And this just in: Germany’s Catholic left proceeded with its planned same-sex blessing rites and, as you would expect (see previous GetReligion podcast and post on this topic), mainstream journalists were there to capture the details.
Sort of.
Actually, not so much.
The most important content — the precise wording of the blessing prayers, in doctrinal terms — appear to be Missing In Action. It’s possible that, as usual, journalists were not interested in the liturgical and doctrinal details. However, I could imagine a scenario in which journalists were asked by organizers to avoid that doctrinal content, with good cause. That material that will matter to canon lawyers.
Also, there was no need to look for content drawn from interviews with pro-Catechism Catholics who opposed the winds of change blowing in Germany. Clearly, this was a story with only one side that needed to be covered. Here is a key part of the Associated Press report written just before the main wave of events on May 10 (“German Catholics to bless gay unions despite Vatican ban”):
Germany is no stranger to schism: 500 years ago, Martin Luther launched the Reformation here. …
In Berlin, the Rev. Jan Korditschke, a Jesuit who works for the diocese preparing adults for baptism and helps out at the St. Canisius congregation, will lead blessings for queer couples at a worship service May 16.
“I am convinced that homosexual orientation is not bad, nor is homosexual love a sin,” Korditschke told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. “I want to celebrate the love of homosexuals with these blessings because the love of homosexuals is something good.”
The 44-year-old said it is important that homosexuals can show themselves within the Catholic Church and gain more visibility long-term. He said he was not afraid of possible repercussions by high-ranking church officials or the Vatican.
“I stand behind what I am doing, though it is painful for me that I cannot do it in tune with the church leadership,” Korditschke said, adding that “the homophobia of my church makes me angry and I am ashamed of it.”
This is, of course, essential content, and it was important that a few ordained participants spoke on the record.
However, note that this Jesuit speaks as if he truly expects the “repercussions by high-ranking church officials.” This implies that there are German Catholics — lay and ordained, perhaps — who opposed these vague, mysterious, unquoted rites. If so, it would have been good to have heard from them in a story that assumes their existence as doctrinal boogeypersons poised to pounce in the near future.
The Associated Press story is a perfect example of a trend that has only grown in the Internet age.
People on the left side of this drama get to speak for themselves (which is good). They are real people, you see, complete with ideas and emotions. However, Catholics who oppose these rites are, by definition, church officials who are best represented by pieces of digital paper. There is no need to speak to them or hear their answers to basic questions.
Perhaps they declined interviews? If that is the case, then it is best for journalists to say that.
But back to the AP story. Here is more essential information from, of course, the organizers of the event.
Germany’s powerful lay organization, the Central Committee of German Catholics, or ZdK, which has been advocating for gay blessings since 2015, positioned itself once more in favor of them. It called the contentious document from Rome “not very helpful” and explicitly expressed its support for ”Love Wins.”
“These are celebrations of worship in which people express to God what moves them,” Birgit Mock, the ZdK’s spokeswoman for family affairs, told the AP.
“The fact that they ask for God’s blessing and thank him for all the good in their lives — also for relationships lived with mutual respect and full of love — that is deeply based on the Gospel,” Mock said, adding that she herself was planning to attend a church service with gay blessings in the western city of Hamm on Monday in which she would pray for ”the success of the synodal path in which we, as a church, recognize sexuality as a positive strength.”
The “synodal path” reference, of course, refers to the wider agenda of German Catholic progressives who want to modernize Catholic doctrine on a number of other issues, such as the ordination of women.
Meanwhile, the New York Times report, with a Berlin dateline, covered basically the same territory using the same basic approach to reporting (“German Catholic Priests Defy Rome to Offer Blessings to Gay Couples”). Liberals are real people. Conservatives are pieces of (digital) paper, except for the nameless folks who are alleged to have called in unquoted death threats.
I did find this statement of fact — unattributed, of course — to be quite interesting:
The German church is among the most powerful and liberal in the world, and Roman Catholics everywhere were watching the response to the blessings for signals of how the church might respond to attempts at reform from those in the pews and from the priests who are often among those most active in finding ways to include gay men and lesbians in the church.
In what sense is the German church — with its plunging membership totals and rapidly thinning ranks of priests — one of the “most powerful” branches of Catholicism today? Is this academic and media clout, as opposed to the explosive growth of the church in Africa? And if we are talking about the high number of German (and European, in general) cardinals, is this a good thing or a remnant of a colonial era?
Once again, I kept looking for actual information about the nature of the rites themselves. What, precisely, is a “blessing”? Were were new prayers? Were individual couples blessed by name or were the blessings offered for a larger assembly of couples of various kinds? Read on:
The Rev. Bernd Mönkebüscher, pastor in the Church of St. Agnes in the western town of Hamm and one of the initiators of the campaign, said that every Valentine’s Day, his parish holds blessings for all couples, including those from same-sex unions and those who remarried after a divorce.
“We held a blessing service this Valentine’s Day, but it was important to us in view of this story from Rome to send a clear signal that the church must recognize, honor and appreciate life in all of its many colors,” said Father Mönkebüscher, who identifies as gay. “It is an important gesture toward those people who the church for years, if not decades, has viewed as second-class citizens.” …
During the ceremony, Father Mönkebüscher walked around the nave, approaching couples who sat in pairs, socially distanced and masked. They rose as he placed a hand on their shoulders and spoke a blessing as they bowed their heads. After one lesbian couple had received their blessing, they dropped their masks and shared a kiss, wiping away tears.
Once again, it appears that editors in the Times team were not interested in the religious and/or liturgical content of these rites.
However, the reporting over at the National Catholic Register (“German Catholics Defy Vatican With Blessing Ceremonies for Same-Sex Couples”) did manage to report a few details — despite the fact its journalists were representing a conservative newsroom.
The key: Participating couples were encouraged to move into a more private setting for individual blessing rites. The texts for these rites would be crucial, for those who care about doctrinal content.
This is very long, but it is packed with interesting details:
In many places, a general blessing was given at the end of the service, which, however, explicitly included homosexual couples and their relationships. Sometimes individual blessings were offered after the ceremony.
According to the organizers of a service at the Liebfrauenkirche in Frankfurt, “At the end of the Mass [...] Capuchin friars were available to all couples for personal blessings.” The church, dedicated to Mary, belongs to the Diocese of Limburg, led by Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German bishops’ conference.
In the Augustinian Church in Würzburg, too, all couples — expressly including same-sex couples — were invited to “come and get” the individual blessing in a backroom after the service.
The order of service varied from place to place. A participant who attended the blessing ceremony in Cologne told CNA Deutsch that the ceremony was like a “political event.” The event was led by a female pastoral counselor in liturgical robes, who explained that she had already quit her church service.
After some political statements, the Gospel was read aloud, followed by a speech. Finally, the song Imagine by John Lennon was played.
Keep reading, noting especially the statements that the blessings are nothing new.
At the Würzburg youth church, an organizer spoke about the “anger and sadness” that had prevailed since the Vatican intervention. A temporary “wall” was set up in the sanctuary, and participants were asked to write down “everything that upsets you” and place their writing on the wall.
The Church should not presume to define what love is, the organizer commented: “Love is not a sin; we are all blessed, fundamentally. Let us build on that.”
At the same time, in the nearby Augustinian Church, the priest emphasized that God’s blessing belongs to “all people.”
“We can’t help but bless,” the priest continued, adding that those who blessed same-sex partnerships were following their consciences.
Würzburg student pastor Father Burkard Hose confirmed in his address during the blessing ceremony that in the past many people had been blessed “in secret.”
“We will continue to do this,” he said, adding: “The Church does not have the authority to withhold blessings.”
What happens next?
As always, that depends on the actions of bishops in German and Rome (see my “On Religion” column on that angle). The CNA report noted:
Several German bishops have previously spoken in favor of blessings for homosexual unions, including Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, Bishop Helmut Dieser of Aachen, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz and Bishop Heinrich Timmerevers of Dresden-Meissen.
CNA Deutsch reported that the bishop of Essen said in an interview last month that he would “not suspend a priest in his diocese or impose other Church penalties on him” if the cleric blessed same-sex couples. The Essen Diocese recently hosted an event declaring that same-sex blessings were a matter of “not if, but how.”
I will end by restating my basic question: Liturgically speaking, what is a “blessing”? What is the doctrinal content of this vague, mysterious rite?
With that in mind, here is one final quote from the CNA report:
Helmut Hoping, a professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Freiburg, told CNA Deutsch that some of the priests conducting blessings “also openly advocate opening the sacrament of marriage to same-sex couples in the medium term.”
The sacrament of marriage? Stay tuned.