US Army Silences Military Catholic Archbishop On Contraception Mandate

It depends on how you define "passive."

Bonhoeffer outwardly complied with the restrictions placed on his ministry - he stopped publishing and speaking publicly. He also worked for the Abwehr - the German military intelligence bureau - until he was imprisoned.

His resistance was conducted secretly and he was imprisoned and martyred because he was caught - not because he openly challenged authority. I am not saying this to denigrate him - he was a truly great man. I am pointing out that his own works explain why this was the mode of resisatnce he ultimately chose.

Bonhoeffer's Confessing Church never openly condemned the regime either - they simply stated in their Barmen Declaration that the church cannot look to the state to decide its doctrine.

The Catholic Church did much as the Confessing Church did, but on a larger scale. Also, the White Rose movement, which was openly defiant of the regime, was majority Catholic (but it did include St. Alexander Schmorell, who was Orthodox and also Lutherans). The lesser known Grey Order was also Catholic.

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