Warsaw, Poland, Feb 22, 2022 / 02:00 am (CNA).
The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference expressed “fraternal concern” about the direction of the “Synodal Way” on Tuesday in a strongly worded letter to his German counterpart.
In the almost 3,000-word letter published on Feb. 22 on the Polish bishops’ website, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki questioned whether the initiative bringing together Germany’s bishops and laypeople was rooted in the Gospel.
“The Catholic Church in Germany is important on the map of Europe and I am aware that it will either radiate its faith or its unbelief to the entire continent,” he wrote to Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference.
“That is why I look at the actions of the German ‘Synodal Way’ so far with concern. Observing its fruits, one can get the impression that the basis for reflection is not always the Gospel.”
Gądecki’s intervention is likely to intensify the debate about the Synodal Way, a multi-year process addressing the way power is exercised in the Church, sexual morality, the priesthood, and the role of women in the wake of a devastating clerical abuse crisis in Germany.
At a meeting earlier this month, participants voted in favor of draft texts calling for married priests in the Latin Church, the ordination of women priests, same-sex blessings, and changes to Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
In his letter, Gądecki addressed the votes and appealed to Bätzing to resist pressure to seek to bring Church teaching in line with public opinion.
“Faithful to the teachings of the Church, we should not yield to the pressures of the world or to the patterns of the dominant culture, since this can lead to moral and spiritual corruption,” he wrote.
“Let us avoid repeating worn-out slogans and standard demands such as: the abolition of celibacy, priesthood for women, Communion for the divorced, or blessing of same-sex unions.”
More to follow
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As a needed modification to my comment there are homosexuals, perhaps better described as those with same sex attraction who fight the good fight. Dag Hammarskjöld former UN secretary general was one such man who also had extremely high values. An example of modesty, and simply said good.
At least Archbishop Gądecki is doing something [might we envision a subtle appeal to our Roman Pontiff?]. Although, it appears the German SynodalWay is a not too well disguised tableau for the Great World Synod.
As Papal Posse rough riders mused recently with all the outrageous antiChrist SynodalWay proposals that make Gądecki [as well as Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki might well ask the Posse] aghast, if the Great Synod achieves just one, such as normalizing adult homosexual relations it [that is the Great Synod drivers Cardinals Hollerich, Grech, presumably behind the curtain His Holiness Francis] they’ve won their initial gambit toward progressivism.