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Women’s ordination, transgender ideology move forward at German Synodal Way

Jonathan Liedl   By Jonathan Liedl for CNA

March 11, 2023 Catholic News Agency The Dispatch 25 Print

Delegates at the fifth assembly of the German Synodal Way, meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 11, 2023, applaud after the he passage of a text calling for changes to the German Church's approach to gender identity. / Jonathan Liedl/National Catholic Register

Frankfurt, Germany, Mar 11, 2023 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Delegates of the German Synodal Way on Saturday overwhelmingly passed measures to change Church practices based on transgender ideology and to push the universal Church to ordain women to the sacramental diaconate.

The votes took place on the final day of the process’ concluding assembly, held in Frankfurt March 9-11. On previous days, delegates voted overwhelmingly to adopt same-sex blessings, normalize lay preaching, and ask Rome to “reexamine” the discipline of priestly celibacy.

While the Germans pushed forward with these controversial measures, the assembly held back from crossing a line laid down by the Vatican concerning the establishing synodal councils at the national, diocesan, and parochial levels. The Vatican has said the synodal council model, which involves shared governance between bishops and the laity, is not consistent with Catholic ecclesiology.

The synodal assembly decided to delay voting on the proposal. Instead, it will be considered by a newly established synodal committee over the next three years, while Synodal Way leadership attempts to change the minds of Vatican officials and garner more widespread approval in the universal Church.

At the concluding press conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, president of the bishops’ conference, said that the results give a mandate to the bishops to make some changes in Germany now while pushing for broader reform.

“The Church is visibly changing, and that is important,” Bätzing said.

Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), said the results show that the synodal path in Germany will continue.

“It does not end here. It is just the beginning,” she said.

Observers, including 103 international bishops who signed a letter warning that the Synodal Way could lead to schism, have expressed concern about the heterodox ideas promoted by the process and the effect it could have on the wider Church if the Vatican does not sufficiently intervene.

Vote on gender ideology

The implementation text “Dealing with gender diversity” passed with support from 96% of the 197 voting delegates. Thirty-eight bishops voted for it, while only seven voted against it. Thirteen abstained from voting.

Consistent with a pattern running throughout the assembly, there would have been enough votes to block the measure if those abstaining had voted against it. Critics of the Synodal Way say that organizers’ removal of the secret ballot has created a fear-driven atmosphere that has prohibited many bishops from voting freely.

The resolution calls for “concrete improvements for intersex and transgender faithful,” including changing baptism records to match someone’s self-identified gender, banning one’s gender identity from consideration for pastoral ministerial roles, and mandatory education for priests and church employees to “deal with the topic of gender diversity.” Intersex refers to people born with mixed sexual characteristics.

The text also bars “external sexual characteristics” from being used as a criterion for “accepting a man as a candidate for the priesthood,” a measure that could open the door for attempted ordinations of women.

During the debate, a small minority of bishops voiced opposition to the measure, while emphasizing that the Church should improve its pastoral care of those identifying as transgender. Auxiliary Bishop Stefan Zekorn of Bistum Münster said he could not support a text based on gender ideology, while Bishop Stefen Oster of Passau said that the document failed to emphasize that a Christian’s primary identity should be rooted in Jesus Christ.

But the vast majority of those who spoke expressed support for the measure. Gregor Podschun, the head of the heterodoxical Federation of German Catholic Youth, said the claims of gender ideology were “a scientific fact,” and that the Church’s denial was causing people to commit suicide. Julianne Eckstein, a professor of theology at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, claimed that the book of Genesis was an inadequate basis for questions of sexual anthropology. And Viola Kohlberger, a young adult from Augsburg, said that there is no “norm” for gender and that the tradition of the Catholic Church was holding back progress.

“And I would like to break it today,” she said.

When the vote passed, delegates stood to applaud, while some unfurled rainbow flags expressing support for homosexuality and transgender ideology.

Support for women’s ordination

Delegates passed the implementation text “Women in sacramental ministry: Perspectives for the universal Church dialogue” by a similarly large margin. Only 10 of 58 bishops voted against the measure, which calls for the German bishops to advance the issue of the sacramental ordination of women at the continental and universal level of the Church.

A motion adopted by the assembly replaced a call for the establishment of a “sacramental diaconate of women” with “opening the sacramental diaconate for women.” The distinction made clear that the Synodal Way is pushing for women to be integrated into already existing holy orders, an idea the Church has repeatedly affirmed is impossible.

Delegates adopted another motion that modified priorities related to the all-male priesthood, calling for the practice to be simply reexamined, rather than ended, at the universal level of the Church. Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising said that the motion was needed to “build consensus” for changes to the Church’s dogmatic teaching related to the priesthood.

Others were less interested in the slow approach. Several women delegates were seen in tears after the vote, saddened that the text did not more explicitly call for female priests.

“Discriminating against someone because of their gender must be put to an end in the Catholic Church,” said delegate Susanne Schumacher-Godemann.

“The patriarchy needs to be destroyed,” added Podschun.

Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg spoke up in opposition to the text, characterizing the push for ordaining women to the diaconate as “a first step toward opening up” the priesthood and the episcopacy, too.

The Regensburg bishop, a close friend of Pope Benedict XVI, is one of only three German bishops to have publicly voted against each of the Synodal Way’s controversial texts.

The synodal assembly also elected 20 members to the transitory synodal committee that will work over the next three years to prepare for the establishment of a permanent synodal council at the national level. The 20 elected members, which consisted of 19 laypeople and one auxiliary bishop, will join the 27 bishops who head dioceses and 27 members of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) already on the committee.

The Synodal Way, which began in 2019, has been a collaborative effort between the ZdK and the German bishops’ conference.

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Synod on Synodality: Read the full list of delegates

July 8, 2023 Catholic News Agency 2
Pope Francis led the opening procession of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region from St. Peter’s Basilica to the Synod Hall where he led the opening prayer, Oct. 7, 2019. / null

CNA Newsroom, Jul 8, 2023 / 08:30 am (CNA).

The Vatican has published the names of those participating in the upcoming Synod on Synodality assembly in October, including laypeople who will be full voting delegates at a Catholic Church synod for the first time.

The delegates are made up of representatives selected by bishops’ conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches, leaders in the Roman Curia, and 120 delegates personally selected by Pope Francis.

In total, 363 people will be able to vote in the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, according to statistics released by the Holy See Press Office on July 7. Among them, 54 of the voting delegates are women.

In addition to the voting members, 75 other participants have been invited to the synod assembly to act as facilitators, experts, or spiritual assistants.

Here is full list of participants:

President 

Pope Francis 

General Secretary 

Cardinal Mario Grech of Malta

President’s Delegates

His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, Patriarch of Alexandria, head of the Synod of The Coptic Catholic Church, Egypt. 

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Mexico City, Mexico 

Archbishop Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, O.F.M., of Guayaquil, Ecuador

Archbishop Timothy John Costelloe, S.D.B., of Perth, Australia

Bishop Daniel Ernest Flores of Brownsville, Texas, USA 

Bishop Lúcio Andrice Muandula of Xai-Xai, Mozambique

Father Giuseppe Bonfrate (Italy) 

Sister Maria De Los Dolores Palencia, C.S.J., Mexico

Momoko Nishimura, S.E.M.D. (Japan) 

General Relator

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., Archbishop of Luxembourg

Special Secretaries

Father Giacomo Costa, S.J., Italy, president of Fondazione Culturale San Fedele of Milan, national spiritual companion of the Italian Christian Workers Associations 

Father Riccardo Battocchio, Italy, Rector of the Almo Collegio Capranica, president of the Italian Theological Association

Commission for Information 

President: Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Vatican City 

Secretary: Sheila Leocádia Pires, communications officer, Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), Mozambique

From the Eastern Catholic Churches

His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, Coptic Church Patriarch of Alexandria, head of the Synod of the Coptic Catholic Church

His Beatitude Youssef Absi, patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, head of the Synod of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church

His Beatitude Ignace Youssef Iii Younan, Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, head of the Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church

Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, head of the Synod of the Maronite Church

Bishop Mounir Khairallah of Batrun of the Maronites

Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, head of the Synod of the Chaldean Church

His Beatitude Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, I.C.P.B., Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenians, head of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church

His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, Kyiv, head of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Bishop Teodor Martynyuk, M.S.U., Titular Bishop of Mopta, auxiliary bishop of Ternopil-Zboriv

Monsignor Bohdan Dzyurakh, C.SS.R., Apostolic Exarch of Germany and Scandinavia, Titular Bishop of Vagada

Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, head of the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church

Metropolitan Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic bishops’ conference of India

Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry, India

His Beatitude Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, head of the Synod of the Syro-Malankara Church

Bishop Cristian Dumitru Crişan, Titular Bishop of Abula, Auxiliary Bishop of Fagaras Si Alba Iulia Dei Romanians

Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Abeba, president of the Ethiopian and Eritrean bishops’ conference, president of the Council of the Ethiopian Church

Metropolitan Archbishop William Charles Skurla of the Byzantine Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, president of the Council of the Ruthenian Church  

Bishop Milan Lach, S.J., auxiliary bishop of Bratislava, Slovakia

Metropolitan Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of Asmara, president of the Council of the Eritrean Church 

Metropolitan Archbishop Fülöp Kocsis of Hajdúdorog for the Byzantine Catholics, president of the Council of the Hungarian Church 

Episcopal Conferences 

Africa

Northern Africa (CERNA)

Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, S.D.B., Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco

Angola and Sao Tome

Bishop Joaquim Nhanganga Tyombe of of Uíje, Angola

Benin

Archbishop Coffi Roger Anoumou, Bishop of Lokossa

Botswana, South Africa, and Eswatini

Archbishop Anton Dabula Mpako, Archbishop of Pretoria, Military Ordinary of South Africa

Burkina Faso and Niger

Archbishop Gabriel Sayaogo of Koupéla, Burkina Faso

Burundi

Archbishop Georges Bizimana, Bishop of Ngozi

Cameroon

Archbishop Emmanuel Dassi Youfang of Bafia

Bishop Philippe Alain Mbarga, of Ebolowa

Chad

Bishop Nicolas Nadji Bab of Laï

Republic of Congo

Bishop Ildevert Mathurin Mouanga of Kinkala

Democratic Republic of Congo

Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani

Bishop Pierre-Célestin Tshitoko Mamba of Luebo

Côte D’ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Archbishop Marcellin Kouadio Yao of Daloa

Ethiopia

Archbishop Markos Ghebremedhin, C.M., Apostolic Vicar of Jimma-Bonga, Titular Bishop of Gummi of Proconsulari

Gabon

Archbishop Jean-Patrick Iba-Ba of Libreville

Gambia and Sierra Leone

Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown, Sierra Leone

Ghana

Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, S.V.D., of Ho

Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Cape Coast

Guinea

Archbishop Vincent Coulibaly, of Conarkry

Equatorial Guinea

Bishop Juan Domingo-Beka Esono Ayang, C.M.F., of Mongomo, president of the Episcopal Conference

Kenya

Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde of Mombasa, president of the Episcopal Conference

Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri

Lesotho

Bishop John Joale Tlhomola, S.C.P., of Mohale’s Hoek

Liberia

Bishop Anthony Fallah Borwah of Gbarnga

Madagascar

Auxiliary Bishop Jean Pascal Andriantsoavina of Antananavarivo,  Titular Bishop of Zallata

Malawi

Archbishop George Desmond Tambala, O.C.D., of Lilongwe, Apostolic Administrator of Zomba

Mali

Bishop Hassa Florent Koné of San

Mozambique

Archbishop Inácio Saure, I.M.C., of Nampula

Namibia

Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda, O.M.I., of Windhoek

Nigeria

Bishop Donatus Aihmiosion Ogun, O.S.A., of Uromi

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja

Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri

Indian Ocean (CEDOI)

Bishop Alain Harel of Port Victoria

Central African Republic

Bishop Nestor-Désiré Nongo-Aziagbia, S.M.A., of Bossangoa

Rwanda

Bishop Edouard Sinayobye of Cyangugu

Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau

Bishop Ildo Augusto Dos Santos Lopes Fortes of Mindelo, Cape Verde

Sudan

Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, South Sudan

Tanzania

Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi, O.F.M. Cap., of Dar-Es-Salaam

Bishop Flavian Kassala of Geita

Togo

Bishop Dominique Banlène Guigbile of Dapaong

Uganda

Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok of Lira

Zambia

Archbishop Ignatius Chama of Kasama

Zimbabwe

Bishop Raphael Macebo Mabuza Ncube of Hwange

Americas

Antilles

Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon of Porto of Spain

Argentina

Bishop Óscar Vicente Ojea of San Isidro

Archbishop Marcelo Daniel Colombo of Mendoza

Archbishop Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa, O.P. of Bahía Blanca

Bolivia

Bishop Pedro Luis Fuentes Valencia, C.P., of La Paz, Titular Bishop of Temuniana

Brazil

Archbishop Emeritus Geraldo Lyrio Rocha of Mariana

Bishop Joel Portella Amado of São Sebastião do Rio De Janeiro, Titular Bishop of Carmeiano

Bishop Pedro Carlos Cipollini of Santo André

Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, O.F.M., of Manaus

Bishop Dirceu De Oliveira Medeiros of Camaçari

Canada

Bishop Marc Pelchat of Québec, Titular Bishop of Lambesi

Bishop Raymond Poisson of Saint-Jérôme-Mont-Laurier

Archbishop John Michael Miller, C.S.B., of Vancouver

Bishop William Terrence Mcgrattan of Calgary

Chile

Archbishop Luis Fernando Ramos Pérez of Puerto Montt

Bishop Carlos Alberto Godoy Labraña of Santiago de Chile, Titular Bishop of Pudenziana

Colombia

Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogotá

Archbishop Ricardo Antonio Tobón Restrepo of Medellín

Archbishop José Miguel Gómez Rodríguez of Manizales

Costa Rica

Bishop Javier Gerardo Román Arias of Limón

Cuba

Bishop Marcos Pirán of Holguín, Titular Bishop of Boseta

Ecuador

Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, O.F.M., of Guayaquil

Bishop David Israel De La Torre Altamirano, Ss.Cc., of Quito, Titular Bishop of Bagai

El Salvador

Bishop William Ernesto Iraheta Rivera of Santiago De María

Guatemala

Bishop Juan Manuel Cuá Ajacúm of Los Altos, Titular Bishop of Rosella

Haiti

Archbishop Launay Saturné of Cap-Haïtie, president of the Episcopal Conference

Honduras

Archbishop José Vicente Nácher Tatay, C.M., of Tegucigalpa

Mexico

Bishop Gerardo Díaz Vázquez of Tacámbaro

Bishop Oscar Efraín Tamez Villarreal of Ciudad Victoria

Archbishop Faustino Armendáriz Jiménez of Durango

Bishop Adolfo Miguel Castaño Fonseca of Azcapotzalco

Nicaragua

Bishop Sócrates René Sándigo Jirón of León 

Panama

Bishop Edgardo Cedeño Muñoz, S.V.D. of Penonomé

Paraguay

Bishop Miguel Ángel Cabello Almada of Concepción En Paraguay

Peru

Archbishop Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, O.F.M., of Trujillo

Bishop Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova, O.S.A., Bishop Prelate of Chuquibambilla

Cardinal Archbishop Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, S.J., of Huancayo

Puerto Rico

Bishop Rubén Antonio González Medina, C.M.F., of Ponce

Dominican Republic

Bishop Ramón Alfredo De La Cruz Baldera of San Francisco De Macorís

United States of America

 Bishop Timothy Broglio, Military Ordinary of the United States of America

Bishop Daniel Ernest Flores of Brownsville, Texas

Bishop Robert Emmet Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota

Bishop Kevin Carl Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana

Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, Archbishop of New York

Uruguay

Bishop Milton Luis Tróccoli Cebedio of Maldonado-Punta Del Este-Minas

Venezuela

Bishop Juan Carlos Bravo Salazar of Petare

Archbishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala of Maracaibo

Asia

Central Asia 

Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, I.M.C., Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Bangladesh

Archbishop Bejoy Nicephorus D’cruze, O.M.I., of Dhaka

China (Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference)

Bishop Norbert Pu of Kiayi, Taiwan

Korea

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-Taick, O.C.D., of Seoul

Philippines

Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David of Kalookan

Cardinal Archbishop Jose F. Advincula of Manila

Bishop Mylo Hubert C. Vergara of Pasig

Japan 

Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, S.V.D., of Tokyo

India (CCBI)

Cardinal Filipe Neri António Sebastião Do Rosário Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Damão

Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras and Mylapore

Bishop Alex Joseph Vadakumthala of Kannur

Cardinal Anthony Poola, Archbishop of Hyderabad

Indonesia

Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, O.S.C., of Bandung

Bishop Adrianus Sunarko, O.F.M., of Pangkalpinang

Iran

Archbishop Dominique Mathieu, O.F.M. Conv., of Tehran-Ispahan of the Latins

Laos and Cambodia

Father Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzalez, S.J., Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, Cambodia 

Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei

Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh, Archbishop of Singapore

Myanmar

Bishop John Saw Yaw Han of Kengtung

Arab countries

Monsignor Paolo Martinelli, O.F.M. Cap., Apostolic Vicar of South Arabia

Pakistan

Monsignor Khalid Rehmat, O.F.M. Cap., Apostolic Vicar of Quetta

Sri Lanka

Bishop Raymond Kingsley Wickramasinghe of Galle

Thailand

Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok

East Timor

Cardinal Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva, S.D.B., Archbishop of Díli

Vietnam

Bishop Joseph Đo Manh Hùng of Phan Thiêt

Bishop Louis Nguyên Anh Tuán of Hà Tinh

Europe 

Albania

Archbishop Arjan Dodaj, F.D.C., of Tiranë-Durrës

Austria

Archbishop Franz Lackner, O.F.M., of Salzburg

Belgium

Bishop Koenraad Vanhoutte of Mechelen-Brussels, Titular Bishop of Tagora

Belarus

Bishop Aliaksandr Yasheuski, S.D.B., of Minsk-Mohilev, Titular Bishop of Fornos Major

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bishop Marko Semren, O.F.M., of Banja Luka, Titular Bishop of Abaradira

Bulgaria

Bishop Strahil Veselinov Kavalenov of Nicopolis

The Czech Republic 

Bishop Zdenek Wasserbauer of Praha, Titular Bishop of Butrint

International Episcopal Conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius

Archbishop Ladislav Nemet, S.V.D., of Beograd, Serbia, president of the Episcopal Conference

Croatia

Bishop Ivan Ćurić, Auxiliary of Ðakovo-Osijek, Titular Bishop of Tela

Russian Federation

Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, F.S.C.B., of Mother of God in Moscow

France

Bishop Alexandre Joly of Troyes

Bishop Jean-Marc Eychenne of Grenoble-Vienne

Bishop Matthieu Rougé of Nanterre

Bishop Benoît Bertrand of Mende

Germany

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg

Bishop Bertram Johannes Meier of Augsburg

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, Military Ordinary for the Federal Republic of Germany

Great Britain (England & Wales)

Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark

Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds

Great Britain (Scotland)

Bishop Brian Mcgee of Argyll and the Isles

Greece

Archbishop Georgios Altouvas of Corfu, Zakynthos, and Kefalonia

Ireland

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick

Bishop Alexander Aloysius McGuckian, S.J., of Raphoe

Italy

Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, Bishop of Susa

Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla of Novara

Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples

Archbishop Mario Enrico Delpini of Milan

Latvia

Archbishop Zbigņev Stankevičs of Riga

Lithuania

Bishop Algirdas Jurevičius of Telšiai

Malta

Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna of Malta

Netherlands

Bishop Theodorus Cornelis Maria Hoogenboom of Utrecht, Titular Bishop of Bistue

Poland

Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań

Archbishop Adrian Józef Galbas, S.A.C., Coadjutor Archbishop of Katowice

Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Kraków

Portugal

Bishop Virgílio do Nascimento Antunes of Coimbra

Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho, S.C.I., of Leiria-Fátima

Romania

Archbishop Gergely Kovács of Alba Iulia, Apostolic Administrator, Ad Nutum Sanctæ Sedis of the Ordinariate for Catholics of the Armenian Rite residing in Romania

Scandinavia

Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of København, Denmark

Slovakia

Bishop Marek Forgáč of Košice, Titular Bishop of Seleuciana

Slovenia

Bishop Maksimilijan Matjaž of Celje

Spain

Archbishop Vicente Jiménez Zamora, Archbishop Emeritus of Zaragoza 

Archbishop Luis Javier Argüello García of Valladolid

Bishop Francisco Simón Conesa Ferrer of Solsona

Switzerland 

Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel

Turkey

Bishop Massimiliano Palinuro, Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul, Apostolic Administrator Vacant See of the Apostolic Exarchate of Istanbul 

Ukraine

Bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Titular Bishop of Tulana

Hungary

Bishop Gábor Mohos Mohos of Esztergom-Budapest, Titular Bishop of Iliturgi

Oceania

Australia

Archbishop Patrick Michael O’Regan of Adelaide

Bishop Shane Anthony Mackinlay of Sandhurst

New Zealand

Archbishop Paul Gerard Martin, S.M., Coadjutor of Wellington

Pacific

Bishop Paul Patrick Donoghue, S.M., of Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands

Bishop Dariusz Piotr Kałuża, M.S.F., of Bougainville

Bishops Without an Episcopal Conference

Europe

Archbishop Selim Jean Sfeir of Cyprus of the Maronites

Presidents of International Meetings of Episcopal Conferences

Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa And Madagascar (SECAM)

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, O.F.M. Cap.

Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC)

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B.

Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO)

Bishop Antony Randazzo

Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE)

Bishop Gintaras Grušas

Latin American Bishops’ Council (CELAM)

Bishop Jaime Spengler, O.F.M.

The Union of Superiors General and the International Union of Superiors General

Sister Nadia Coppa, A.S.C., president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)

Sister Elizabeth Mary Davis, R.S.M.

Brother Mark Hilton, S.C., Superior General of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart

Sister Elysée Izerimana, Op. S.D.N., General Councilor of the Working Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth

Abbot Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, O. Cist., Abbot General of the Cistercian Order

Sister Patricia Murray, I.B.V.M., executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)

Sister Maria Nirmalini, A.C., Superior General of the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmelite Order

Brother Ernesto Sánchez, F.M.S., Superior General of the Marist Brothers 

Father  Arturo Sosa, S.I., Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Father Gebresilasie Tadesse Tesfaye, M.C.C.J., Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus

Heads of Dicasteries of the Roman Curia

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Sostituto for the Secretariat of State

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for the Relations with States

Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization 

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization 

Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, future Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches

Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect for the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, M.C.C.J., Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue

Archbishop Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A., Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops

Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-Sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy

Cardinal João Braz De Aviz, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life And Societies of Apostolic Life

Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family And Life

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints

Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Cardinal José Tolentino De Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture And Education

Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development

Archbishop Filippo Iannone, O. Carm., Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts

Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication

Members Nominated by Pope Francis 

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Mexico City, Mexico

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa De Chinchetru, Secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Vatican City

Cardinal Jeans-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille, France

Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo, Archbishop of Korhogo, Ivory Coast

Father Giuseppe Bonfrate, Italy

Bishop Dante Gustavo Braida, Bishop of La Rioja, Argentina

Archbishop Erio Castellucci, Archbishop of Modena-Nantola-Carpi, Italy

Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-Yan of Hong Kong, China

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, S.D.B., Archbishop of Perth, Australia

Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, USA

Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, Archbishop Emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium

Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, O.S.A., Auxiliary Bishop of Cuzco, Peru, Titular 

Bishop of Ausuccura, Secretary General of the Latin American bishops’ conference (CELAM)

Archbishop Paul Dennis Etienne, Archbishop of Seattle, USA

Cardinal Juan De La Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana, Cuba

Bishop Felix Genn, Bishop of Münster, Germany

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., USA

Cardinal Jeans-Claude Hollerich, S.I., Relator General of the Synod on Synodality, Archbishop of Luxembourg

Bishop Nicholas Gilbert Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, Great Britain

Archbishop Dražen Kutleša, Archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia

Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City

Cardinal Robert Walter McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, USA

Bishop Marco Mellino, Secretary of the Council of Cardinals, Vatican City

Bishop Gjergj Meta, Bishop of Rrëshen, Albania

Bishop Lucius Andrew Muandula, Bishop of Xai-Xai, Mozambique

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City

Bishop Antonello Mura, Bishop of Nuoro, Italy

Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu, Archbishop of Harare, Apostolic Administrator of Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Bishop Manuel Nin, O.S.B., Apostolic Exarch for Byzantine Rite Catholics in Greece, Titular Bishop of Carcabia, Greece

Cardinal Seán Patrick O’malley, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Boston, USA

Bishop Stefan Oster, S.D.B., Bishop of Passau, Germany

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, Vatican City

Bishop Joseph-Csaba Pál, Bishop of Timişoara, Romania

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, S.D.B., Archivist Emeritus of Tegucicalpa, Honduras

Archbishop Angel S. Rossi, S.J., Archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina

Archbishop Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Lodz, Polonia

Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico, Mexico

Bishop Radoslaw Zmitrowicz, O.M.I., Auxiliary Bishop of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, Ukraine

Enrique Alarcón García, president of the Christian Fraternity of People with Disabilities of Spain, Spagna

Father Riccardo Battocchio, Rector of the Almo Collegio Capranica in Rome, President of the Italian Theological Association, Italy

Sister Simona Brambilla, Superior General of the Consolata Missionaries, Italy

Father Luis Miguel Castillo Gualda, Rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Valencia, Spain

Father Giacomo Costa, S.J., president of the San Fedele Cultural Foundation of Milan; National Spiritual Companion of the Italian Christian Workers’ Associations, A.C.L.I., Italy

Cristina Inogés Sanz, Theologian, Spain

Father James Martin, S.J., USA

Sister Maria De Los Dolores Palencia, C.S.J.

Sister Samuela Maria Rigon, S.S.M., Superior General of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, Italy

Father Elias Royón, Vicar for Consecrated Life of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Spain

Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J., director of La Civiltà Cattolica, Italy

Sister Xiskya Lucia Valladares, Nicaragua, co-founder of Imisión, director of the Communication Department of the Centro De Enseñanza Superior Alberta Giménez (CESAG), Comillas Pontifical University

Sister María De Fátima Vieira Diniz, S.Smo.S., Superior General of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Venezuela

From the Continental Assemblies (also selected by Pope Francis)

Africa

Father Vitalis Chinedu Anaehobi

Father Michel Jean-Paul Guillaud

Sister Ester Maria Lucas, F.C.

Sister Josée Ngalula, R.S.A.

Norha Kofognotera Nonterah

Father Agbonkhianmeghe Emmanuel Orobator, S.I.

Sheila Leocádia Pires

Sister Marie Solange Randrianirin, F.S.P.

Sister Solange Sahon Sia, N.D.C.

Father Rafael Simbine Junior

North America

Sami Aoun

Cynthia Bailey Manns

Catherine Clifford

Richard Coll

Chantal Desmarais

Father Ivan Montelongo

Wyatt Olivas

Julia Osęka

Sister Leticia Salazar

Linda Staudt

Latin America

Erika Sally Aldunate Loza

Jesus Alberto Briceño Cherubini

Sister Rosmery Castañeda Montoya

José Manuel De Urquidi Gonzalez

María Cristina Dos Anjos Da Conceição

Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, O.D.N.

Sônia Gomes De Oliveira

Father Francisco Gerardo Hernández Rojas

Valeria Karina López

Néstor Esaú Velásquez Téllez

Asia

Vanessa Cheng Siu Wai

Rosalia Minus Cho Cho Tin

Father Joel Casimiro Da Costa Pinto, O.F.M.

Father Clarence Devadass

Father William La Rousse, M.M.

Father Momoko Nishimura, S.E.M.D.

Estela Padilla

Anna Teresa Peter Amandus

Sister Lalitha Thomas, S.J.T.

Father Vimal Tirimanna

Eastern Churches and the Middle East

Adel Abolouh

Father Khalil Alwan, M.L.

Saad Antti

Sister Houda Fadoul

Sister Caroline Jarjis

Rita Kouroumilian

Caroline Rafaat Awd Narouz

Claire Said

Lina Taschmann

Matthew Thomas

Europe

Aleksander Banka

Geert De Cubber

Giuseppina De Simone

Sister Anne Ferrand

Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler

Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner, C.P.S.

Father Jan Nowotnik

Oksana Pimenova

Father Luis Manuel Romero Sanchez

Maria Sabov

Oceania

Manuel Beazley

Trudy Dantis

Renée Köhler-Ryan

John Lochowiak

Father Denis Nacorda

Kelly Paget

Sister Mary Angela Perez, R.S.M.

Father Sijeesh Pullenkunnel

Susan Sela

Grace Wrackia

Under-Secretaries of the General Secretariat of the Synod

Bishop Luis Marín De San Martín, O.S.A., Titular Bishop of Suliana

Sister Nathalie Becquart, X.M.C.J.

Members of the Ordinary Council

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar

Bishop Jaime Calderón Calderón of f Tapachula, Mexico

Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan

Archbishop Anthony Colin Fisher, O.P., of Sydney, Australia

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India

Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, I.S.P.X., Archbishop of Québec, Canada

Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, C.S.Sp., of Lubango, Angola

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, C.S.Sp., Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic

Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain

Cardinal Sérgio Da Rocha, Metropolitan Archbishop of São Salvador Da Bahia, Brazil

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., Archbishop of Wien, Austria, president of the Episcopal Conference of Austria

Cardinal Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., Archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay

Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, USA

His Beatitude Ignace Youssef Iii Younan, Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, head of the Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church, Lebanon

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, Italy

Special Guests

Father Alois, Prior of the Taizé Community, France

Luca Casarini, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Italy

Monsignor Severino Dianich, theologian, Italy

Eva Fernández Mateo, Catholic Action

Margaret Karram, Work of Mary-Focolare Movement

Father Hervé Legrand, O.P., theologian, France

Monsignor Armando Matteo, secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City

Father Thomas Schwartz, Germany

Other Participants

Spiritual Assistants

Father Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, O.P., Oxford Monastery, Great Britain

Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, O.S.B., Monastery of Viboldone, Italy

Referent for the Liturgy

Father Matteo Ferrari, O.S.B. Cam., Della Comunità Di Camaldoli


Experts and Facilitators

Father Dario Vitali, Italy, Coordinator of Theological Experts

Wissam Abdo, Lebanon

Father Adelson Araújo Dos Santos, S.I., Brazil

Father Paul Béré, S.J., Burkina Faso

Sister María Luisa Berzosa González, F.I., Spain

Monsignor Philippe Bordeyne, France

Monsignor Alphonse Borras, Belgium

Father Andrea Bozzolo, S.D.B., Italy

Father Pedro Manuel Brassesco, Argentina

Father Agenor Brighenti, Brazil

loy Bueno De La Fuente, Spain

Monsignor Valentino Bulgarelli, Italy

Father Juan Jorge Bytton Arellano, S.J., Peru

Sister Daniela Adriana Cannavina, C.M.R., Colombia

Sister María Suyapa Cacho Álvarez, Honduras

Father Carlo Casalone, S.J., Italy

Sandra Chaoul, Lebanon

Sister Maria Cimperman, R.S.C.J., USA

Monsignor Piero Coda, Italy

Professor Eamon Conway, Ireland

Sandie Cornish, Australia

Father Ian Cribb, S.J., Australia

Professor Klára Antonia Csiszár, Romania

Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, O.P., France

Sister Anne Béatrice Faye, C.I.C., Ivory Coast

Paolo Foglizzo, Italy

Father Carlos Maria Galli, Argentina

Iris Gonzales, Dominican Republic

Father Gaby Alfred Hachem, Lebanon

Sister Philomena Shizue Hirota, M.M.B., Japan

Austen Ivereigh, Great Britain

Claire Jonard, Belgium

Sister Jolanta Maria Kafka, R.M.I., Poland

Christina Kheng, Singapore

Leonardo Lima Gorosito, Uruguay

Mauricio Lopez Oropeza, Ecuador

Sister Laurence Loubières, X.M.C.J., Canada

Professor Rafael Luciani, Venezuela

Father Anthony Makunde, Tanzania

Father Miguel Martin, S.J., Brazil

Father David Mc Callum, S.J., USA

Father Vito Mignozzi, Italy

Sister Paola Nelemta Ngarndiguimal, S.P.C., Chad

Susan Pascoe, Australia

Father Asaeli Raass, S.V.D., Fiji Islands

Sister Yvonne Reungoat, F.M.A., France

Father Gilles Routhier, Canada

Anna Rowlands, Great Britain

Father Ormond Rush, Australia

Father José San Jose Prisco, Spain

Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri, Italy

Thomas Söding, Germany

Sister Nicoletta Vittoria Spezzati, A.S.C., Italy

Father Christoph Theobald, S.I., France

Erica Tossani, Italy

Monsignor Juan Fernando Usma Gómez, Colombia

Myriam Wijlens, Holland

General Secretariat of the Synod

Father Justo Ariel Beramendi Orellana

Thierry Bonaventura, Communication Manager

Father Pasquale Bua

Pietro Camilli

Alfonso Salvatore Cauteruccio

Andrea Cimino

Karina Fujisawa Simonetti

Tanyja George, M. Id.

Father Ambrogio Ivan Samus

Noemi Sanches

Monsignor Tomasz Trafny

Federica Vivian

Paola Volterra Toppano

Pedro Paulo Oliveira Weizenmann

Sister Marie-Kolbe Zamora, O.S.F.

[…]

25 Comments

  1. We read: “Gregor Podschun, the head of the heterodoxical Federation of German Catholic Youth, said the claims of gender ideology were “a scientific fact…” Four points:

    FIRST, gnome research (real science!) reports otherwise: https://news.yahoo.com/no-gay-gene-study-finds-180220669.html

    SECOND, researchers who originated the notion that transgenderism is physcologically helpful (as in preventing suicides), are the same researchers who corrected this report in the following year:https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/08/04/researchers-reverse-gender-surgery-offers-no-advantage-to-mental-health/

    THIRD, a bit of science that applies to everyone, inclusive (!) of gender theory devotees, there’s the psychology of self-deceit. A recent study completed at University College London (using MRI technology) strongly implies that a habit of lying tends to suppress the part of the brain (the amygdala) that responds emotionally to a “slippery slope” pattern of small and then larger lies (Garrett/Ariely/ Laxxaro, Nature Neuroscience Journal, October 24, 2016; reported by Erica Goode, New York Times, October 25, 2016).

    FOURTH, more anecdotal that scientific, there’s the testimony of bisexual novelist Andre Gide, as explained by one of his biographers:

    “[Gide]…emphatically protests that he has not a word to say against marriage and reproduction (but then) suggests that it would be of benefit to an adolescent, before his desires are fixed, to have a love affair with an older man, instead of with a woman. . . the general principle admitted by Gide, elsewhere in his treatise, that sexual practice tends to stabilize in the direction where it has first found satisfaction; to inoculate a youth with homosexual tastes seems an odd way to prepare him for matrimony” (Harold March, “Gide and the Hound of Heaven,” 1952).

    FIFTH, in the cause of science, perhaps the German guru Podschun and mouthpiece Bishop Batzing can supply longitudinal studies documenting at what age, and exactly how “stabilized”/locked-in and experimental adolescents fell in step with ersatz “gender theory”…

    Have a nice day, “walking together” in synodality…about which, there’s this from St. John Chrysostom: “The road to hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lampposts that light the path.”

    Reply

  2. 58 bishops in Germany? The notion that a nation so rooted in secularism warrants 58 Catholic bishops doesn’t make any sense. Evangelization doesn’t seem high on their agendas, so why not “innovate?”

    Reply

    • And the Catholic Church in Germany has 800,000 employees. For some 22 millions Catholics. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in the U.S. has about one million employees, but about 65 million Catholics.

      Reply

      • Carl, surely you must have meant “8,00 employees” or, even at a stretch, “80,000 employees” which itself is astronomical. But you must be mistaken that it’s 800,000.

        Reply

      • Can we arrive at the correct the proper ratio of prelates/parishioners? With the unfortunate state of turmoil in today’s Catholic Church, where vocations are lower along with the exodus of the “faithful”, that number is elusive.

        Pray for the retoration of the Church with God’s glory.

        Reply

  3. Meanwhile, silence and inactivity from the Vatican… As others have stated, it appears that the only hope we have of an intervention by the Holy Father is if the Germans decide to promote the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass.

    Reply

  4. Well, Pope Francis?

    Heterodoxy?

    Does radical, self-autonomy and disordered desire become the new foundation of the Universal Church?

    Reply

  5. I predict that short term, the pope will attempt to import this poison slowly into the rest of the church. People will vote with their feet and stop attending their local church. They will of course keep their wallets at home with them. Following that failed attempt to insert sexual perversions as legitimate expressions of love, a schism will occur. Possibly with those faithful to REAL church teachings establishing their own Catholic church. Maybe with a Latin Mass. THAT church I believe will flourish.

    Reply

  7. Well, you see, it goes like this. While the Synodaler Weg continues to commit to greater outrage after outrage [patriarchy needs to be destroyed, added Gregor Podschun, the head of the heterodoxical Federation of German Catholic Youth] hurtling toward full fledged apostasy, the Synod on Synodality leagues behind still grappling with approval of changes [Card Hollerich’s proposal to eliminate Catechism proscription of homosexuality] for further discussion, tentative adoption that trouble some of us, don’t seem so troubling. Do they?

    Reply

  9. That the German bishops (and others) even entertain the possibility of women’s ordination demonstrates an apostate state of mind that should have already been dealt with harshly by Rome since it involves heresy.

    Any chance of women’s ordination was completely eliminated once-and-for-all time and in all places with the promulgation of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994 wherein Pope John Paul II made it clear that the Church’s teaching on and practice of male only priestly ordination is indeed an infallible doctrine of the Church without possibility of ever being changed.

    Further, a dubium was presented on the status of and assent owed to Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, and this dubium and the primary conclusion of the Response from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved by Pope John Paul II and dated October 28, 1995 read as follows:

    “Dubium: Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.

    Responsum: Affirmative.

    This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 25, 2). Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith.”

    The German bishops are sinning egregiously and are in need of what is known as a charitable anathema and serious sanctions for their defiant acts of apostasy, yet despite issuing some admonitions, Rome permits the German bishops to continue to sin freely by publicly questioning a definitive doctrine of the Faith that they heretically opine might be capable of change when such is simply not possible.

    Reply

  10. Maybe Pope Francis should start wearing a striped red and white zucchetto beanie, striped red and white cassock and big round glasses because I ask the same question to myself every other day, “Where’s the Pope?”

    Reply

  11. The photo caption in the article is accurate and telling:
    “…changes to the German Church’s approach…”
    Thankfully, I belong to the Catholic Church, not the German church.

    Reply

  12. I think governing institutions as large and complex as the Church, or nations, when one is in their 80s is a questionable proposition. Things coming at you every day or hour. All eyes on you. All ears listening to you. Few 80s are built for that. For that matter, few in their primes are built for that.

    Reply

  13. I am thinking that the lesson of the Anglican Episcopalian adoption of female clergy and same sex unions has been lost on the German Catholic Church. It resulted in vanishing congregations and plumetting revenue.

    Reply

  14. I am dismayed by the lumping of the subject of women’s ordination with the topic of transgenderism. In my opinion, this delegitimizes the concerns of the role of women in the Church.

    Reply

    • FYI: Catholic Culture.com hosts Fr. Pokorsky who best answers the false assertion of your first sentence. Being transdender is not what? Being transgender is not being? In that sense, I agree.

      “Many think Catholicism imposes an ideal system on the life of the faithful. According to this ideological view, for Church teaching to remain relevant, it must continually evolve to keep up with human progress. The frequent demand for change in Church teaching in matters of faith and morals betrays this harmful view.

      But the Incarnation reconciles God and man in the Person of Jesus, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. God and man are reconciled in freedom, through Mary’s fiat. There is no forced compliance between incompatibles. There is instead reconciliation, the revelation of inestimable dignity of man, and his liberation from sin in Jesus.

      Hence to know Jesus means to grasp an essential reality: the mystery of ourselves in happiness with our Creator. The Catholic faith offers a universal truth-—applying to all men—that Jesus reveals to us through the Church. The Holy Spirit, received on Pentecost, animates the Church and nudges us with grace on our pilgrim way. The teachings of Jesus not only transcend all human activity and ideology. His teachings reveal the bedrock of human existence.

      The authentic and traditional tenets of the Catholic faith critique all ideologies and call for conversion to the truth of Jesus in freedom. Man is a child of God, created in the Divine image, called to virtue in this life and the everlasting happiness of heaven in the next.

      Jesus calls Christians to be the leaven or the yeast of goodness within the context of every human economic or political system (cf. Mt. 13:33). Not an ideological imposition, but a Divine mandate.”

      God bless you, Miss Dianne.

      Reply

  16. External sexual/genital reproductive characteristics are matched by internal organs womb, prostate etc.
    What medical texts are these people consulting?
    The perversion of a science to fit a cause?
    Destroy «patriarchy»,bow low before the Golden Calf of matriarchy instead.
    The Universal Church particularized, atomized, vaporized…
    Arise a church fit for the New Age?

    Reply

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