Cologne in a change: Archbishop Woelki defends parish fusions against criticism

Cologne in a change: Archbishop Woelki defends parish fusions against criticism

Köln, Deutschland - The Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne is in the spotlight of attention, while defending its controversial parish fusions. At the request of the Catholic News Agency (KNA), a spokesman confirmed that the measures are carried out in accordance with church teaching and practice. Archbishop Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki had decided in 2023 to combine 514 parishes in less than 100 large parishes due to falling number of priests and financial bottlenecks. 67 pastoral units have already been formed in the context of this plan and are to be merged into a single parish by 2032, which leads to violent discussion, such as kathpress.at reported.

criticism and guidelines from Rome

However, the plans met with sharp criticism, especially from lawyers like Günter Winands, who argues that the reasons for the mergers do not match canon law. According to his assessment, the general considerations, such as the lack of clerics and compliance with a narrow budget, are not sufficient factors for the merging of parishes. Rather, specific individual cases should be considered in detail. Winands' worries finally heard in the Vatican, where the dicasterium sent a copied statement to Woelki for the clergy to avoid pastoral and legal complications.

Nevertheless, the Archdiocese of Cologne confirmed that it had already been looking for coordination with Rome before the reform process began, and it was confirmed that the step -by -step approach to redesign the pastoral units was perceived and valued. A spokesman for the Archdiocese made it clear that in the future they will continue to follow the requirements of the dicaster and include the opinions of those affected on site to ensure reliability for those involved and to promote the important dialogue. Information about the Archdiocese of Vienna shows that this is followed by a comprehensive pastoral approach that includes 660 parishes and a large number of active priests and helpers, as Erzdioezese-wien.at