Germany's supreme bishop is appealing to the "rich north and west" to practice abstaining from consumption and "lived social responsibility". The coming autumn is a realistic training ground for this. The field should not be left to the splitters of society.
According to the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, Germany has to make do with less prosperity. "Especially we here in the rich north and west have to find a different way of life," said the Limburg bishop in the opening service of the autumn plenary assembly of the bishops' conference in Fulda.
"Due to the energy crisis, the coming autumn and winter will be a realistic training ground. Will we be able to stick together as a society, take care of one another and not leave the field to those who willfully provoke divisions and aim to do so by cutting back on consumption and living social responsibility? to destabilize our democracy?"
Anyone who secretly thinks that one can somehow make ends meet without major cuts in one's own prosperity is mistaken. A simple "Keep it up!" be extremely dangerous. "Progress based on optimization strategies that have been practiced for a long time can only appear opportune to those who refuse to face the crisis-ridden reality," said Bätzing. The limitations of the earth had been doggedly ignored for too long. "If we continue as before, we will have no future," warned the Catholic churchman.
In his church, Bätzing is currently struggling to find a new course: "Always voting no is certainly not the right way," said the Limburg bishop on Monday, with a view to the failure of an important reform initiative for Catholic sexual morality. At the fourth synodal assembly of German Catholics earlier this month in Frankfurt/Main, the basic text failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority from the bishops.
The reform movement "We are Church" appealed to the bishops on Monday not to remain closed to reforms. "Are the German bishops and auxiliary bishops aware that through their actions or inactions they bear a significant responsibility for the continued existence of Christianity in our country and in our culture?" asked "We are Church" spokesman Christian Weisner. In the past year alone, 359,338 Catholics in Germany turned their backs on their church, more than ever before.
