Passau Bishop Stefan Oster rejects key reform demands of the Synodal Path and the planned monitoring of their implementation. In his opinion, implementing the decisions would accelerate the disintegration of the Church in Germany, the bishop wrote in a blog post on February 4. Therefore, he cannot and will not go along with “essential ‘reform demands’ that the Synodal Path has already decided on”.
Although he takes the concerns of many women and queer people seriously, he believes that the Church’s responses “cannot simply be given with the keyword ‘blessings’ or even with a non-sacramental ordination of deaconesses”. In his view, these approaches fall short theologically. “Firstly, because they would immediately trigger further hurt and experiences of discrimination, but also because, in my understanding, they do not sufficiently incorporate what is fundamental in creation and in God’s relationship with his creation,” Bishop Oster said.
The bishop is particularly critical of considerations to review the implementation of the Synodal Path in the German dioceses. This, he says, “basically presupposes a new sexual morality and with it a new anthropology” and assumes that the teaching of the Church must change with Pope Leo XIV. “Since I myself do not expect any changes and am also convinced of the validity and value of the existing doctrine, I cannot agree with most of the points in the monitoring report and its demands for implementation. This is also because, as a deacon, priest and bishop, I have solemnly promised on several occasions to preserve and proclaim the Church’s doctrine,” Bishop Oster explains.
In his view, implementing the monitoring demands would deepen the “divide in the Church” – especially with regard to believers who adhere to the traditional faith. “The gap between them is widening, the supposed centre is moving further and further to the left – and ordinary believers who want to live faithfully according to the sacraments are increasingly becoming apparent extremists on the right wing,” says the bishop. This is fatal, he adds. He also views the planned synodal conference critically, as many magisterially oriented Catholics are likely to feel unrepresented once again. “Self-secularisation continues,” Bishop Oster warns.
