Thursday, May 09, 2013

German bishops deny division over women deacon remarks

A German church spokesman has denied the country's Catholic bishops are divided after the bishops' conference president, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch (pictured), provoked controversy by advocating a form of diaconate for women, reports the Catholic News Service.

"There are no new facts - Archbishop Zollitsch has declared himself in favour of a specific deaconry for women, which means without ordination," said Robert Eberle, spokesman for Germany's southern Freiburg Archdiocese.

"The bishops want more women in positions of responsibility in the church on the basis of Catholic doctrine. So there's no division over reform issues like this," Eberle said in a May 8 statement.

Archbishop Zollitsch made his proposal on April 28 at the close of a Freiburg archdiocesan assembly on church reforms, at which 33 separate recommendations were debated by 300 participants.

He said he supported "a further deepening of the common priesthood of all baptized persons," and would promote "a variety of services and ministries." 

He also said both men and women "should be respected and taken seriously in the church," adding that he believed work posts should also be offered to people with "different lifestyles."

The archbishop added that he was also "committed to new ecclesiastical services and ministries open to women," including "a specific deaconry for women."

Eberle said Archbishop Zollitsch was speaking only "in his capacity as local archbishop" and referred to a similar proposal, on February 20, by Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, during the German bishops' spring plenary at Trier.

The German bishops' conference press office declined to answer questions about Archbishop Zollitsch's remarks.