Bishops and laypeople’s representatives in Germany have agreed to continue the Synodal Path reform project despite dissent among the bishops and warnings from the Vatican.
To drive the process forward, six working groups are to be formed to develop proposals for action on individual reform plans, the joint conference of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) said on Tuesday.
The last plenary assembly of the Synodal Path was held in March. The reform initiative is to be continued in a much smaller “Synodal Committee” from autumn. However, the bishops Gregor Maria Hanke (Eichstaett), Stefan Oster (Passau), Rudolf Voderholzer (Regensburg) and Rainer Maria Woelki (Cologne) voted against the plan to finance the Committee through the Association of German Dioceses (VDD).
Alternative
The president of the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Baetzing, said alternative ways to finance the project would be sought. ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp said that without adequate financial and personnel resources for the Synodal Committee, no substantial work on implementing the reform resolutions would be possible. One of the working groups has the task of drafting a proposal for the statute of the planned Synodal Committee.
The other five working groups also relate to texts and resolutions of the Synodal Path. One, for example, has the task of drawing up standard rules for the participation of lay people in the election of bishops.
Suspended
Another group is to work on a “legally secure regulation” to reintegrate priests into pastoral ministry, who have been suspended because of marriage. A third group is to prepare guidelines for church blessings of “couples who love each other”, and a fourth is to debate the handling of gender diversity in general. A fifth working group will be looking at the possible ordination of women.
Originally reported by KNA Germany.
