The Germans Will Not Bend to the Vatican


I posted recently about how the German Catholic Church has so far refused to bend to the Vatican and Catholic conservatives. The German Catholic Church is among the wealthiest of all religious organizations. I pointed out the German Catholic Church needs public support to keep the government collecting money and paying it to the Church. If the public turns against the German Church it is goodbye to huge amounts of money. The Vatican would be hurt, perhaps more than it can tolerate. 

Another account of the dispute appeared on a site that seems much more a conservative insider's view. This site says the process which the German Catholic Church began a couple of years ago has been criticized by the Pope and many other officials. Yet, German clergy ignored all this and kept moving forward. Germany fully intends to give official approval to priests performing gay weddings and take other liberal directions. It will establish a theological and Catholic logic to its decision. The conservative fear is Germany is in this for the long haul. Germany, conservatives believe, expects to be victorious and liberalize the world Church. 

This is much like the Methodists. Both sides is the gay wars were determined to keep the denomination from splitting apart over the issue of gay clergy and gay weddings. If the denomination's membership were only in the U. S. liberalizing the gay issue would have prevailed. Because its leadership has been bent on having huge numbers and being international it expanded into Africa and other continents. It could not hold on to Western principles of civil rights unless it split up. Thinking from the Middle Ages is going with one branch and civil rights justice with the other (probably there will be more than one "other.")

Actually, I have more hope for the World Catholic Church hanging together than I have for the Methodists. We all know the mother Church has declared artificial birth control to be a sin. This is ignored by nearly all Catholics and things just keep bumping along. The Church position doesn't change and no one cares.

This is the model I see coming in the German/Vatican standoff. German priests will continue Catholic sanctioned gay weddings as (I have read) they are doing now. This Pope and ones to come will say, "Tisk, tisk" and that will be that. 

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