The German Bishops' Conference met in Mainz to elect a new chairman. Catholic women intervene to express their call for more say in the Church.
Mainz (dpa) - Catholic women protested against inequality in the church with a white scarf at the opening service for the spring assembly of the German Bishops' Conference.
While the clergymen from the 27 dioceses in Germany moved through the Romanesque walls of the Mainz cathedral in their regalia on Monday, the critical Catholics followed the call of the Maria 2.0 movement to express their call for a "gender-fair church" in this way.
The outgoing chairman of the Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx from Munich, said in his sermon that the Church on the Move had to leave behind some things that were past and were not sustainable. Here he was interrupted by the women in scarves with applause. The church must not be afraid of the secular age, but Marx urged the bishops to draw answers from the gospel.
The cardinal had previously received more than 130,000 signatures demanding equality in the church, together with the President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg. Both belong to the Presidium of the Synodal Way - this reform process on future issues of the Catholic Church in Germany was started a month ago.
"You can assume that I will do my utmost to ensure that this topic is not cleared aside", Marx promised the Federal President of the Catholic Women's Community of Germany (kfd), Mechthild Heil, and Birgit Mock from the Catholic German Women's Association (KDFB). "It is not the consecration of women that has to be justified, but their exclusion," said Sternberg, adopting one of the Osnabrück theses on women in church office in 2017. "Something has to be done and therefore I thank you for your protest."
"What we don't want is a clear role assignment: women are there to serve and men to power," said Heil. "Women are ready to take on serving roles. We also call for power to be taken over in our church." The official church would not be able to tackle the majority of Catholics either. "We are not the ones who want to split the church, we are the core of the church." This must also be made clear to the Vatican.
Surprisingly, Marx had announced that he would not be running again at the head of the Bishops' Conference. In the secret election scheduled for Tuesday, each of the 68 participants can write a name on the ballot. A two-thirds majority is required in the first two ballots, an absolute majority is sufficient from the third ballot. Chances for a successor to Marx are given to the Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch, the Hildesheim Bishop Heiner Wilmer, the Limburg Georg Bätzing and the hosting Mainz Bishop Peter Kohlgraf.
In a joint press conference with the grassroots movement "We Are Church", initiatives by victims of sexual violence in the church demanded comprehensive compensation for the victims. "It's not about recognition, it's about compensation for the damage done in the lives of thousands of people," said Matthias Katsch from the organization "Eckiger Tisch". If nothing continues to happen, the question of civil disobedience arises. "We have so far refrained from disrupting services - that would be an option." He hoped that after intensive discussions with experts, the general assembly would point out key points for a compensation solution, said Marx.
The European community called on Marx to assume its responsibility for Syrian refugees. It was not acceptable to be able to stay out of sight of the people fleeing from Syria to Europe via Turkey, "said Marx." We are on board and Europe has to find an answer. "Because it is about war and refugees legal liabilities that could not simply be pushed aside.