Cardinal Reinhard Marx / Wolfgang Roucka / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
The Catholic Church is experiencing a special momentum in church history under the leadership of Pope Francis, says Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich.
And in an interview with the Bavarian daily Münchner Merkur, the 64-year-old cardinal said he’s doing everything he can to support the pope while encouraging all the faithful to do likewise.
Marx, speaking with the paper on the tenth anniversary of his appointment as Archbishop of Munich (November 30, 2007), said he sees a new readiness to focus on the Christian faith. He said this is partly because of heightened discussion today about other religions, Islam, and secularization. But he noted that it’s also due to the rise of religious fanaticism, nationalism and so-called populism.
“When we ask ourselves what our faith means to us, that is a challenge,” the cardinal said.
“Christianity is the existential basis of my hope, of my life’s horizon. I am convinced that the time is now right to address this subject. Christianity must not be allowed to become a mere cultural phenomenon,” he emphasized.
Cardinal Marx is one of Pope Francis’ most senior aides, being one of only nine people in the pope’s privy-council of cardinal advisors (C9) and serving as coordinator of the Council for the Economy.
But his duties in Rome have not detracted from his efforts to reshape his diocese back in Bavaria. In March he announced plans to allow lay people to lead parishes, saying a prototype would be tried out in each region.
“We do not want to proceed by a kind of brainstorming Metaplan technique,” he said in his new interview with the Münchner Merkur.
“I want to drive by sight, proceed step by step and also experiment. The whole project must be well prepared as we are entering unchartered territory,” the cardinal explained.
“We will be learning by doing, as it were. We will have to consider what relationship the leadership team will have with the dean and what roles the auxiliary bishop and the priest will play."
Marx again pointed out that the priest would not have the leading role and would not oversee everything in these newly formatted parishes.
“He will, of course, celebrate the Eucharist and proclaim the Word of God, but I am convinced that an authoritarian style of leadership – according to the motto: one person must call the shots and the others click their heels and obey – is no longer called for. Modern leadership consists of pooling people’s talents and not getting them to carry out one’s own ideas,” he insisted.
The cardinal said it’s absolutely essential to make parishes more alive, but said this means the Church has to bring its language up to date.
“People increasingly find it difficult to understand what we are proclaiming and do not even understand our sermons,” he said.
“I do not fear for the future of the faith and the Gospel Message, as it is a very powerful message indeed. But we must try and find new ways of reaching people,” he stressed.
The interviewer also asked Cardinal Marx if he thought Christians could be members of the “Alternative for Germany” (AfD), a right-wing political party that rejects the Church’s stance on refugees and immigrants.
He said everyone is responsible for his or her political decisions, but added: “For Catholics, however, the yardstick is Catholic social teaching and the Gospel teaching. Difficulties will arise when minorities or foreigners are discriminated against, hate speech is used or exaggerated nationalism propagated.”
Then he concluded by saying, “Catholics should be aware of that. For me as a bishop Catholic social teaching is obligatory and part of my mandate.”