Forty priests and pastoral ministers from the Diocese of St. Gall, Switzerland, have issued a statement that they will continue to offer communion to the divorced and remarried.
Posts Tagged Germany
Increasingly church ministers lament that they “went into ministry under completely different conditions, with completely different expectations.” Church workers report with ever greater frequency that they strive to be loyal to the church, but this makes them feel “disloyal to their own soul.”
The pope believes that “the sacred word must appear as itself as much as possible, even with its foreignness and the questions it brings.” Interpretation, by contrast, is the task of the church.
Time magazine is covering the story now gaining attention around the world of more than 300 priests in Austria calling for open disobedience because of the hierarchy’s refusal to budge on issues such as mandatory celibacy, Communion for the remarried, and advocacy of women’s ordination.
Female servers for the Pope
Aug 26
The Vatican has given a green light for female altar servers for the papal visit to Germany.
Hirten Barometer (“Shepherds’ Barometer”) is a German site that allows its users to rate church officials based on various criteria.
The Germans are hymn singers.
Many would welcome a signal from the pope that he supports such discussion, but there are no exchanges with parishioners or lay people scheduled during his Sept. 22-25 visit. “The bishops will not want to confront the pope with the problems facing Germany’s church,” Kruip said.
The German Bishops’ Conference declared that the Instruction contains “no fundamental innovations”; furthermore, interest in the old Mass in Germany is slim.
There are markedly fewer priesthood students in Germany; a Lutheran Church president has called for the admission of all baptized Christians to a common celebration of the Lord’s Supper.