“Corona experience push”

Limburg Catholic Bishop and Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Batzing, is pushing for reforms in the Catholic Church. Change is a challenge; the Corona crisis also offers experience.

In an interview with the magazine "Publik-Forum" (Friday), he said with regard to the reform dialogue Synodaler Weg, which the church started in Frankfurt at the beginning of 2020: "There, Catholics, who represent a cross-section of our church, have begun to ascertain among themselves what is to be called Catholic today. When it comes to this, I am completely on the side of the visionaries."

He described the question of women as central to this reform process.

Reform of the Catholic Church

Batzing emphasized: "We bishops have decided on the Synodal Way and are going along with it. In the end, in the spirit of the resolutions, there will be coalitions that set change."

This includes, for example, the admission of Christians of other denominations to the celebration of the Eucharist on the basis of their decision of conscience. "Christians can decide with good arguments and according to their own conscience to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper of the respective other denomination," Batzing said. "Because in the meantime there is so much agreement in the meaning of what we believe and celebrate," he added.

Ordination ministries for women?

On the question of whether women could also hold ordained offices in the Catholic Church, Batzing said: "Several popes have emphasized that the question of the access of women to the priesthood is a closed question. Pope Francis is no exception."

In his opinion, however, the question of the ordination of women should continue to be discussed. "Because the question is there, in the midst of the church! In the people of God the arguments for the 'No' to women's ordination are often no longer accepted." He was "very much in favor of transporting the insights and resolutions that we are gathering on the Synodal Way – also with regard to women and ministry – to Rome, to the level of the universal Church."

Deep gulf between lived reality and church doctrine

Batzing went on to say that quite a few people suffer from the fact "that their relationship does not receive full ecclesial recognition, for example because they are remarried divorcees or live in a same-sex partnership". They waited for signs from the church. On questions of human sexuality and partnership, he said, there has been for decades "a deep chasm between the lived realities and the teaching of the church".

The proclaimed church message arrives with many humans only as prohibition moral. "I hope we will further develop certain formulations as they reflect the current state of doctrine in the Catechism," Batzing said.

Reform initiatives like Mary 2.0 and "We are Church" are "part of the church," according to Batzing. He added, "These are our people!"

Worship services: Interest and feedback

In Batzing's estimation, attention to the quality of worship has rarely been as high as during the Corona crisis.

"I often face fellow worshipers in streaming these weeks, in a way I don't know from ordinary life. People report back directly what appeals to them and what doesn't. We do not know that otherwise!" He feels that this is a challenge to change.

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Christina Cherry
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