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Denmark – the gay issue

Fr Mark — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:49:19 +0000

Church weddings for gays proposed

From the Copenhagen Post, 23.11.11;

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/52556-church-weddings-for-gays-proposed.html

Government will ensure that homosexual couples can have religious wedding ceremonies after striking agreement with church

Homosexual church marriages could become a reality by next summer if a bill giving them equal status with heterosexual unions passes parliament.

“It’s historic, it’s the biggest thing since female ministers were allowed in the Folkekirken,” Manu Sareen (Radikale), the church and equality minister, told the media today.

After years of opposition to granting homosexual unions the same status as heterosexual unions, Folkekirken bishops are developing a new wedding rite that will enable vicars to wed homosexuals.

“I think that most people in the Folkekirken are happy that there is finally a political decision on which way to proceed,” the bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov-Jakobsen, told Politiken.

“But I also think there are some people who will be disappointed that the distinction between marriage and partnership will disappear.”

In 2010 the the Church Ministry established a committee to examine the Folkekirken’s position on registered partnerships of homosexual couples.

A subsequent report found that 11 out of the 12 committee members thought that marriage between a man and woman, and a partnership between two individuals of the same sex, were two different things.

They also found that having a gender-neutral marriage would result in a “strangely abstract view of humans”.

The new angle taken requires a change to marriage law followed by a new wedding rite that can accommodate homosexuals by addressing them as ‘spouses’ (ægtefælle) as opposed to the traditional and gender-specific ‘husband and wife’ (ægtepar).

The term that married homosexuals can call themselves has been a topic of controversy, with prominent homosexuals arguing that only a gender-neutral marriage would afford homosexual unions the same rights as heterosexuals unions.

“We are lacking the same rights as homosexuals in a range of areas and I’m convinced that if such a proposal was brought up in parliament it would be supported by a majority,” author Bjarne Henrik Lundis told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Gender-neutral marriages have already been introduced in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Iceland, Spain and Portugal.

The move has been welcomed by homosexual rights group LGBT Danmark, however.

“It’s more than we had ever hoped for,” chairman Vivi Jelstrup told Politiken. “Words mean so much and not being able to call yourself spouses today is a sign of inequality.”

Denmark – the gay issue

Fr Mark — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:38:30 +0000

This report, under the heading “Gay marriage can soon become the reality” states that the incoming Danish Government now intends to press ahead quickly with introducing legislation to permit same-sex civil and church marriage.

http://www.information.dk/279767

Homo-vielser i kirken kan snart blive en realitet

Bøsser og lesbiske vil inden længe kunne blive

Om kort tid vil folkekirken kunne åbne døren for bøsser og lesbiske, der gerne vil giftes. Med en ny rød regering er der nemlig et flertal for at ændre vielsesloven, så homoseksuelle fremover vil kunne blive viet på linje med heteroseksuelle par.

Og Enhedslisten melder sig som garant for, at det sker hurtigt:

»Hvis ikke det bliver skrevet ind i det nye regeringsgrundlag, vil vi fremsætte forslaget, så snart Folketinget åbner,« siger Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen.

Også socialdemokraternes Karen Klint forventer, at det forbud, der i dag forhindrer trossamfund i at vie homoseksuelle, snart vil være væk:

»Jeg er meget optimistisk i forhold til, at det er en sag, der vil gå hurtigt igennem,« siger hun.

SF og de radikale har tidligere meldt sig parate til at ændre lovgivningen, hvorved flertallet er på plads.

Og ligestillingsordfører Pernille Vigsø Bagge (SF) er enig i, at muligheden for kirkelige vielser af bøsser og lesbiske vil foreligge meget snart.

»Der er ingen i det nye flertal, der vil blokere. Nu har vi talt om det her i ti år, og nu skal det på plads både af hensyn til kirken og de homoseksuelle,« siger hun.

Rette ægtefolk?

Også borgerlige røster har på det seneste talt for muligheden for kirkelige vielser af homoseksuelle. Men der er ikke enighed om, hvorvidt der skal udformes et særskilt ritual for bøsser og lesbiske, der bliver gift i kirken. Ifølge Enhedslisten skal ægteskabet være kønsneutralt:

»Det hører til gamle dage at skelne imellem, om ægteskabet er indgået mellem mand og kvinde eller mellem to af samme køn,« siger Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen.

Venstres Kristian Jensen har dog et andet syn på den sag: »Der skal være forskel på det, der er forskelligt,« siger han og lægger sig dermed på linje med afgående kirkeminister Per Stig Møller (K), som har erklæret sig parat til at støtte et vielsesritual for homoseksuelle, dog uden at de må kalde sig ægtefolk.

»Ægteskaber er mellem mand og kvinde. Der kan godt være kærlighed mellem personer af samme køn, og der kan også godt være en kirkelig velsignelse af den, men man bør bruge en anden term,« siger Venstres gruppeformand.

Men ifølge Karen Klint, som altså vil gøre loven kønsneutral, er det slet ikke op til Folketinget at tage beslutninger om ritualerne i kirken.

»Det er biskopperne, der laver ritualerne inden for folkekirken. Hvis vi laver en kønsneutral lov, så tror jeg også, at der vil blive lavet neutrale ritualer,« siger S-ordføreren.

Biskoppen i Københavns stift, Peter Skov-Jakobsen, arbejder ifølge Pernille Vigsø-Bagge på et nyt ritual, som skal foreligge, før dronningen vil kunne skriver under på en ny vielseslov. Det har ikke været muligt at få en kommentar fra biskoppen til, hvordan det nye ritual vil blive udformet, eller om der vil blive tale om to forskellige vielsesprocedurer.

Ingen tvang

Der vil dog ikke blive tale om, at kirken får pligt til at vie homoseksuelle. Karen Klint påpeger, at ingen ud over borgmesterkontoret har såkaldt vielsespligt.

Tilbage i 2006 fremsatte den daværende opposition et forslag magen til det kommende. Det blev dengang stemt ned af VK-regeringen og Dansk Folkeparti. Men siden har både Konservative og Venstre altså åbnet for kirkelige velsignelser om end ordet »ægteskab« altså fortsat bør være forbeholdt mand og kvinde. Præcis hvordan stemmerne vil fordele sig, når forslaget om den kønsneutrale vielseslov skal til afstemning i Folketinget, er svært at sige.

Kristian Jensen forventer, at Venstre vil fritstille sin gruppe, som det er tradition ved afstemninger i etiske og moralske spørgsmål. Tidligere har enkelte medlemmer af netop Venstre været med til at sikre, at homoseksuelle kan adoptere.

Germany

Fr Mark — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:33:08 +0000

Pope visit: German-speaking Catholics want reform from Rome

Pope Benedict XVI faces a clamour for change as he heads to Germany for his first state visit, with calls for reform on many fronts – from recognising gays to ordaining women to the priesthood.

From Daily Telegraph, 22.9.11

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8779609/Pope-visit-German-speaking-Catholics-want-reform-from-Rome.html

Grievances over the Vatican’s “out of touch” attitudes towards sexuality and the family is likely to underlie the pontiff’s visit from Berlin to Freiburg.

While Benedict is not expected to make any concessions to callers for the Church’s rules to be modernised, during his visit which begins on Thursday, the Holy See is well aware of growing dissent – particularly in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland.

Frustration with the Church’s staunch adherence to tradition came to the fore in Germany after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), with the rise of reform movements such as “We Are Church” pushing for change.

Now nearly 150 German, Austrian and Swiss theologians are calling for significant changes, from accepting divorce, female priests and married ministers, to acknowledging gay couples and giving lay people greater roles.

In Germany, where the Protestant and Catholic communities are roughly the same size, much emphasis is placed on rights linked to personal life choices.

The close proximity of the two faiths has also turned the country into a sort of laboratory for Christian thought.

Young Catholics – who often marry Protestants – are increasingly seeking the sort of freedoms enjoyed by the Protestant faith where women can become priests, ministers can marry and homosexuality and divorce are accepted.

The cleric sex abuse scandal has done nothing to help the Church’s position.

“Protestantism is generally considered ‘progressive’, and in touch with the times,” German historian and specialist Etienne Francois told AFP.

There is “the idea that being celibate goes against nature, that the institution is nothing but an old, anachronistic machine which blocks the evangelical message and which needs to be profoundly modernised,” he said.

While the tension between conservatives and progressives within the Roman Catholic Church goes back decades, it flared up once again at the start of the 2000s when the Vatican ordered the Church in Germany to stop its involvement in abortion advice centres.

The head of the Episcopal Conference, Robert Zollitsch, who suggested in 2008 that celibacy for priests could be reviewed, has called for divorced people – such as the head of the Christian Democratic Union party, Christoph Wulff – to be able to take communion.

The rising number of Catholics who are adopting liberal positions worries the Vatican. In Austria, an appeal for disobedience – signed by 330 authors – was judged to be “justified” by three quarters of the population.

The pope, say those who know him well, is very aware of the “wound” caused by the number of faithful divorcees, but a change in position is nonetheless improbable – and the same goes for recognising gay Christians.

The Holy See insists that Benedict XVI “proposes” rather than “imposes” teachings and that his speeches avoid moral condemnations and reflect his respect for freedom.

As for the question of female priests, a salient issue in Germany, the pope points to the Gospels – in particular the fact that Jesus was surrounded by unmarried male apostles – to insist that a reform is not in his power.

Church of Ireland – the gay issue

Fr Mark — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 16:38:48 +0000

Cleric confirms gay partnership

From News Letter, 3.9.11:

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/cleric_confirms_gay_partnership_1_3025873#.TmOVi3pyNRY.facebook

BY SAM McBRIDE

A SENIOR Church of Ireland minister has entered a same-sex civil partnership.

In what is believed to be the first gay union involving a serving Church of Ireland cleric, the Very Rev Tom Gordon, who is originally from Portadown, yesterday confirmed that he had formalised the relationship under new laws introduced in the Republic earlier this year.

The Rev Gordon, who is Dean of Leighlin Cathedral in Co Carlow, said that the ceremony had taken place at a registry office on July 29.

A spokesman for the Churchof Ireland declined to comment in detail, saying that it was a “civil matter”.

It is understood that there was one other case previously, which involved a retired Church of Ireland minister who entered a civil partnership.

The development seems certain to re-ignite the fierce and long-running Anglican debate about homosexuality.

Generally the Church of Ireland has been more conservative than the larger Church of England, which has seen several clergy enter civil partnerships since the new unions were created by the government in 2005 but requires them to affirm that they will remain celibate in the partnerships.

When contacted by the News Letter yesterday at his home in Carlow, the Rev Gordon said: “I’m a very transparent person and I can confirm with you that yes, the civil partnership happened on July 29. That’s a matter of openness.”

The 54-year-old cleric said that he “hadn’t really” thought about the reaction to his decision to enter a civil partnership.

However, when asked whether he had spoken to the church prior to his decision and whether he had received support from the church, the Rev Gordon said: “I don’t think that I would be prepared to comment on anything else on that.

“I’m a very, very transparent person. I would be surprised if this came as a surprise to anyone and I suppose that is as far as I would really want to comment.”

A spokesman for the Church of Ireland said: “This is a civil matter. I understand that it [the partnership] has taken place. In answer to your enquiry about whether it is the first instance [of a Church of Ireland minister entering a civil partnership], I understand that it is not”.

The Rev Gordon has been in the Republic since 1991. He is a former lecturer at the Church of Ireland theological college in Dublin and is coordinator of religious programmes involving the Protestant churches for RTE.

In January 2009 the Church of Ireland Gazette reported that the Rev Gordon was one of two staff at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute who were “leaving their posts this year ‘by mutual agreement’ between the church and themselves”.

Last September the Rev Gordon was installed as Dean of the Cathedral of St Laserian, Leighlin, in the Diocese of Cashel and Ossory.

A report on the diocesan website said that the service was conducted by Bishop Michael Burrows and the preacher was the Rev Dr Adrian Empey, former principal of the Church of Ireland Training College.

Bishop Burrows is seen as being one of the church’s most liberal bishops and prior to being appointed a bishop said that he regularly gave communion to practising homosexual couples.

Spain – church attendance

Fr Mark — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:37:37 +0000

Pope in Spain to boost faith as church attendances fall

From The Daily Telegraph, 18.8.11:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8706351/Pope-in-Spain-to-boost-faith-as-church-attendances-fall.html

On his last visit to Spain Pope Benedict XVI warned of the “strong and aggressive secularism” gripping the nation as he spoke from the pulpit while inaugurating Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia last November.

Church officials have said this third visit to Spain – making it the country he has visited most since becoming Pontiff in April 2005 – was arranged in the belief that the nation needed “a deeper evangelisation”.

Spain is less solidly Catholic than it once was. A government survey released in July found that 71.7 per cent of Spaniards declared themselves Roman Catholics, compared with 82.1 per cent in 2001.

Of those, only 13 per cent said they attended Mass regularly on Sundays, compared with 19 per cent a decade ago.

Officially a secular state since the transition to democracy following the death of dictator General Francisco France in 1975 the Church’s power and influence has steadily waned.

Under Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, who came to power in 2004, Spain has undergone a series of reforms that have put his socialist government on a collision course with the Church.

Same sex marriages were legalised, divorce made easier and abortion laws reformed allowing women to terminate pregnancies on demand and girls aged 16 to seek abortions without needing their parents’ permission.

Religious education was taken off the curriculum, crucifixes removed from public school classrooms and a percentage of income tax diverted to the Church made optional.

The social fabric of Spain has changed to such an extent that one in three babies are now born to unmarried mothers – more than twice the number a decade ago, according to recent data published by the National Institute of Statistics.

United Kingdom – church and state

Fr Mark — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 08:36:14 +0000

Christians are more militant than Muslims, says Government’s equalities boss

Muslims are integrating into British society better than many Christians, according to the head of the Government’s equality watchdog.

From Daily Telegraph, 19.06.11

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8584030/Christians-are-more-militant-than-Muslims-says-Governments-equalities-boss.html

Trevor Phillips warned that “an old time religion incompatible with modern society” is driving the revival in the Anglican and Catholic Churches and clashing with mainstream views, especially on homosexuality.

He accused Christians, particularly evangelicals, of being more militant than Muslims in complaining about discrimination, arguing that many of the claims are motivated by a desire for greater political influence.

However the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission expressed concern that people of faith are “under siege” from atheists whom he accused of attempting to “drive religion underground”.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph ahead of a landmark report on religious discrimination in Britain, he said the Commission wants to protect Christians and Muslims from discrimination, admitting his body had not been seen to stand up for the people discriminated against because of their faith in the past.

In a wide-ranging intervention into the debate over the role of religion in modern Britain, Mr Phillips:

* warned it had become “fashionable” to attack and mock religion, singling out atheist polemicist Richard Dawkins for his views;

* said faith groups should be free from interference in their own affairs, meaning churches should be allowed to block women and homosexuals from being priests and bishops;

* attacked hardline Christian groups which he said were picking fights – particularly on the issue of homosexuality – for their own political ends;

* told churches and religious institutions they had to comply with equality legislation when they delivered services to the public as a whole.

The report, published by the Commission tomorrow, says that some religious groups have been the victims of rising discrimination over the last decade.

It shows that in the course of the last decade, the number of employment tribunal cases on religion or belief brought each year has risen from 70 to 1000 – although only a fraction of cases were upheld.

Mr Phillips spoke after a series of high-profile cases which have featured Christians claiming they have been discriminated against because of their beliefs, with a doctor currently fighting a reprimand from the General Medical Council for sharing his faith with a patient.

While the equalities boss promised to fight for the rights of Christians, he expressed concern that many cases were driven by fundamentalist Christians who are holding increasing sway over the mainstream churches because of the influence of African and Caribbean immigrants with “intolerant” views.

In contrast, Muslims are less vociferous because they are trying to integrate into British “liberal democracy”, he said.

“I think there’s an awful lot of noise about the Church being persecuted but there is a more real issue that the conventional churches face that the people who are really driving their revival and success believe in an old time religion which in my view is incompatible with a modern, multi-ethnic, multicultural society,” Phillips said.

“Muslim communities in this country are doing their damnedest to try to come to terms with their neighbours to try to integrate and they’re doing their best to try to develop an idea of Islam that is compatible with living in a modern liberal democracy.

“The most likely victim of actual religious discrimination in British society is a Muslim but the person who is most likely to feel slighted because of their religion is an evangelical Christian.”

Senior clergy, including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, have attacked equality laws for eroding Christianity and stifling free speech, but Phillips said many of the legal cases brought by Christians on issues surrounding homosexuality were motivated by an attempt to gain political influence.

“I think for a lot of Christian activists, they want to have a fight and they choose sexual orientation as the ground to fight it on,” he said.

“I think the whole argument isn’t about the rights of Christians. It’s about politics. It’s about a group of people who really want to have weight and influence.”

He added: “There are a lot of Christian activist voices who appear bent on stressing the kind of persecution that I don’t think really exists in this country.”

However, Mr Phillips, who is a Salvationist from a strong Christian background, expressed concern over the rise in Britain of anti-religious voices, such as Richard Dawkins, who are intolerant of people of faith.

“I understand why a lot of people in faith groups feel a bit under siege,” he said.

“There’s no question that there is more anti-religion noise in Britain.

“There’s a great deal of polemic which is anti-religious, which is quite fashionable.”

Phillips said that the Commission is committed to protecting people of faith against discrimination and also defended the right of religious institutions to be free from Government interference.

The Church of England is under pressure to allow openly gay clergy to be made bishops, while the Catholic Church only permits men to be priests, but the head of the Government-funded equalities watchdog said they are entitled to rule on their own affairs.

“The law doesn’t dictate their organisation internally, in the way they appoint their ministers and bishops for example,” he said.

“It’s perfectly fair that you can’t be a Roman Catholic priest unless you’re a man. It seems right that the reach of anti-discriminatory law should stop at the door of the church or mosque.

“I’m not keen on the idea of a church run by the state.

“I don’t think the law should run to telling churches how they should conduct their own affairs.”

The intervention by the Commission comes after criticism of its £70 million annual budget, which is to be cut drastically.

Mr Phillips, a former Labour chairman of the Greater London Assembly and television producer was criticised for his £110,000 a year salary and was accused of “pandering to the right” by Ken Livingstone, the former Labour London mayor, for saying that multiculturalism had failed.

Denmark – the gay issue

Fr Mark — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:30:15 +0000

Majority: allow gay church marriages

From Jyllandsposten

http://jp.dk/uknews/article2425848.ece?page=2

Published 10.05.11 09:50

Advocates say poll shows people “ahead of” decision makers when it comes to gay marriage While the country’s bishops are divided in their opinion on church wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples, the public seems to favour it. A new Rambøll/Analyse…

While the country’s bishops are divided in their opinion on church wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples, the public seems to favour it.

A new Rambøll/Analyse Danmark poll shows that 75.8 percent of the population approves of same sex marriage ceremonies in church.

The result came as no surprise to the national association of homosexuals LGBT.

“The population is far ahead of the country’s bishops and politicians,” George Hinge, the organisation’s church policy spokesperson, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

“A majority of Danes believe it’s not right to look at gender in relation to a church wedding ceremony, yet the current legislation forbids any religious community from marrying homosexual couples.”

According to Statistics Denmark, some 400 same-sex civil partnerships are registered every year. There are, however, no figures on how many homosexual couples would choose a church ceremony.

“We estimate that just like heterosexual people, that figure is around half. What’s important for us is that homosexuals are given the same rights as everyone else. We do not want to force vicars to marry homosexual couples against their will. But as things stand today, all vicars are forced not to do it, even though they might want to,” said Hinge.

Kresten Drejergaard, the bishop of the Funen diocese, is encouraging politicians to come up with a new Marriage Act that gives couples the same rights, regardless of their sexual orientation.

“The term ‘same-sex civil partnership’ is a clumsy-sounding concept that we need to break with. It sounds like management-speak,” said Drejergaard.

“Marriage and registered partnership are one and the same thing. The criteria have got to be love, and a homosexual relationship is just as strong as a heterosexual one.”

Per Stig Møller, the church minister, wants to find a solution that is not at odds with half of the population. The Liberal church spokesperson, MP Per Bisgaard, is convinced that such a solution is on its way – possibly in the shape of a specific marriage ritual for homosexual couples.

“The population has always been significantly more positive towards same-sex marriages than church representatives, and I believe that is the right way to go,” he said.

Legal theologian and ecclesiastical expert Kristine Garde believes the theological arguments against same-sex wedding ceremonies are not echoed by the Danish population, even though more than 80 percent of them are members of the established church.

“The church will need to adapt when there is such a strong public indication that same-sex marriage ceremonies should be put on the same footing as heterosexual ones,” said Garde. “We should assume that in future appointments of vicars, they will be asked whether they would marry homosexual couples.”

Finland – the gay issue

Fr Mark — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:28:02 +0000

Thousands leave Finnish Lutheran church over anti-gay campaign

From PinkNews, 28.03.11:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/03/28/thousands-leave-finnish-lutheran-church-over-anti-gay-campaign/

Thousands of people have reportedly left the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland after a campaign against homosexuality.

The week-long campaign, which was drawn up by several Christian groups and ended this weekend, was met with anger.

Called “älä alistu” (“don’t acquiesce”), it claimed that gay people can become straight and urged youths not to give in to thoughts of homosexuality.

In one promotional video, a young woman called Anni describes how she stopped being bisexual. She also compares her situation to that of a reformed murderer.

Although the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland did not lead the campaign, it gives money to the organisations which did.

Members of the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland, which is Finland’s national church, pay money to support the church and those it subsidises.

By Thursday, 3,000 people had signed an online petition declaring that they were leaving the church, YLE reports.

Kari Mäkinen, Archbishop of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, criticised the campaign and said it should be stopped.

He emphasised that gay people were not sick and had been created by God the way they were.

Mainstream medical opinion holds that sexual orientation cannot be changed. Gay rights campaigners say so-called ‘ex-gay’ therapy is useless at best and at worst, can cause serious mental harm.

Ireland – church and state

Fr Mark — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:44:02 +0000

Catholic dominance of schools not ‘tenable’

From Irish Times, 23.2.11

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0223/1224290629135.html

THE DOMINANCE of the Catholic Church in the patronage of the State’s primary schools is “a remnant of the past and no longer tenable today”, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said.

The Government had been “very slow in providing a plurality of patronage models”, Dr Martin added, calling for a national forum to debate such plurality.

In a lengthy address to the Cambridge Group for Irish Studies at Magdalene College yesterday, he said: “I am the patron of about 93 per cent of all primary schools in the archdiocese of Dublin, while Catholics compose only about 85 per cent of the population.”

Such “a massive presence of the Catholic Church in the management of schools is, however, patently a remnant of the past and no longer tenable today”.

It was “obvious that there is a desire for change in the management structure of Irish schools. It is recognised that the Irish Government has an obligation to ensure that parents who do not want a religious ethos in the formation of their children can, as far as possible, exercise their rights.”

A very high proportion of Catholics would prefer their children to attend a school with a pluralist mix, albeit with some basic religious culture. “I believe that there is need for a national forum to debate the issue. Plurality in management is needed to address the changed Irish culture. Plurality in school management can only benefit the true Catholic identity of Catholic schools.”

Dr Martin said the Catholic Church in Ireland would “inevitably become more a minority culture. The challenge is to ensure that it is not an irrelevant minority culture”.

In the talk, Keeping the Show on the Road: Is this the Future of the Irish Catholic Church? , he said the place of the church in the political discussion was increasingly marginal. “I would say that none of the political parties even thought of seeking the views of the church around their policies for the current general election. If anything, they would seem to prefer not to be seen in any way to be associated with the church.”

Ireland was “undergoing a further phase in a veritable revolution of its religious culture”.

In Dublin there were parishes “where the presence at Sunday Mass is some 5 per cent of the Catholic population and, in some cases, even below 2 per cent”.

On any Sunday, “about 18 per cent of the Catholic population in the archdiocese of Dublin attends Mass. That is considerably lower than in any other part of Ireland”.

For the second time since he had become archbishop, this year there would be no ordination of priests in Dublin, “and the coming years indicate only a tiny trickle of new vocations”. His greatest discouragement as archbishop came “from the failure of interaction between the church and young people. I visit parishes where I encounter no young people . . .”

Change required in the life of the church in Ireland was such that “even experts in change management would feel daunted”.

Dr Martin added: “Despite all my efforts, I am failing in my attempts to lead such change. Change management has to have the patience and the strategy to bring everyone along with it, and that may not be my talent.”

Catholic culture in Ireland “does not have the prominence or the intellectual leadership that it should have”, with “few writers or artists who would present themselves as Catholic”.

He was convinced that “one of the principal ways in which the church can reform itself and bring its message more incisively to society is through developing a renewed biblical apostolate”.

The Irish church, in its recent history, had “failed to introduce its people into a real relationship with Jesus and his life and teaching.” Such “a biblical basis for its action” was “also a sound basis for ecumenical collaboration”.

Germany/Austria/Switzerland – women priests, etc.

Fr Mark — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:38:08 +0000

144 Theology professors in Germany, Austria and switzerland have called for reform of the Roman Catholic Church to end clerical celibacy, allow the ordination of women priests, permit participation of the laity in the election of bishops and bring the Church’s ”moral rigorism” to an end.

From Tagesschau, 4.2.11

http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/theologen100.html

Theologen wollen Reform der katholischen Kirche

144 katholische Theologie-Professoren aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz haben einen Aufruf zu tiefgreifenden Reformen unterschrieben. Laut “Süddeutscher Zeitung” wollen sie das Ende des Pflichtzölibats, Frauen als Geistliche, Beteiligung des Kirchenvolks bei der Auswahl der Bischöfe und ein Ende des “moralischen Rigorismus”. Gleichwohl sei das Papier vorsichtig und differenziert formuliert, lobe den Aufruf der Bischöfe zum offenen Dialog und mache sich selber Mut, schreibt die Zeitung weiter. Wie die Theologen betonen, sind im vergangenen Jahr so viele Christen wie nie zuvor aus der katholischen Kirche ausgetreten.

Etwa ein Drittel der insgesamt etwa 400 Lehrstuhlinhaber für katholische Theologie haben der Zeitung zufolge ihren Namen unter den Appell “Kirche 2011: Ein notwendiger Aufbruch”gesetzt. Seit 22 Jahren habe es keinen solchen Widerspruch gegen den Vatikan mehr geben. 1989 protestierten mehr als 220 Wissenschaftler in der “Kölner Erklärung” “Wider die Entmündigung – für eine offene Katholizität” gegen den autoritären Führungsstil von Papst Johannes Paul II., der gegen alle Widerstände Kardinal Joachim Meisner zum Erzbischof von Köln gemacht hatte.

Missbrauchsskandale gaben Anlass

Anlass des Aufrufs sind die Skandale von Kindesmissbrauch durch Priester und Ordensleute. “Die tiefe Krise unserer Kirche fordert, auch jene Probleme anzusprechen, die auf den ersten Blick nicht unmittelbar etwas mit dem Missbrauchsskandal und seiner jahrzehntelangen Vertuschung zu tun haben”, heißt es in dem Papier. “Die Erneuerung kirchlicher Strukturen wird nicht in ängstlicher Abschottung von der Gesellschaft gelingen, sondern nur mit dem Mut zur Selbstkritik und zur Annahme kritischer Impulse – auch von außen.”

Eine Reaktion des Vatikans liegt bislang nicht vor.