WASHINGTON (CNS) – In an open letter, 74 bishops from North America, Africa, Italy and Australia have expressed their “growing concern” about the German Synodal Path process and content, warning about its “potential for schism”.
Joining recent letters of concern by the Nordic and Polish bishops, the “fraternal open letter to our brother bishops in Germany” said “the Synodal Path’s actions undermine the credibility of Church authority, including that of Pope Francis”.
“By its destructive example, it may lead some bishops, and will lead many otherwise faithful laypeople, to distrust the very idea of ‘synodality’, thus further impeding the Church’s necessary conversation about fulfilling the mission of converting and sanctifying the world,” the letter concluded.
Signatories included Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, South African Cardinal Wilfred Napier, Australian Cardinal George Pell, and US Cardinal Raymond Burke.
All told, 49 bishops from the US, four from Canada, 19 Africans, one Italian and one Australian signed the letter. The letter was made public on April 12 after having been sent to the German bishops on April 11.
The German bishops, responding to ongoing revelations of clerical sexual abuse and how bishops mismanaged such cases, see the Synodal Path process as addressing the exercise of power and authority in the Church; sexual morality; the priesthood; and the role of women.
The German bishops are keenly aware of the concerns of other conferences about the direction their Synodal Path is taking. Limburg Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, has admitted that there were highly divergent opinions on issues such as blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples or the ordination of women as deacons or priests. The German Catholic news agency KNA reported he pledged that the bishops would submit all the synodal reform decisions that can only be implemented at the universal Church level to the worldwide synodal process launched by Pope Francis in preparation for the 2023 Synod of Bishops on synodality.
The April 11 open letter to the Germans said that “events in one nation inevitably impact ecclesial life elsewhere”.
It raised seven criticisms, including “failing to listen to the Holy Spirit and the Gospel”, relying more on “sociological analysis and contemporary political, including gender, ideologies” than on Scripture and Tradition, and being too focused on “power” and “autonomy”.
“The Synodal Path process, at nearly every step, is the work of experts and committees,” the letter said, calling the process “bureaucracy-heavy, obsessively critical, and inward-looking.”
“In its effect, the Synodal Path displays more submission and obedience to the world and ideologies than to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour,” it said.
The letter signers expressed concern for “the confusion that the Synodal Path has already caused and continues to cause, and the potential for schism in the life of the Church that will inevitably result”.
In March, after a critical letter by the Polish bishops became public, Matteo Bruni, Vatican spokesman, told KNA Pope Francis had not changed his position since a June 2019 letter to Catholics in Germany.
In his 2019 letter, Pope Francis emphasised that taking a synodal path is a process that must be guided by the Holy Spirit with patience and not a “search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences”. Transformation “calls for pastoral conversion”, he said.
“Brothers and sisters, let us care for one another and be attentive to the temptation of the father of lies and division, the master of separation who, in pushing us to seek an apparent good or a response to a given situation, in fact ends up fragmenting the body of the holy and faithful people of God,” the Pope said.
He also warned against a temptation to use evangelisation as something that is adapted “to the spirit of the times”.
Concerns about divisions and responding to pressures of the times are some of the main issues cited by those European bishops who have voiced their concerns publicly.
In response to the letter by the Polish bishops, Bishop Bätzing rejected the accusation that the reform process in Germany was watering down Church doctrine and bowing to the spirit of the times.
“We do not walk the path of conversion and renewal lightly, and certainly not outside the universal Church,” the German bishop said. “Several times I had the opportunity to speak with Pope Francis about the Synodal Path.”
Bishop Bätzing said the German Church was doing exactly what Pope Francis asked of the nation’s Catholics in 2019, that is, embarking on a “spiritual journey in asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit”.
The public criticism of one bishops’ conference by others is highly unusual, but within Germany as well there has been debate about the Synodal Path process.
Photo: Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, celebrates Mass during the third Synodal Assembly in Frankfurt on February 4 (CNS Photo)
The basic problem not visible it seems
to Georg Batzing, German Bishop, or
to Reinhard Marx, German Cardinal is
the influence of Secular Humanism which
seeks to gain from this exercise.
The N.I.M.H or National Institute of
mental health U.S., marshaled all its forces on
an all out attack on existing health laws in
the U.S., to “legalise” homosexuality. The idea
behind this is that homosexuality should not
be “frowned upon”.
Not everyone is heterosexual, and not everyone
marries – many remain single.
But ONLY heterosexuals can biologically produce
children. ONLY heterosexuals can fall in love,
something which psychologists can show
easily-the anima/animus story.
The problem lies in throwing ones support
behind Secular Humanism, which is
an APOSTATE religion- this means priesthood
are in denial of their own religious ordination.
The problem compounds when the Catholic
Catechism is sought and changes suggested to
its moral base line. This means that it is
being white anted by those who SHOULD
support its preservation AS IT IS written.
This has ended up in division- the notion of
schism, which is precisely what the devil does
as one exorcist of some years has pointed out,
which results eventually in discouragement and
to loss of adherents to the faith.
70 long serving members of the clergy have
objected.
Secular Humanism would be very happy with
a “blessed” union which German clergy are
attempting to perform,and undeterred by any
threat Sodomy that ensued therefrom. Secular
Humanism is responsible also for millions of
unpunished abortions about the globe,
each year, and they do not give a hoot about
any Catholic Catechism either. This is a factor
that German clergy should be very careful about,
particularly as the EU is not pro-life, and actively
punished catholic Poland with a one million
euro per day fine for non -compliance with EU
guidelines; Poles were supportive of pro-life.
The insidious nature of S.H., is that it intrudes
deeply into the heart of the church, and herein
lies the danger.
Tough for the German clergy going from the
frying pan of priestly scandals into the fire
of an apostate religion, but that is the choice
they made when they too holy orders.
Raymond Burke U.S. Cardinal who survived
Covid 19, fortuitously, has openly
spoken about Pro-abortion Catholic
politicians who receive Communion
in ‘apostasy,’ automatically excommunicated.
Apostasy is a bad smell which lingers for a
long time. The entire US has as its state
religion Secular Humanism- a fact derived
from the changes to its own constitution,
deliberately, after which the national
observance of the crib evaporated, and bible
reading and prayer and bible reading would
not have been removed from public
institutions. The impact had been on the
eventual legalisation of abortion, euthanasia.
In short it is a slow buildup of a Neo-Pagan
society, which devout Catholic simply cannot
afford. That should be as plain as day to
the German bishops, who know full well how
the German birthrate has plummeted (1.6). They
would do justice to their church by helping,
not hindering build-up of catholic family, and
particularly by supporting preservation of the
catholic catechism.
What would an objective anthropologist make of the social action photographed above? What or who is at the center? The wisdom of ‘as you pray, is as you believe’ still stands.