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| Rome, Open City - and German niceties |
Yes, as part of their ongoing propaganda effort, the German Episcopal Conference (yes, Germany, the nation of almost non-existent priestly confession) has released their working documents for the October Synod on the Family in German, French, Italian -- and, obviously, in Spanish and English, since what they want is to influence proceedings and change views as soon as possible.
Which spares all of us the embarrassment of having to translate texts such as those below:
As a matter of principle, the faithful expect everyone to be accepted both in the Church and in society, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that an atmosphere of appreciation towards all be promoted in the parishes. Almost all responses concur with the view that is put forward in the human sciences (medicine, psychology), namely that sexual orientation is a disposition that is not selected by the individual and that it is unchangeable. It is therefore confusing for the questionnaire to speak of “homosexual tendencies”, and this is considered to be discriminatory.
[Rorate note: that expression, "persons with a homosexual orientation", is the language chosen by a simple majority of the Synod Fathers of the October 2014 Synod in their final report in order to make clear that such individuals are not primarily "homosexuals", and as a reaction to the homo-friendly distorted Forte "midterm report" (relatio post disceptationem), a most embarrassing document, including in its "homosexual language". However, remember that not even that expression reached the 2/3 majority necessary for final approval, and was only included in the text by the imposition of the Pope himself.
So what the German Bishops are doing here is to once again try to impose the distorted language of the rejected report, so deeply rejected that even a less offensive version of it did not reach the 2/3 majority at the 2014 Synod.]
So what the German Bishops are doing here is to once again try to impose the distorted language of the rejected report, so deeply rejected that even a less offensive version of it did not reach the 2/3 majority at the 2014 Synod.]
Only a small number of respondents fundamentally reject homosexual relationships as constituting a grave sin. The vast majority expects the Church to carry out a differentiated moral theological evaluation which takes account of pastoral experience and of the findings of the humanities. Most Catholics accept homosexual relationships if the partners practice values such as love, faithfulness, responsibility for one another and reliability, but they do not thereby place homosexual partnerships on the same footing as marriage. It is a matter of appreciating whilst at the same time stressing differentness. Some of the statements also favour a blessing for such partnerships which is distinct from marriage.
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Most importantly, regarding the German obsession of Eucharistic communion for the "remarried divorcees" which has brought us to the current predicament in the first place, the German Bishops make it clear that they could not care less about Catholic doctrine (unfortunately for their fellow German Cardinal Müller), but only for the Kasperite boilerplate:
On the basis of our pastoral experience, wewould therefore like to explicitly emphasise the question which Cardinal Walter Kasper posed in his address before the College of Cardinals on 20/21 February 2014: “But if a divorced and remarried person is truly sorry that he or she failed in the first marriage, if the commitments from the first marriage are clarified and a return is definitely out of the question, if he or she cannot undo the commitments of a second marriage without new guilt, if he or she strives to the best of his or her ability to live out the second civil marriage on the basis of faith and to raise their children in the faith, if he or she longs for the sacraments as a source of strength in his or her situation, do we then have to refuse or can we refuse him or her the sacrament of penance and communion, after a period of reorientation?”
The German Bishops will try in the October Synod to buy their way out of the immutable doctrine on Marriage established by Our Lord Jesus Christ -- a doctrine they already disobey in practice anyway. Will they manage to do it?
Note: The two documents in English translation are available here and here. Sandro Magister's analysis of the German Bishops' words available here.
(Thanks to two Twitter followers for the links)
