal Committee for Germany was to be decided. "We do not want to and cannot ignore the Roman objection. Now we have to talk," said Bätzing.

The German bishops were "eagerly" awaiting concrete talks with Vatican officials, he said. Three further meetings have currently been "announced" although the bishop stressed it may take up to six months for the Vatican to set the concrete date.

Bätzing emphasized that, in his view, the Synodal Path in Germany and the worldwide Synod on Synodality were heading in the same direction.

In the letter from the Vatican that surfaced over the weekend, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, called on the German bishops to suspend a planned vote on the creation of a mixed decision-making body for the Catholic Church in Germany because it would violate canon law. The cardinals said that their letter was "brought to the attention of Pope Francis and approved by him."

Bätzing emphasized that he was willing and able to refute the Vatican's concerns expressed in the letter, and said that a joint body of bishops and laity would not weaken the authority of the bishops, but rather strengthen it.

Lay German Catholics involved in the Synodal Path called on the bishops to defy Rome and stick to the reform course.

The planned Synodal Committee, whose statutes were to be voted on, was to prepare a Synodal Council in which bishops and laity would not only consult together, but also make decisions.

The Central Committee of German Catholics, the highest representative body of the laity, which had participated in the Synodal Path at the request of the bishops, along with its president Irme Stetter-Karp, called on the bishops to continue the reform project despite the signals from Rome to halt it: "The Catholic Church in Germany will not have a second chance if it stops the Synodal Path now."

The lay committee’s deputy president, Thomas Söding, called it a contradiction when Rome promotes synodal processes at the Synod on Synodality but then "puts a stop sign on the German reform path."

In an interview with KNA, he added that the letter from Rome was "not a ban, but a step on the brakes." At the same time, he warned against playing for time, because "frustration will grow if the reforms are put on the back burner again."

The "We are Church" initiative also called on the bishops "not to be fooled" by "misleading messages" from Rome. The bishops, the initiative said, should also insist that lay people should also be involved in the further talks in Rome.

Söding told the KNA that the bishops "should hold talks with Rome as quickly as possible." He added however that he's "not sure whether Rome has the courage to open up."

Schönborn has however made an unusually clear statement on the debate about the church's path to reform in Germany. He called on the German bishops not to let the dialogue with Rome break off.

In an interview with the theological website Communio Feb. 19, he agreed with the Roman criticism of the planned progress of the German reform process. The envisioned involvement of laypeople in fundamental decisions contradicts the constitution of the church, the Austrian cardinal said.

In Schönborn's view, the German bishops should not make any decisions that could lead to a schism. They should "seriously ask themselves whether they really want to leave the communion with and under the pope or rather accept it loyally. Refusing to give in would be ‘obstinatio’ (obstinacy) — a clear sign of a schism that nobody can want." In his view, ignoring the warnings from Rome would be negligent.

Schönborn recalled that the Vatican had already stated several times that the church in Germany was not authorized to establish a joint governing body of lay and clerical people.

"I am impressed by the patience with which the pope and the Roman dicasteries are trying to remain in dialogue with the German bishops and maintain unity and communion," the cardinal emphasized.

The current conflict between the German bishops and Rome is not about "questions of power" or disciplinary issues, Schönborn added. "Rather, Pope Francis is fulfilling his core task of maintaining unity in the faith" because it is about the "basic understanding of the church."

A bishop cannot delegate personal responsibility for important decisions and the transmission of faith to committees, the cardinal said. "Therefore, the idea of bishops voluntarily binding themselves to the decisions of synodal councils is not compatible with the core of the episcopal mission."

The Feb. 19-22 meeting of German bishops in Augsburg is nevertheless expected to be dominated, at least in the talks behind the scenes, with the topic of the Synodal Committee and Synodal Council.

German Catholic Bishop defends German Synod; says do not ignore the signs of the times

 German bishop at Synod on Synodality: Church should not ignore ‘signs of the times’

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, Germany at the Synod on Synodality press briefing Oct. 21, 2023. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez

By Jonathan Liedl

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2023 / 12:40 pm

A German bishop participating in the Synod on Synodality challenged the idea that the Catholic community in his country is at odds with the universal Church — and reasserted that it will continue to play a role in the ongoing discussions in Rome about the Church’s future. 

Speaking at the synod press briefing Saturday afternoon, Bishop Franz Josef Overbeck of Essen acknowledged that others have expressed concerns to him regarding the Catholic Church in Germany’s controversial “Synodal Way.” 

“Many people have asked me, ‘Are you still Catholics and part of the Catholic Church?” said Overbeck, one of the German Bishops’ Conference’s three delegates to the universal synod and a major proponent of the German Synodal Way. “And I say, ‘Yes, of course, we are Catholics, and we are here to stay.”

Begun in 2019, the Synodal Way is a non-canonical initiative of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). The collaboration approved blessings of same-sex unions, incorporated transgender ideology into Church practice, and petitioned Rome to open ordained ministry to women at its final assembly in Frankfurt in March. 

Pope Francis has criticized the Synodal Way as “elitist” and “not helpful,” while bishops from around the world have written to express their concern that the process could induce schism between Germany and the universal Church. Vatican officials and German bishops have held multiple meetings to discuss the Synodal Way, most recently on July 27. 

Contextual argument 

Speaking for nearly 10 minutes about the Synodal Way to journalists, Overbeck asserted that the controversial process was responding to the uniquely “post-secular” context of German culture, in which “people have no idea” about transcendence, the Church, or Jesus Christ.

“This changes the entire framework for the questions we are carrying out,” said Overbeck, adding that if Catholic teaching is in contradiction with “the signs of the times,” then “nobody is going to be convinced” by the Church’s guidance.

Overbeck repeatedly referred to Germany’s particular cultural situation to justify some of the Synodal Way’s most controversial proposals. For instance, he alluded to exploring an end to mandatory priestly celibacy by noting that in his 13 years as Bishop of Essen, he has only ordained 15 new priests, while 300 priests have died. The Diocese of Essen, he said, currently has no seminarians in formation. 

In addition, Overbeck suggested that the widespread presence of both the Catholic permanent diaconate as well as ordained women as Lutheran ministers in Germany makes the question of opening the diaconate to women particularly relevant to the local Church.

“We live in this world, and these are the questions that come up,” said Overbeck, who said that any consideration of including women in the diaconate should be in response to “a vocation” and not simply creating a rite “so that women can be a part of the sacramental ministry of the Church.” 

Overbeck, who has previously said that same-sex “marriage” should be accepted and not described as immoral, also said at the press event that the Church must keep Christ at the center but set aside its “habit and tradition” to meet contemporary needs, though he seemed to clarify that by “tradition” he was not referring to apostolic tradition.

The bishop of Essen added that the Synodal Way and its calls for change in Church teaching related to sexuality, ordination, and governance were aimed at addressing the systemic causes of the sex abuse crisis, which has rocked the Catholic Church in Germany over the past decade. 

Overbeck also acknowledged that a “synodal committee” will begin work in Germany in November with the aim of establishing a permanent synodal council made up of bishops and laity to govern the Catholic Church in Germany. The Vatican has explicitly forbidden the establishment of this council as inconsistent with the Church’s ecclesiology, and four out of Germany’s 27 ordinaries voted in June to block funding for the synodal committee from a common fund. 

Decentralization and ‘Convergence’

Notably, Overbeck’s inclusion on the panel and his comments came during the Synod on Synodality’s exploration of the theme of “participation, governance, and authority,” which includes a focus on the “decentralization” of Church governance. 

To this effect, the synod’s working document quotes Pope Francis’ instruction in Evangelii Gaudium that “it is not advisable for the pope to take the place of local bishops in the discernment of every issue which arises in their territory. In this sense, I am conscious of the need to promote a sound ‘decentralization.’” 

During this part of the Synod on Synodality, participants are being asked to consider questions including: “What degree of doctrinal authority can be attributed to the discernment of Episcopal Conferences?”

Another question asks “to what extent” the “convergence” of local Church entities, such as episcopal conferences, on “the same issue commit the bishop of Rome to address it at the level of the universal Church?” 

The founding president of the German Synodal Way said in December 2022 that the initiative was designed to create “pressure” on the universal Church. 

Overbeck and Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, have both expressed their intention to advance the proposals of the Synodal Way at the ongoing Synod on Synodality. In fact, Bätzing reportedly shared a 159-page document detailing the Synodal Way’s findings with the rest of the Roman synod’s 365 members earlier this month. 

Overbeck has previously said that the Synod on Synodality must take up the proposals advanced by the German Synodal Way, “from the role of women to the question of sexuality and the question of people who love each other.” 

However, Overbeck added at the press conference that he may also be taking something from the Synod on Synodality back to Germany. He noted that the synod’s “conversation in the spirit method,” emphasizing listening without asking questions and times of silent prayer, could be incorporated into the German Synodal Way’s work going forward. 

Vatican orders German Synod not to implement some of their illicit and disobedient proposals

 

Vatican’s Liturgy Czar Rejects German Church’s Plans for Laity to Preach Homilies, Conduct Baptisms

Apart from covering the question of homilies and baptisms by laypeople, the seven-page letter also reminded the German bishops that liturgical translations must be confirmed and approved by the Vatican.

AC Wimmer/CNAVaticanMarch 30, 2023

The Vatican’s liturgy czar has intervened against the implementation of resolutions of the German Synodal Way that demand laypeople should be able to regularly baptize and preach the homily at Mass in churches across Germany. 

In a letter to the German Bishops’ Conference president dated March 29, Cardinal Arthur Roche said neither was possible — despite at least one German diocese already announcing both practices.

The written intervention by the Vatican’s prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments was addressed to Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, which has obtained a copy of the document. 

Apart from covering the question of homilies and baptisms by laypeople, the seven-page letter also reminded the German bishops that liturgical translations must be confirmed and approved by the Vatican. 

On the issue of homilies, Cardinal Roche wrote that the reason why laypeople cannot regularly preach at Mass is not due to their need for “better theological preparation or better communication skills.” Nor is the intent to create “inequalities among the baptized.”

Instead, the cardinal pointed to “distinctions made by the Spirit, who produces different charisms that are distinct and complementary.”

Cardinal Roche wrote that well-formed laypeople should contribute, for instance, as catechists or by conducting conversations about sacred Scripture. 

However, he added that laypeople could not give the homily at Mass since only someone ordained “sacramentally represents Christ by virtue of the sacra potestas [sacred power] conferred on him at ordination.” 

Explaining that the issue of preaching at Mass was, in other words, a sacramental rather than an educational matter, Cardinal Roche warned of “misunderstandings” about the figure and identity of the priest, who is the only one who can act ‘in persona Christi capitis’ [in the person of Christ, the head of the Church] by virtue of the sacrament.”

The cardinal also rejected the introduction of laypeople regularly administering baptisms, something already in practice in some German dioceses. He wrote that justifying this with a lack of priests, for example, was not possible under canon law.

Laypeople could only validly perform baptisms in exceptional circumstances, such as in danger of death or “in painful situations of persecution, but also in mission areas and in other cases of special need,” the cardinal explained.

Papal Appeal to Unity

Cardinal Roche reminded the German bishops of Pope Francis’ 2019 letter regarding the direction of the Synodal Way process. “The universal Church lives in and from the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church; if they were separated from the universal Church, they would weaken, decay, and die,” the Pope wrote at the time.

Responding to Cardinal Roche's communication, a spokesperson for the German Bishops’ Conference on Thursday said the bishops would continue to seek dialogue with Rome on these issues.

Earlier this month, several German bishops announced plans to implement several resolutions passed by the Synodal Way. 

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück — then vice president of the German Bishops’ Conference — said laypeople could baptize babies and “regularly” preach at homilies in his diocese. 

About one week later, on March 25, the Holy See announced that Pope Francis had accepted Bishop Bode’s request to resign. 

Bishops in Germany seem to be charting their own path; ignore important Vatican veto

 

German bishops apparently ignore Vatican veto

By Elise Ann Allen

Mar 1, 2023

|Senior Correspondent

ROME – At the start of their spring plenary assembly, the leader of the German bishops’ conference told reporters that they are essentially ignoring a Vatican veto on a new governing body for the church in Germany, and that plans are moving ahead regardless.

From Feb. 27-March 2, 62 of German’s 67 bishops will be gathered in Dresden for the springtime meeting.

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, president of the German bishops’ conference, started things off on a controversial note when on Monday, at the start of their plenary meetings, he told journalists that he had sent a letter to the Vatican responding to their earlier veto of the proposed new “Synodal Council” in Germany.

According to German Catholic news site Katholisch.de, Bätzing told reporters that in his letter, he explained again what the purpose of the Synodal Council is, and what the goal is of the Synodal Committee, which is expected to be rolled out next week and is tasked with forming the Synodal Council over the next three years.

Mention was also made of the German bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome in November of last year, during which a special inter-departmental meeting was held with the leaders of several Vatican offices to discuss the German church’s national “Synodal Path.”

Noting that both parties had agreed to stay in touch about the process, Bätzing in his comments to reporters said, “We are ready at short notice at any time to go to Rome and continue the talks there that we started at the inter-dicastery meeting,” and said communication with the Vatican, at this point conducted mostly through letters, has been “difficult.”

Bätzing also said his letter will eventually be published but did not say when.

His letter was addressed to Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin; Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishop.

Last month, the three wrote a letter to Bätzing that was endorsed by Pope Francis in which they essentially vetoed the Synod Council, which is intended as an advisory body that will be composed of roughly 80 people, divided more or less equally between bishops and laypeople.

The idea for the Synodal Council was approved during the fourth plenary assembly of Germany’s “Synodal Path” last September, and its task would be to make “fundamental decisions of supra-diocesan importance.”

A “Synodal Committee” set to be established next week will be tasked with formally establishing the Synodal Council so as to be active by 2026. The committee would be co-chaired by Bätzing and layperson.

The letter sent by Parolin, Ouellet, and Ladaria nixing the proposal was sent as a response to concerns voiced by several German bishops, who in December of last year wrote their own letter to the Vatican asking for clarification about what canonical status the Synodal Council would hold, and whether they would be obliged to participate if named a member.

In their letter, the three Vatican officials said no, and warned that the Synodal Council would “form a new leadership structure of the Church in Germany which…seems to place itself above the authority of the German bishops’ conference and actually to replace it.”

They said the proposal is contrary to the authority “of teaching and of governing” that a bishop receives at his ordination.

Bätzing in his comments to journalists Monday reportedly said the Synodal Committee would be launched next week as planned, despite the Vatican’s concerns.

His remarks and letter are the latest in what has been a somewhat tense ongoing tug-of-war between the Vatican and the German bishops over the German church’s disputed “Synodal Path” process, in which the Vatican has intervened on numerous occasions.

The German Synodal Path was launched in 2019 as a response to the clerical abuse crisis in Germany with the stated aim of giving laypeople more prominent roles in church leadership.

However, the process quickly diverted and grew contentious over outspoken calls by leaders in the discussion including laypeople and bishops, for women to be ordained priests and for priests to administer blessings to same sex couples.

Proposals have also been made to end mandatory priestly celibacy, allowing priests in the Latin rite to marry, and to approve of same-sex marriage. Calls have also been raised for women to administer baptisms, and for laypeople to participate in the election of their bishops.

As debate over the proposals grew, the Vatican intervened last summer, issuing a statement cautioning the German bishops against stoking division and insisting that the Synodal Path holds no authority on matters of doctrine and morals.

In response, Germany’s bishops said they were surprised, and wanted to discuss the process further.

The opportunity for this discussion presented itself when the German bishops made their ad limina visit to the Vatican last November, when a special meeting was held between the 62 German bishops who came and the heads of several Vatican departments, including Ouellet and Ladaria.

During that meeting, it was suggested by some Vatican officials that “moratorium” be issued on the German Synodal Path, but that proposal was ultimately rejected, and both sides agreed to move forward while continuing to dialogue with one another about the process.

In his remarks to reporters Monday, Bätzing touched on the question of division and the Vatican’s warning against creating division through the Synodal Path, which will soon conclude.

He called the reform process of the German church a “serious, critical situation” that would not be resolved at this week’s plenary assembly, and referred to the objections made by the Vatican at various points in the process.

“So, we don’t go (along) the synodal path in peace,” he said, but rejected the notion that divisions over the Synodal Path and its proposals would lead to a fresh schism in the Catholic Church.

“Anyone who talks about division expects something from it (the Synodal Path),” Bätzing said, saying,
“I don’t talk about it because nobody wants it.”