Posted on 04/26/2015 9:02:13 AM PDT by ebb tide
The German laity confirm their desire for evolution in the Church: according to a document made available on the Episcopal Conference site, the answers to the questionnaire between the Synods show that the Catholics of Germany are expecting major openings from the Synod on the Family. Mainly on the thorniest issues: “they are asking for the admittance of the divorced and remarried to the Eucharist, a “development” of moral doctrine for the pastoral acceptance of homosexual people and a form of “church blessing for second civil-marriages.”
Are these requests an expression of serious discernment or, do they show a watered-down, Catholicism, about-to-be-defeated? It is a legitimate question, especially in the light of what is emerging from another survey reported last Thursday. Again on the Episcopal Conference site, there was data as well, on the results of another analysis conducted on 8,000 “pastoral workers” from all over Germany. The examples, made up of 48% of the priests, 22% of “expert parish-collaborators”, 18% of “pastoral assistants” and 12% of deacons, had to give information on the satisfaction-level regarding their life and “work.” The survey, directed by some academics from important study centers, obtained results that perhaps help us to interpret the answers to the Synod questionnaire.
Of the Catholic priests in Germany, only one out of two would be disposed to choosing the celibate life again, a quarter no longer would like to live a celibate life and a quarter declare themselves candidly, “undecided”. Not a few priests speak of the problem which comes from “affective loneliness” in not having a long-term relationship with another person. According to what is reported, the Tagesspiegel inquiry shows that some priests admit [they have] “an immature relationship with their sexuality, or with their sexual orientation.”
The collection of data was carried out between 2012 and 2014 and had very wide results. The study can be purchased online, but an extensive report is available on the [news] site [of the Cologne Archdiocese] domradio.de. Generally speaking, the pastoral workers are in line with the level of life-satisfaction shown also in other social categories, but, at the same time, they show problems of the stress and discomfort which are typical to our times. There is, however, some data, which, apart from every other consideration, gives pause for reflection on the “faith life” of German Catholic communities. A kind of worldliness seems to have taken hold over priests, seeing that 54% of them declare that they go to Confession just once a year (or even less frequently) and is the same for 70% of the deacons. The percentage reaches vertiginous heights with regard to “pastoral assistants”. Only 58% of priests say that they “pray every day or a number of times a day.
To this data we may add that of another survey on German Catholicism of a few months ago, this time by the Allensbach Institute. To the question, “Why are you Catholic?” , 68% of Germans responded saying “Because it allows us to celebrate the important events of life”, and then, immediately after, because “it’s a family tradition”. 60% of the faithful say they don’t believe in life after death, and only a third believe in the Resurrection of Christ. One German in four, however, thinks that if a black cat crosses their path, it brings bad luck. Without going into the numbers, we must remember, however, that the German Church statistics for decades have indicated a continuous drop in data referring to the number of priests and the number of participants at Sunday Mass.
This deposit of data, even if in the nature of a summary, is quite indicative of the Catholic Church’s health in Germany. We remember Cardinal Marx’s words when he stated, that the German bishops would have exercised autonomous pastoral decisions on the Synod’s themes, independent of its results, as the German Church - said the Cardinal - was not a mere “subsidiary” of the Roman Church. Without going into questions regarding the relationship between the Vatican and Episcopal Conferences, the doubt persists however, whether these requests are motivated by authentic discernment or by a worldly desire to save what is salvageable.
And what is your point? All of Europe has lost its faith. My English friends proudly show me their gorgeous old churches and then brag how no one believes in that junk anymore. And, of course, those churches are Catholic churches transformed by Hank 8 into Protestant churches.
It’s happening here as well.
My point is that Pope Francis has chosen Cardinal Marx to be a select member of his Gang ‘o Nine. Cardinal Maradiaga, another gang member, is also in favor of Holy Communion for unrepentant adulterers.
Francis is stacking the deck; and he’s stacking it deep.
Yet I know personally European people who as adults have converted to Catholicism. One -- I have to write to him today! --- is a retired academic medical ethicist in his 70's, whose conversion to Catholicism was related to his conversion to a pro-life ethic in the midst of a social and academic milieu that was, and is, almost 100% sucked into the Culture of Death.
The Holy Spirit continues to enlighten souls.
I will be quite content if pert-near the whole German hierarchy apostatizes, which they have done in fact but have not yet formalized. I favor their formal apostasy because I think it makes their re-conversion to Christ more possible: they have to realize they're "out" before they realize they have a desire to be "in." In the Grace of God, that is.
Maybe the upcoming Synod n the Family will accomplish this. Kasper sees this coming. He knows his cabal will not control the Synod: that's why he's saying the Germans will do what's right in their own eyes. (If the Synod were expected to go Kasper's way, he'd be trumpeting that its recommendations will be binding!)
There are a few good German bishops, but most of them seem a wealthy, arrogant, faithless sick lot.
I only wish I had your knowledge of what is going on in today's world of the Catholic Church. I only know what I read in the papers about the state of Christianity in Europe - while hordes of Muslims invade...
I’m a Roman Catholic. Are you on drugs?
No, I made a mistake. One doesn’t have to be on drugs to make a mistake.
But one could be prideful for not apologizing for a false accusation.
Of course, I apologize. I’m sorry for my mispost (if that’s a word) and I’m sorry for not originally apologizing. Now will you apologize for accusing me of doing drugs? I don’t like drugs.
Unfortunately, the Germans are hardly outliers. And even if their "progressive" views were unique among the hierarchy, it would hardly matter, since their "serene" theology is so admired by Pope Francis. The buck stops with him, after all.
I had at one time half-promised myself that I would do as much praying as posting, and I have not done it. Sloth is an ongoing vice of mine. I do want to go out RIGHT NOW and walk before it gets dark, and pray for the many things and people I need to pray for.
I seem to be able to do a Rosary or a Chaplet of Divine Mercy only when walking. Otherwise I get too distracted. (another ongoing vice.) But the walking is really good. It disposes me to breathe deeper, think kindlier, and generally be a *tad* less scroungy as a human being.
Very glad that I am walking and breathing air on my own again. God is good, y'know?
And out the door I go!
With that belief, one could say the same about Pope Francis. After all, he's the one giving the Germans carte blanche without any reprimands.
You speak of Kasper and Marx as Francis' way of "stacking the deck," for changing the Church's divorce/remarriage/communion doctrine, but the very guy he put in charge of the CDF (doctrine office), Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, has made it very clear that the Catholic Church cannot possibly change these doctrines.
Cardinal Mueller's still head of CDF, right? And he's top doctrine guy at the Vatican by Francis' choice, right?
So, my best guess (as you know) is that Pope Francis is going to reaffirm Catholic doctrine --- while depriving Marx, Kasper and their clique of any opportunity to whine that they were "silenced" or "not listened to."
Am I sure my analysis is correct? "Sure" is a hard word to use. But I think I have reason to stick by it.
So, wait and see. Or, better: watch and pray.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Long rope and a low limb. We’ve been through this before.
Pray.
Correct, so far. But please remember that Pope Benedict, not Francis, put Mueller in that position.
And Cardinals O'Malley, Marx and Maradiaga are still in the current pope's Gang 'o Nine, right? And Cardinal Burke has been removed from his position in the Congregation for Bishops and also his position as Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, right?
Absolutely. Thanks.
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