Clear-sighted German Catholics Speak About the Synodal Path

The direction of the German Synodal Path has rejected all the objections that have come to it in recent months from Poland, from the Episcopal Conference of Scandinavia – twice – from several American bishops, and finally from the letter signed by 70 bishops from the United States, Canada, Australia, and Africa.

Recently, the management of the “Benedict XVI” College of Philosophy and Theology in Heiligenkreuz accused the Synodal Path of “radically questioning the sacramental understanding of the priesthood.”

The text goes on to note that the “terrible abuses committed on children and young people… are used as leverage to change or undermine the basic sacramental structure of the Church and to destroy the priesthood at its sacramental root.”

While Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops' Conference, describes the defection of Catholics from the Church as “a sign opposing the resistance of the Church to change,” these Catholics believe that the reality is exactly the opposite.

“We are not ready to accept that the bishops forget the content of their solemn consecration and modify the deposit of our faith, which we have received from the Church, so as to adapt it to our times. We unanimously support bishops who remain faithful to the oath they have taken and who are true shepherds and not mercenaries of the dominant thinking of the world.”

With regard to the other objectives of the Synodal Path, the text adds: “the realization of its purpose and the adoption of new fallacious texts at the next Plenary Assembly, the Forum of German Catholics warns of a real danger of schism.”

Proof of this is that Magnus Striete, professor of fundamental theology at the Catholic faculty of theology at the University of Fribourg, and one of the main drivers of the doctrinal drift of the German synodal assembly, recently declared:

“There is constant talk of a looming schism similar to the one unleashed by Martin Luther in the 16th century, but critics need not worry about a schism occurring: it has been around for a long time. In many Catholic circles, the gap between the conscience of the faithful and the binding creed established by the Magisterium of the Church is so pronounced that there is nothing left to repair.”

Thus, a very advanced element, declared partisan of the Synodal Path, recognizes that faith and morals are no longer believed and practiced in “many Catholic circles” in Germany. He draws the – implicit – conclusion that it is the creed that must adapt, thereby showing that it is not even in schism, but in heresy.

The Forum’s text ends with this conclusion, which is both terrible and intended to be encouraging: “The fact that in the near future many ecclesiastical structures in our country will collapse massively will in no way be the end of the Catholic Church in Germany; out of the crisis will emerge a faithful and young Church that lives hope and Christian confidence.”

But for that, it will be necessary to rebuild on solid foundations: those of the Tradition of the Church, and not those provided by Vatican II, which laid the beginnings of the current crisis. Let us hope that these German faithful, who are animated by a certain clear-sightedness, will have the courage to go back to the source of the Synodal Path, to resolutely depart from it.