Posted on 08/07/2026 3:26:16 PM PDT by ebb tide
A German bishop has accused the Catholic Church of failing “queer people” by allowing “prejudice, mistrust,” and “rejection,” calling on the Church to “repent.”
On August 2, Bishop Ludger Schepers, auxiliary bishop of Essen and the “Queer Commissioner of the German Bishops’ Conference,” made the criticism in a public statement published by German news outlet Kirche+Leben, one week after the attack on Berlin’s pro-LGBT Christopher Street Day event. Schepers said the incident required the Church to examine whether Catholic parishes are places “queer” people can “live, believe, and experience community without fear.”
READ: Catholic priest rebuked after urging ‘Reconquista’ of Morocco amid Ceuta migrant invasion
“We have to admit self-critically: the Church has not always been a safe place for queer people,” Schepers said in the interview. “As the Queer Commissioner of the German Bishops’ Conference, I am particularly concerned with one question: are our congregations really the safe places for queer people to which the Gospel obliges us?”
Schepers said that, “too often, individual biblical passages have been detached from their historical context and used against people.” According to the bishop, when the “Gospel of liberation” becomes an “instrument of exclusion,” the “Church contradicts its own mission.”
“This contradiction must not persist. It calls us to repentance,” Schepers continued.
The bishop grounded his argument in the ministry of Jesus Christ, whom he described as someone who “did not exclude people, but lifted them up in their dignity” and “created a community where others drew boundaries.” He characterized the Gospel as a message of “freedom, reconciliation and God’s unconditional love.”
From that premise, Schepers concluded that Catholic parishes should become places of “refuge – a place where queer people find protection, genuine acceptance, and a spiritual home.” He rejected the idea that creating such “safe spaces” would merely represent “a passing fad” or a “concession to the zeitgeist,” but that the Church must provide them as a “direct consequence of the Gospel.”
The auxiliary bishop of Essen extended his criticism beyond Germany, saying that, in parts of the worldwide Church, “we are witnessing that queer people are not only subjected to social exclusion, but that this attitude is also reinforced by voices within the Church. This is particularly true where homophobia is deeply rooted in cultural and political contexts.”
According to Schepers, “the Church must never allow itself to be shaped by cultural homophobia, but solely by the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
The bishop also said that expressions of “mere solidarity is not enough.” He called for practical changes in parish life, including “a language that respects instead of hurting,” “communities that open doors instead of erecting barriers,” and “pastoral care that offers protective support instead of prematurely judging people.”
“The question, therefore, should not be whether our congregations should be safe spaces for queer people,” he said, “but rather how we can live up to this claim more credibly each day.”
READ: Bishop Schneider: ‘We have to be 100% Catholic, not 50%, or 80%’
While Schepers linked his criticism of a supposed “cultural homophobia” within the Church to the Christopher Street Day attack in Berlin, the violence was carried out by a 21-year-old immigrant, Abdul Ballout, who was linked to Berlin’s Islamist circles. German authorities later described the incident as an attack of Islamic and “queerphobic” motivation.
During a public commemoration for the victims at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin singer and LGBT activist Nyya said she had hoped until the very end that the perpetrator would turn out to be “a Christian white person, but it wasn’t.”
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A German bishop has accused the Catholic Church of failing “queer people” by allowing “prejudice, mistrust,” and “rejection,” calling on the Church to “repent.” The Catholic Church to repent, a joke right Ebb?
Love the sinner, hate the sin, not a tough equation, yet some can’t grasp the math.
BTW autocorrect here is repeatedly sneakily changing sinner to dinner.
It’s still okay to hate the dinner.
Refuge from what?
Love the sinner, hate the sin, not a tough equation, yet some can’t grasp the math.
Identifying with sin is bad, bad juju.
The homosexual predator priests did that.
No matter who you are, you aren't more compassionate than Jesus or the teachings of his Church. If you think you are, then you might be the problem.
A lot of priests and bishops could learn from this.
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