A personal decision: As the President of the
German Bishops Conference, the Archbishop of Freiburg, Monsignor Robert
Zollitsch, closed the Conference’s plenary session in September 2010, he
announced a comprehensive “process of dialogue and reflection” that
would haul the Catholic Church in Germany beyond the crisis sparked by
the story of abuse, without first holding consultations or a vote in
this regard within the plenum.
Many of the prelate’s fellow brothers were
bewildered at first but later complied. For the first time since the
Synod of Würzburg which took place between 1971-1975, abandoned by the
disappointed then theologian Joseph Ratzinger, the Catholic church in
the land of Luther finds itself in a synodal process: Bishops and
representatives of Catholic Lay Associations propose to hold
consultations until 2015 to find a way to overcome the credibility and
trust crises related to the abuse scandal that emerged in January 2010.
The scandal in question erupted following the
revelations made by Klaus Mertes, Director of the Jesuit High School in
Berlin, “Canisius-Kolleg”, who in a letter urged students of the College
to report cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, even if they
occurred some time ago.
The response from the media was massive
and so in many different cities the victims of abuse suffered both in
religious scholastic institutes and elsewhere came forward.
At that
point, the Bishops Conference launched more stringent guidelines for
assessing and preventing cases of sexual abuse, and appointed a Special
Representative of the Conference for all issues related to these cases,
Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier.
Perhaps Monsignor Zollitsch, overwhelmed by the
pressing of the media campaign against Catholic priests, a teacher and
educator himself, was forced to take a “flight forward” from the
dialogue process which will last another four years.
Zollitsch
hopes “to initiate steps towards internal development and consolidation
to which the members of the Vatican Council in particular can
contribute, fifty years after its conclusion.
Furthermore, the
experiences and progress which the German church has matured and
embraced since then must be valued.”
It soon became clear that the fundamental issue was not the abuses. On January 21, 2011 leading Catholic politicians, in an open letter to the German Bishops, urged the viri probati, or rather “married men tried in the faith” to enter the priesthood.
Just ten days later, on 4 February, more than 150 Professors of Theology in Germany, Austria and Switzerland signed a Memorandum on the reforms which they hope for in the Church.
In the statement entitled “Church 2011: a
necessary turning point” the aforementioned support, among other things,
greater participation of the faithful in the appointment of high
ecclesiastical figures, priesthood for married men as well, a
better position for women in the Church, and great respect for same-sex
couples.
Then at Easter, the ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, the
second largest German broadcaster) published the results of a survey
according to which 80% of German Catholic ask for Church reforms such as
the abolition of celibacy and women’s access to be priesthood.
The
abuse crisis was the occasion to fight for so-called “reforms”, which
the Protestant Church in Germany already implemented some time ago.
Based on these premises, the first round of
consultations in the dialogue process desired by Archbishop Zollitsch
took place on 8 and 9 June. At the invitation of the German Bishops,
approximately 300 participants addressed the issue of “Prospectives of
the Church of Tomorrow”.
The participants were selected by the Secretariat of the German Bishops Conference, under the leadership of the Jesuit
Hans Langendörfer, a man trusted by Klaus Mertes, his contemporary and
brother: representatives of Catholic associations and the central
organization of German Catholicism, the “Central Committee of German
Catholics”.
The talks invariably fell on the same “reforms”:
marriage for priests, women priests, communion/approach to Catholicism
and Protestantism, readmitting separated, remarried or cohabiting
persons to the Eucharist, recognition of same-sex couples.
One 13 August, Monsignor Zollitsch, the Cardinal
of Munich Reinhard Marx, as well as Bishops Franz-Josef Overbeck of
Essen and Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück will be at Castel Gandolfo to
brief the Pope of the dialogue process in Manheim. And in a few weeks Benedict XVI will travel to Germany.
If on that occasion, something important is not
said with regards to the four-year dialogue process of the Church in
Germany, the reaction of Catholic reformers will be tough.
But
even if a position is taken, with respect to the requests made by the
reformists, that reaffirms the traditional Catholic doctrine, people’s
anger will be focused on the Pope himself.
Never before has Benedict
XVI found himself taking a trip with the prospect of having to use all
the talent of internal diplomacy.
The journey that awaits him could be a
mission impossible.