Fraternal letters of correction are rarely received in quite the brotherly spirit that is intended. So it proves with the letter sent last month to the German bishops by 70 bishops worldwide, many from Africa and North America. In it they expressed concerns about the German Synodal Pathway, a consultation with the laity which has taken issue with various aspects of Church teaching; it recommends an end to compulsory priestly celibacy, the ordination of women and blessings of same-sex unions. The bishops condemn the German process for “failing to listen to the Holy Spirit and the Gospels” and relying more on “sociological analysis and contemporary political, including gender, ideologies, than scripture and tradition”.
The head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, has responded robustly, reminding critics that the reason for the Synodal Way was to confront the underlying causes of sexual abuse in the Church. It is, says Bishop Bätzing, “our attempt to renew a credible proclamation of the Good News.”
Certainly, the decades-long abuse crisis has undermined the credibility of the Church. Equally certainly, it is a consequence of the abuse of power. But creating a Church that holds its leaders to account, and fostering an open culture, do not mean rejecting the Church’s fundamental teaching on sexual ethics as the Synodal Pathway seems to suggest.
The Nordic bishops also declared that “the orientation, method and content of the Synodal Path of the church in Germany fill us with worry”. And they are right. The problem with the synodal process is that it can become dominated by groups with particular agendas. The challenge within the Catholic Church has always been to combine the local and the universal, the concerns of the present and the living tradition of the Church. The German Synodal Pathway reflects the mood of the time in Germany rather than the fundamentals of Church teaching and the consensus of the global church. That serves no one well.
