Appeal to the Synodal Committee
“Continue the Synodal Process in Germany with courage!”
Appeal by Catholic reform forces before the meeting of the Synodal Committee in Mainz
June 11, 2024
"The Synodal Process in Germany must be continued courageously!" demand more than twelve Catholic associations, reform initiatives and affected groups before the upcoming meeting of the Synodal Committee on June 14-15, 2024 in Mainz. They remind us once again that the German bishops invited the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) to participate in the Synodal Path with equal responsibility after the publication of the MHG study - the abuse study commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference (DBK). This must not be delayed or watered down by ever new instructions from Rome or compromises demanded by the bishops.
Relevance of the Catholic Day
The 103rd German Catholic Congress in Erfurt has shown that the church can still be relevant today. However, it is essential that the bishops, together with the ZdK, remove the self-inflicted obstacles caused by the decades-long backlog of reforms and the abuse crisis that has still not been dealt with in all dioceses.
Erfurt was an important place to feel connected and also to recognize what the people of Germany would miss if the Roman Catholic Church continued to lose credibility. That is why all attention and effort is now needed to really anchor the synodality advocated by Pope Francis. The problematic church structures that have led to abuse and loss of trust must be permanently corrected.
In the struggle for the future of the Church, pastoral and structural questions should no longer be played off against each other. As important as the basic line of evangelization laid down by Pope Francis is, a real examination of sexual and spiritual violence is an essential element of evangelization! The Gospel takes the side of the disenfranchised, the abused and the wounded. Without this perspective, every attempt at evangelization will come to nothing.
Synodal path in Germany is not a special path
The World Synod convened by Pope Francis in 2020 and the General Assembly in October 2023 in Rome, which will continue this October, have shown that the Synodal Path in Germany was not a special path, but rather did important preparatory work for the World Synod. This was recognized by participants from all over the world and we are also experiencing this within our international network . Because the crimes and scandals that led to this Synodal Path are becoming apparent in more and more local churches around the world.
It is necessary to combat the systemic causes of abuse and cover-ups that have led the church worldwide into a credibility crisis. It is also about making the Catholic Church fit for the future in the respective cultures. Synodal action is not an end in itself, but aims at a new, changed future for the church. An important criterion for synodality is that the process should be open to all outcomes.
Strengthening national bishops’ conferences
A key question for the future will be what role the bishops and the representatives of the church people will play in the Catholic Church. Real participation means not only advising, but also having a say! Pope Francis' encouragement to be a prophetic church should be taken up in this regard in particular.
The 40-page synthesis report of the synod assembly in Rome in October 2023 , which was approved by a large majority on all points, deals intensively with co-responsibility bodies that must be designed to be functional at the legal level. Bishops' conferences should also be able to decide on doctrinal issues in committees together with non-ordained men and women (cf. 12, 18 and 19g synthesis report). Non-binary people, who unfortunately do not yet appear in the thinking and language of the Vatican, should also be included in this process.
The German bishops should make bold use of this regulation of the World Synod and already now exhaust the possibilities open to them under canon law. These include, for example, the transfer of parish leadership to lay people, the permission to baptize, the transfer of the preaching office to lay people, especially women and other non-male persons, and the use of dispensed priests, mostly those who have been discharged from service because of celibacy, in pastoral care (Resolution of the Synodal Path: The Celibacy of Priests, Votum 7).
In addition, we must work today to ensure that these points are deepened, made more concrete and formally adopted at the 2024 General Assembly of the World Synod. This requires the continuation of the synodal process in Germany, but also international networking, especially in Europe.
Vatican must show willingness to engage in dialogue
After the irritating letter from three cardinals from Rome immediately before the DBK's spring plenary assembly in February 2024 in Augsburg, in which the bishops were asked not to vote on the statutes and rules of procedure of the Synodal Committee, a confidential discussion between six German bishops took place in the Vatican on March 22, 2024, which is to be followed by further meetings on individual topics. From the point of view of the Catholic associations, reform initiatives and affected groups, however, these discussions should not only take place with bishops, but finally also with the entire presidium of the Synodal Committee and other experts.
The Vatican should also finally value academic theology at German universities, because constant exchange with other sciences is necessary in order to be able to proclaim the Gospel even under the conditions of the 21st century.
Background to the Synodal Committee
The Synodal Committee nominally includes the 27 local bishops, 27 representatives of the ZdK from the Synodal Assembly and a further 20 members elected by the General Assembly of the Synodal Path. A minority of bishops have decided not to participate any further in the synodal process in Germany. In doing so, they are causing great damage to the dioceses for which they are responsible and to the entire Catholic Church in Germany.
Press contacts of the signatory organisations
Rottenburg Action Group (AGR) www.aktionsgemeinschaft-rottenburg.de
Klaus Kempter, Tel: 01715497541, E-Mail:
Frauenwürde eV www.frauenwuerde.de Annegret Laakmann, Tel. 02364-5588, E-Mail:
Community initiative www.gemeindeinitiative.org Paul Ulbrich, , Tel: +49 15788455612, E-Mail:
Initiative Sauerteig, Garching adAlz www.initiative-sauerteig-garching.de
Rosi Mittermeier, Tel: 0179 4691820, E-Mail:
Catholic Women's Association of Germany (kfd) www.kfd.de Barbara Stöckmann, Tel.: 0211 44992-25, E-Mail:
Catholic German Women's Association (KDFB) www.frauenbund.de Hannah Ratermann, Tel. 0221 860 92 35, E-Mail:
Catholic LGBT+ Committee www.katholisch-lsbt.de Markus Gutfleisch, Tel. +49 151 112 63 998, E-Mail:
Church People's Movement We are Church www.wir-sind-kirche.de Christian Weisner, Tel. 0172 5 18 40 82, E-Mail:
Maria 2.0 www.maria2.0deutschland.de
Altfrid Norpoth, Tel: 0151 4183 6774, E-Mail:
Ecumenical Working Group Homosexuals and Church (HuK) eV www.huk.org
Thomas Pöschl, Tel.0163-7753581, E-Mail:
Offen.katholisch
Clemens Kannegießer, Tel: 0174 8673609, E-Mail:
OutInChurch eV www.outinchurch.de Rainer Teuber, E-Mail:
Priest in Dialogue
Dr. Edgar Büttner, www.dr-buettner.com , Tel: 0170 2928327, E-Mail:
Association of Catholic Priests and their Wives www.vkpf.de
Dr. Hans-Witter, Tel: 01719967397, E-Mail:
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