“Eucharist cannot be an instrument of protest”

Bode told the Catholic News Agency (KNA) in Osnabruck on Friday. "It could be made clear in other ways that the absence of women would also hit the celebration of the Eucharist hard."Such actions endangered a "differentiated, objective discussion," said Bode, who is chairman of the Bishops' Conference's sub-commission "Women in Church and Society".

Understanding for the displeasure

At the same time the bishop showed understanding for the displeasure of the women. "There will be divisions if well-founded demands for reform are not taken seriously and we do not also come to new answers in the changes in the world."

He ames "that the door regarding the diaconate is still open after the pope's statements," Bode said. "But the other questions about access to all ecclesial offices will not fall silent and will continue to challenge us dogmatically."

Demands of the initiative "Maria 2.0" include women's access to all church offices, a consistent investigation of abuse cases and a sexual morality that takes into account the lifeworld of people. Church strike began last Saturday and is expected to end this weekend.

An initiative of five women from Munster had developed into a nationwide wave of protest. It is estimated that several hundred initiatives are taking part in the "grassroots action," according to co-initiator Lisa Kotter of Munster, Germany.

Archbishop Koch: it's about women "for the credibility of the Church"

Berlin Archbishop Koch also has sympathy for the protests of women in the "Maria 2" movement.0" expressed. "I take these women very seriously with what they want to bring," Koch said in an interview with rbb published online Friday. It was important to him to emphasize that their concern was not a "women's ie," Koch said.

It is not simply a matter of women freeing rights, but of "the credibility of the Church and the enrichment of the Church also by women," Koch said. On Thursday evening, after a call from the movement "Mary 2.0" on the Bebelplatz before the doors of the citizens of Berlin Saint Hedwigskathedrale a service celebrated. This should "show that women are still excluded from all offices and thus from many church decision-making processes," according to the initiative.

Schavan and Dreyer support action

Support for the action expressed the former German ambassador to the Holy See in Rome, Annette Schavan. "I see this action as an opportunity in very difficult times to finally take each other seriously in dialogue," the former federal education minister told the "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Friday).

At the same time, the former CDU politician warned the church against closing itself off to the discussion. "In the next generation, women will not even go on strike," Schavan says. "They just stay away."At some point every thread of patience snaps.

Rhineland-Palatinate's Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) also supports the initiative. "From my point of view, this action is a public outcry: things cannot continue like this!", she told the "Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger" (Friday). The initiators are "not radical women on the fringes" but come "from the middle of the communities," emphasized the deputy SPD chairwoman, who is also a member of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

Dreyer countered the criticism, also voiced by bishops, that church services were being boycotted. "Here, there is no strike against the service of God. On the contrary, the women of 'Maria 2.0' stand in front of the church doors, pray, sing and celebrate and thus show: We are Catholics and want to remain so."The equal participation of women in ministries and offices – including ordination – will determine "whether the Catholic Church can continue to win people for the Gospel in the future," Dreyer continued.

Women's association kfd: Protests of "Maria 2.0" not a flash in the pan

Meanwhile, the Catholic Women's Association of Germany (kfd) draws to a close the week of strikes "Maria 2.0" in the Catholic Church a positive result. Hundreds of kfd groups nationwide had supported the initiative, many with their own actions in their parishes, explained the federal chairwoman Mechthild Heil on Friday in Dusseldorf. "This wave of protest is not a flash in the pan."

"The women have spontaneously decided that this is an appropriate form to express their frustration, which has lasted for years," Heil said. She now sees the chance that something really changes. At the same time, Heil warned, "If we don't have visible and tangible changes soon, the official church runs the risk that women will turn their backs on it in droves."

The kfd, together with other associations and theological research, will continue to persistently pursue the urgent questions, she added. The ies addressed have preoccupied the women for decades.

"The measure is full, that is clearly visible in the wave of nationwide indignation – not only from women," Heil continued. "The bishops must finally recognize that it is a matter of participation in decisions and responsibility for women and men, for consecrated and non-consecrated people. It is not enough to acknowledge that women are indispensable."

Heil nevertheless places hope in the so-called synodal way, which the German Bishops' Conference decided on at its spring plenary meeting in March. "This is and now remains an opportunity for everyone to finally engage in the long-needed dialogue at eye level."