The future of the church: Reform dialogue between bishops and lay people picks up speed!

The future of the church: Reform dialogue between bishops and lay people picks up speed!

Wiesbaden, Deutschland - Bonn, December 14, 2024 - The German Catholic Church faces decisive changes, as the latest developments in the reform dialogue show. At the third meeting of the Synodal Committee in Wiesbaden-Naurod last weekend, concrete steps for the future of the synodal path were discussed. The aim is to design a draft statutes for a national synodal body that should include both bishops and laypeople in the decision -making processes to advise on important topics of the church and social developments. The focus is on financial issues and the intended improvement of the cooperation between the different committees in order not to create an additional supervisory level, as in a report by kathpress.at was.

An unexpected turn took the meeting by resigning the spiritual companions of the reform project. Sister Igna Kramp and Peter Hundertmark gave up their offices due to inconsistencies within the body and a loss of trust between the companions and the members of the committee. These differences became clear for the first time during the summer meeting when there were attacks in the discussions and ambiguities about the moderation competence of the spiritual companions. This meant that the two decided not to accompany the process further, as reported by the online portal of domradio.de . The German Bishops' Conference regrets this step, but also sees an opportunity to gain new companions from the ranks of the committee in order to continue the reform process.

New companion team for the synodal committee

Responsibility for the spiritual accompaniment has now been transferred to two new members: the pastoral consultant Konstantin Bischoff and the nurse nurse Katharina Kluitmann. This is a strategic step to not only continue the reform process that was initiated in 2019, but also to strengthen. The Synodal Committee plays a central role in conducting the advice on possible reforms in the Catholic Church and will continue to deal with topics such as teaching on marital love in the upcoming body. The demand for a contemporary appreciation of various aspects of marriage is in the room, while at the same time the perspectives of bishops and laypersons should also flow into the discussion.