February 24, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WOW Congratulates German Theologians for Call for Women's Ordination

We join the theologians in calling 2011 a ‘Year of Departure' for the Church.  Let this 'Year of Departure' be the year when the Church parts ways with the archaic arguments and excuses used to exclude women from priesthood.  We urge our Church leaders to enter into dialogue both with women who experience a call to priesthood and with Catholic priests and laity who believe that that call comes from God. 

WOW 2010-2011 Leadership Circle

•   Colette Joyce (New Wine - United Kingdom)
•   Erin Saiz Hanna (WOC - Women's Ordination Conference - USA)
•   Saoirse Bann (BASIC - Ireland)
•   Therese Koturbash (CNWE - Catholic Network For Women's Equality - Canada)

Founded in 1996, Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) is an international network of groups whose mission is the admission of Roman Catholic women to all ordained ministries. WOW is founded on the principle of equality and therefore opposes any discrimination. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. (Galatians 3:28)

February 4, 2011

Memorandum of Theology Professors Speaking About Crisis in the Catholic Church

‘A Year of Departure: German Theologians Call for Reform'

By coincidence, today is not only a "Day of Departure" in Egypt. It is also the day on which 143 theologians from Austria, German, and Switzerland have signed a statement calling for a "Year of Departure" - for structural reforms in the Catholic Church in the wake of the sex abuse scandals.

The Church in 2011: A Necessary Departure

It is over a year since cases of sexual abuse of children and youth by priests and religious at the Canisius School in Berlin were made public. Thereupon followed a year that plunged the Catholic Church in Germany into an unequaled crisis. Today, a split image is projected. Much has been undertaken to do justice to the victims, to come to terms with the wrong done, and to search out the causes of abuse, cover-up, and double standards within the Church's own ranks. Many responsible Christians, women and men, in office and unofficially, have come to realize, after their initial disgust, that deep-reaching reforms are necessary. The appeal for an open dialogue on structures of power and communication, the form of official church offices, and the participation of the faithful in taking responsibility for morality and sexuality have aroused expectations, but also fears. This might be the last chance for departure from paralysis and resignation. Will this chance be missed by sitting out or minimizing the crisis? Not everyone is threatened by the unrest of an open dialogue without taboos - especially since the papal visit [to Germany] will soon take place. The alternative simply cannot be accepted: the "rest of the dead" because the last hopes have been destroyed.

The deep crisis of our Church demands that we address even those problems which, at first glance, do not have anything directly to do with the abuse scandal and its decades-long cover-up. As theology professors, women and men, we can keep silence no longer. We consider ourselves responsible for contributing to a true new beginning: 2011 must be a Year of Departure for the Church. In the past year, more Christians than ever before have withdrawn from the Catholic Church. They have officially terminated their legal membership, or they have privatized their spiritual life in order to protect it from the institution. The Church must understand these signs and pull itself from ossified structures in order to recover new vitality and credibility.

The renewal of church structures will succeed, not with anxious withdrawal from society, but only with the courage for self-criticism and the acceptance of critical impulses - including those from the outside. This is one of the lessons of the last year: the abuse crisis would not have been dealt with so decisively without the critical accompaniment of the larger public. Only through open communication can the Church win back trust. The Church will become credible when only its image of itself is not removed so far from the image others have of the Church. We turn to all those who have not yet given up hope for a new beginning in the Church and who work for this. We build upon the signals of departure and dialogue which some bishops have given in recent months in speeches, homilies, and interviews.

The Church does not exist for its own sake. The church has the mission to announce the liberating and loving God of Jesus Christ to all people. The Church can do this only when it is itself a place and a credible witness of the good news of the Gospel. The Church's speaking and acting, its rules and structures - its entire engagement with people within and outside the Church - is under the standard of acknowledging and promoting the freedom of people as God's creation. Absolute respect for every person, regard for freedom of conscience, commitment to justice and rights, solidarity with the poor and oppressed: these are the theological foundational standards which arise from the Church's obligation to the Gospel. Through these, love of God and neighbor become tangible.

Finding our orientation in the biblical Good News implies a differentiated relationship to modern society. When it comes to acknowledgement of each person's freedom, maturity, and responsibility, modern society surpasses the Church in many respects. As the Second Vatican Council emphasized, the Church can learn from this. In other respects, critique of modern society from the spirit of the Gospel is indispensable, as when people are judged only by their productivity, when mutual solidarity disintegrates, or when the dignity of the person is violated.

This holds true in every case: the Good News of the Gospel is the standard for a credible Church, for its action and its presence in society. The concrete demands which the Church must face are by no means new. And yet, we see hardly any trace of reform-oriented reforms. Open dialogue on these questions must take place in the following spheres of action.

1. Structures of Participation: In all areas of church life, participation of the faithful is a touchstone for the credibility of the Good News of the Gospel. According to the old legal principle "What applies to all should be decided by all," more synodal structures are needed at all levels of the Church. The faithful should be involved in the naming of important officials (bishop, pastor). Whatever can be decided locally should be decided there. Decisions must be transparent.

2. Community: Christian communities should be places where people share spiritual and material goods with one another. But community life is eroding presently. Under the pressure of the priesthood shortage, larger and larger administrative entities (Size "Extra Large" Parishes) are constructed in which neighbourliness and sense of belonging can hardly be experienced anymore. Historical identity and built-up social networks are given up. Priests are "overheated" and burn out. The faithful stay away when they are not trusted to share responsibility and to participate in democratic structures in the leadership of their communities. Church office must serve the life of communities - not the other way around. The Church also needs married priests and women in church ministry.

3. Legal culture: Acknowledgement of the dignity and freedom of every person is shown when conflicts are borne fairly and with mutual respect. Canon law deserves its name only when the  faithful can truly make use of their rights. It is urgent that the protection of rights and legal culture be improved. A first step is the development of administrative justice in the Church.

4. Freedom of Conscience: Respect for individual conscience means placing trust in people's ability to make decisions and carry responsibility. It is the task of the Church to support this capability. The Church must not revert to paternalism. Serious work needs to be done especially in the realm of personal life decisions and individual manners of life. The Church's esteem for marriage and unmarried forms of life goes without saying. But this does not require that we exclude people who responsibly live out love, faithfulness, and mutual care in same-sex partnerships or in a remarriage after divorce.

5. Reconciliation: Solidarity with "sinners" presupposes that we take seriously the sin within our own ranks. Self-justified moral rigorism ill befits the Church. The Church cannot preach reconciliation with God if it does not create by its own actions the conditions for reconciliation with those before whom the Church is guilty: by violence, by withholding rights, by turning the biblical Good News into a rigorous morality without mercy.

6. Worship: The liturgy lives from the active participation of all the faithful. Experiences and forms of expression of the present day must have their place. Worship services must not become frozen in traditionalism. Cultural diversity enriches liturgical life, but the tendency toward centralized uniformity is in tension with this. Only when the celebration of faith takes account of concrete life situations will the Church's message reach people.

The already-begun dialogue process in the Church can lead to liberation and departure when all participants are ready to take up the pressing questions. We must lead the Church out of its crippling preoccupation with itself through a free and fair exchange of arguments and solutions. The tempest of the last year must not be followed by restful quietness! In the present situation, this could only be the "rest of the dead." Anxiety has never been a good counselor in times of crisis. Female and male Christians are compelled by the Gospel to look to the future with courage, and walk on water like Peter as Jesus said to him, "Why do you have fear? Is your faith so weak?"

- Translation by awr

Signatories

The signatories of "The Church in 2011: A Necessary Departure"

Albus, Michael, University of Freiburg

Anzenbacher, Arno, University of Mainz

Arens, Edmund, University of Lucerne

Autiero, Antonio; University of Munster

Bäumer, Franz Josef, University of Giessen

Baumgartner, Isidor, University of Passau4

Bechmann, Ulrike, University of Graz

Belok, Manfred, Theological University of Chur

Benk, Andreas, Pedagogical University of Swabian-Gmünd

Bieberstein, Klaus, University of Bamberg

Bieberstein, Sabine, Catholic University of Eichstätt

Biesinger, Albert, University of Tubingen

Bischof, Franz Xaver, University of Munich

Blasberg-Kuhnke, Martina, University of Osnabruck

Böhnke, Michael, University of Wuppertal

Bopp, Karl SDB, Philosophical-Theological University of Benediktbeuern

Bremer, Thomas, University of Münster

Brosseder, Johannes, University of Cologne

Broer, Ingo, University of Siegen

Bucher, Anton A., University of Salzburg

Collet, Giancarlo, University of Munster

Dautzenberg, Gerhard, University of Giessen

Demel, Sabine, University of Regensburg

Droesser, Gerhard, University of Wurzburg

Eckholt, Margit, University of Osnabruck

Emunds, Bernhard, Philotophical-Theological University of St. Georgen

Ernst, Stephan, University of Wurzburg

Feiter, Reinhard, University of Munster

Franz, Albert, University of Dresden

Frevel, Christian, University of Bochum5

Fröhling, Edward SAC, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar

Fuchs, Ottmar, University of Tubingen

Fürst, Alfons, University of Munster

Gabriel, Karl, University Munster

Garhammer, Erich, University of Wurzburg

Göllner, Reinhard, University of Bochum

Görtz, Heinz-Jürgen, University of Hannover

Goertz, Stephan, University of Mainz

Grümme, Bernhard, Pedagogical University of Ludwigsburg

Häfner, Gerd, University of Munich

Haker, Hille, University of Frankfurt am Main / Chicago

Hartmann, Richard, Theology Department of Fulda

Heimbach-Steins, Marianne, University of Munster

Heinz, Hanspeter, University of Augsburg

Hemel, Ulrich, University of Regensburg

Hengsbach, Friedhelm SJ, Philisophical-Theological University of St. Georgen

Hilberath, Bernd-Jochen, University of Tubingen

Hilpert, Konrad, University of Munich

Höfer, Rudolf, University of Graz

Höhn, Hans-Joachim, University of Cologne

Hoffmann, Johannes, University of Frankfurt am Main

Hoffmann, Paul, University of Bamberg

Holderegger, Adrian, University of Freiburg(Switzerland)

Holzem, Andreas, University of Tubingen6

Hünermann, Peter, University of Tubingen

Jäggle, Martin, University of Vienna

Jorissen, Hans, University of Bonn

Kampling, Rainer, University of Berlin

Karrer, Leo, University of Freiburg (Switzerland)

Kern, Walter, Pedagogical University of Ludwigsburg

Kessler, Hans, University of Frankfurt am Main

Kienzler, Klaus, University of Augsburg

Kirchschläger, Walter, University of Lucerne

Knobloch, Stefan, OFMCap, University of Mainz

Könemann, Judith, University of Munster

Kohler-Spiegel, Helga, Pedagogical University of Feldkirch/Vorarlberg

Kos, Elmar, University of Vechta

Kraus, Georg, University of Bamberg

Kruip, Gerhard, University of Mainz

Kügler, Joachim, University of Bamberg

Kuhnke, Ulrich, University of Osnabruck

Kuld, Lothar, Pedagogical University of Weingarten

Ladenhauf, Karl-Heinz, University of Graz

Lang, Bernhard, University of Paderborn

Langer, Wolfgang, Perchtolsdorf

Lesch, Karl Josef, University of Vechta

Loretan, Adrian, University of Lucerne

Lüdicke, Klaus, University of Munster7

Ludwig, Heiner, University of Darmstadt

Lutterbach, Hubertus, University of Duisburg-Essen

Maier, Joachim, Schriesheim

Meier, Johannes, University of Mainz

Mennekes, Friedhelm SJ, Cologne

Merks, Karl-Wilhelm, Bonn

Mette, Norbert, Technical University of Dortmund

Michel, Andreas, University of Cologne

Mieth, Dietmar, Universities of Erfurt and Tubingen

Missala, Heinrich, University of Duisburg-Essen

Möhring-Hesse, Matthias, University of Vechta

Mooney, Hilary, Pedagogical University of Weingarten

Müller, Klaus, University of Munster

Müllner, Ilse, University of Cassel

Nauer, Doris, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar

Neuner, Peter, University of Munich

Niederschlag, Heribert SAC, Philisophicl-Theological University Vallendar

Odenthal, Andreas, University of Tubingen

Ollig, Hans-Ludwig SJ, Philosophical-Theological University of St. Georgen

Pellegrini, Silvia, University of Vechta

Pemsel-Maier, Sabine, Pedagogical University of Karlsruhe

Pesch, Otto Hermann, University of Hamburg

Pock, Johann, University of Vienna

Poplutz, Uta, University of Wuppertal8

Porzelt, Burkard, University of Regensburg

Raske, Michael, University of Frankfurt am Main

Richter, Klemens, University of Munster

Roebben, Bert, University Dortmund

Rotter, Hans, University of Innsbruck

Sauer, Ralph, University of Vechta

Schäper, Sabine, Catholic Polytechnic University of Munster

Schmälzle, Udo, University of Munster

Schmidt, Thomas M., University of Frankfurt am Main

Schmiedl, Joachim, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar

Schockenhoff, Eberhard, University of Freiburg

Scholl, Norbert, Pedagogical University of Heidelberg

Schulz, Ehrenfried, University of Munich

Schreiber, Stefan, University of Augsburg

Schreijaeck, Thomas, University of Frankfurt am Main

Schüller, Thomas, University of Munster

Schüngel-Straumann, Helen, University of Cassel / Basel

Seeliger, Hans-Reinhard, University of Tubingen

Siller, Hermann Pius, University of Frankfurt am Main

Simon, Werner, University of Mainz

Spiegel, Egon, University of Vechta

Steinkamp, Hermann, University of Munster

Steins, Georg, University of Osnabruck

Stosch, Klaus von, University of Paderborn9

Striet, Magnus, University of Freiburg

Strotmann, Angelika, University of Paderborn

Theobald, Michael, University of Tubingen

Trautmann, Franz, Pedagogical University of Swabian-Gmünd

Trautmann, Maria, Catholic University of Eichstätt

Trocholepczy, Bernd, University of Frankfurt am Main

Vogt, Markus, University of Munich

Wacker, Marie-Theres, University of Munster

Wahl, Heribert, University of Trier

Walter, Peter, University of Freiburg

Weirer, Wolfgang, University of Graz

Wendel, Saskia, University of Cologne

Wenzel, Knut, University of Frankfurt am Main

Werbick, Jürgen, University of Munster

Willers, Ulrich, Catholic University of Eichstätt

Ziebertz, Hans-Georg, University of Wurzburg

Zwick, Reinhold, University of Munster