Posted on 04/22/2009 9:56:12 AM PDT by NYer
FREIBURG, Germany April 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to the chairman of the Catholic bishops' conference of Germany, the death of Jesus Christ was not a redemptive act of God to liberate human beings from the bondage of sin and open the gates of heaven. The Archbishop of Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, known for his liberal views, publicly denied the fundamental Christian dogma of the sacrificial nature of Christ's death in a recent interview with a German television station.
Zollitsch said that Christ "did not die for the sins of the people as if God had provided a sacrificial offering, like a scapegoat."
Instead, Jesus had offered only "solidarity" with the poor and suffering. Zollitsch said "that is this great perspective, this tremendous solidarity."
The interviewer asked, "You would now no longer describe it in such a way that God gave his own son, because we humans were so sinful? You would no longer describe it like this?"
Monsignor Zollitsch responded, "No."
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch was appointed to the See of Freiburg im Breisgau in 2003 under Pope John Paul II. He is he sitting Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference, to which he was elected in 2008 and is regarded as a "liberal" in the German episcopate.
In February 2008 he said that priestly celibacy should be voluntary and that it is not "theologically necessary." Zollitsch has also said he accepts homosexual civil unions by states, but is against same-sex "marriage."
He told Meinhard Schmidt-Degenhard, the program's host, that God gave "his own son in solidarity with us unto this last death agony to show: 'So much are you worth to me, I go with you, and I am totally with you in every situation'."
"He has become involved with me out of solidarity - from free will."
Christ, he said, had "taken up what I have been blamed for, including the evil that I have caused, and also to take it back into the world of God and hence to show me the way out of sin, guilt and from death to life."
However, Article 613 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the definitive work issued by the Church explaining the dogmas and doctrines of the Catholic religion, describes the death of Christ as "both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world', the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the 'blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'."
The Catechism continues, "This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience."
To express concerns:
Congregation for Bishops
Giovanni Battista Re, Cardinal, Prefect
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
00193 Roma,
Piazza Pio XII, 10
Phone: 06.69.88.42.17
Fax: 06.69.88.53.03
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
William Joseph Levada, Cardinal, Prefect
Piazza del S. Uffizio,
11, 00193
Roma, Italy
Phone: 06.69.88.33.57; 06.69.88.34.13
Fax: 06.69.88.34.09
Catholic Caucus
thread?
It’s in post number two, and in the title.
And this sort of thread is one of the reasons we have the caucus/ecumenical/open system.
The issue at hand is whether or not this character is preaching the Catholic faith (as is his job) ... or something else. And if not, what if anything should be done about it.
Sounds good to me!
John 3:16
Are YOU Catholic? (ducking...)
LOL! Obviously, that is privileged information.
The Calvinist posts have also been removed.
This
Zollitsch has also said he accepts homosexual civil unions by states, but is against same-sex "marriage."
however, bodes ill.
I suspect an investigation is already underway and if found that his quotes are accurate, then they are a violation of Catholic teaching and he will be disciplined in short order.
Lack of righteous conformity to God’s stated word and authentic Church teachings is sufficient cause for his removal from the priesthood, and I would hope full excommunication would follow quickly.
I cannot see Pope Benedict XVI letting blatant heresy slide. From what I have seen of his Papacy, he is cleaning things up, not as fast as some would like, but methodically and correctly. JMO.
There are quite a few examples of Word and anti-Word developing. First, Notre Dame, then Georgetown, now this comes to the fore.
We may be seeing a development foretold.
This is outright heresy from this Archbishop.
This can only be heresy and needs to be nipped in the bud. We see where this sort of thinking has led the Episcopal Church and other protestant churches.
If you don't want Episcopals and Protestants to join this thread, then don't talk about us.
“Mr. Williamson is impossible and irresponsible,” Zollitsch, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, told the magazine in an article published Saturday. “I now see no room for him in the Catholic church.”
Interesting.
Clearly His Excellency is wrong on this point. However, he may be confused with the finer point that, “God, being infinitely powerful, is in no way intrinsically HARMED by any action of Man, therefore, in a technical sense, Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t to somehow ‘make up’ for something Man did to God, but rather to enable Man to once again come to God fully.”
That is, the sin sacrifice was necessary to restore MAN to his intended state (a state of full and complete friendship with God). It was not, nor could it ever be considered some kind of “repayment” to God, because again God being infinite in all respects cannot “loose” anything.
Just to clarify. I do believe the above is Catholic teaching.
That's not quite correct. Man cannot rob God of intrinsic glory, but man can rob of extrinsic glory. Christ made satisfaction for the sins of men; see here.
- A8
The smoke of the devil
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