German bishop: no Church schism

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, Germany, spoke during one of the press briefings about the synod.

“Many people have asked me, ‘Are you still Catholics and part of the Catholic Church?’” Mgr Overbeck said in reference to Germany’s Synodal Way, which has called for changes in Catholic doctrine and discipline. “And I say, ‘Yes, of course, we are Catholics, and we are here to stay.’”

Bishop Overbeck called for a “return to the sources of theological knowledge, beginning with the testimony of the Bible and Catholic tradition, through the findings of scholarly theology, to the faith of the faithful and the signs of the times to be interpreted in the light of the Gospel to make the Christian proclamation credible. We always place Christ at the centre of our faith, but we set aside tradition and habits.”

We belong to God

During his Angelus address on October 22, Pope Francis said that we belong to God: “Jesus affirms the fundamental reality – that man belongs to God: all of man and every human being,” the pope continued. “And this means that we do not belong to any earthly reality, to any ‘Caesar’. We are the Lord’s, and we must not be slaves to any earthly power. Do we remember that we belong to the Lord, or do we let ourselves be shaped by the logic of the world and make work, politics and money our idols to be worshipped?”

Clericalism: Church without a mission

Cardinal Hollerich, the synod’s relator general, during one of the synod press conferences, said the renewal of the service of authority “is certainly not intended to question the authority of ordained ministers and pastors: as successors of the apostles, we pastors have a special mission in the Church.

“But we are pastors of men and women who have received baptism, who want to participate and be co-responsible in the mission of the Church. Where clericalism reigns, there is a Church that does not move, a Church without mission.”

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)