[Catholic Caucus] German bishop says women ‘preach’ in his diocese after Vatican puts brakes on women deacons

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Posted on 10/23/2024 4:25:35 PM PDT by ebb tide

Calling for female deacons, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck told journalists on Tuesday that ‘unless we change’ existing structures within the Catholic Church, ‘we will no longer have priests in our parishes … very soon.’

While Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernàndez declared Monday that the prospect of a female diaconate in the Catholic Church is “not mature,” Germany’s Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck called for a “new answer” for the role of women in the Church, adding that he has commissioned women within his diocese to “preach” and provide “guidance” to the faithful as a way of addressing struggles to fulfil the duties of priests.

In comments delivered following the morning session of the Synod on Synodality on October 22 at the Vatican, Overbeck told journalists that women have taken on select roles due to a dearth of priests operating within his German diocese, coupled with the presence of “priests who cannot speak German because they come from other countries and cultures.”

Overbeck, who leads the Diocese of Essen and is a major proponent of Germany’s controversial Synodal Way, emphasized that cultural shifts in his native country – where “half [of the population] are without faith, without religion, and also without an idea of who God is” – have given rise to a need for “a new answer on the role of women in the Church.”

He also argued that “after 2,000 years … we must provide a new answer concerning the role of women in the Church,” adding that “so far, we have not found an answer to the lack of priests and, unless we change, we will no longer have priests in our parishes, and this is going to happen relatively soon.”

In 2023, Germany’s Catholic bishops voted as part of the national “Synodale Weg” to call for a female diaconate and research into the possibility of women priests and bishops in the broader Catholic Church. The subsequent document stated that the German bishops “advocate in Rome the admission of women to the sacramental diaconate for all those particular Churches which desire this on the basis of their pastoral situation.”

The call was based on a 2022 “foundational text,” again approved by Synodal Way members, which called for ordained female ministries within Germany.

Overbeck himself has pushed the agenda, commissioning some 30 women in two years as “pastoral ministers” for the dispensation of baptism within their respective parishes, with the bishop citing a lack of priests as the reason for bringing women into the role.

In a homily delivered while instituting a group of 13 women for the purpose of conferring the sacrament of baptism in 2022, Overbeck said that, given the “crisis-ridden times,” he hoped that creating female “extraordinary ministers of baptism” would “further steps in the development of the theology of holy orders.”

But Fernàndez’s Monday statement appeared to put the brakes on any developments of an ordained diaconate for women, if not completely ruling the possibility out, with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declaring that Pope Francis “has expressed that in this moment, the matter of the female diaconate is not ripe and has asked that we do not dwell on this possibility at the moment.”

“[The] diaconate for some women does not solve the problem of the millions of women of the Church,” Fernández, who heads a Vatican study group into the possibility of a female diaconate, stated.

While denying imminent moves toward a female diaconate, the cardinal noted that Pope Francis created the “new ministry of catechist” in 2021 in part to allow, “in the absence of priests,” women to “lead communities and perform various functions,” but that “very few” episcopal conferences pursued this.

Female catechists taking on such roles is considered “possible,” Fernández added, “because the Pope had explained in his documents that priestly power, linked to the sacraments, is not necessarily expressed as power or authority, and that there are forms of authority that do not require holy orders.”

This, coupled with “the ministry of acolyte for women … show us that rushing to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not the most important response today for promoting women,” the doctrinal head stated.

In light of Fernández’s declaration, Overbeck was asked in which cases he imagines women can preach within his diocese, given that this constitutes part of the ordained diaconal ministry.

“This depends on what you mean by preaching and its quality,” Overbeck stated. “In my diocese we’ve got very few priests and there are some services in which the only guidance is provided by women. And they also preach, for instance, when there are services with children; they are managed by women.”

The prelate later lamented “another difficulty” in fulfilling priestly duties within his diocese, namely, that “sometimes there are priests who cannot speak German because they come from other countries and cultures … in that case women preach because there is no other way.”

“So, it depends on the situation, really,” the bishop concluded.

Given his background and personal backing of female deacons, Overbeck’s comments highlight the strong push by certain members of the Church to open the doors for women’s ordination, contrary to the teaching of the Church. Made just hours after Fernández tried to pause such activists’ actions, Overbeck’s remarks highlight that the debate will continue unabated in the near future.

1 posted on 10/23/2024 4:25:35 PM PDT by ebb tide

To: Al Hitan; Fedora; irishjuggler; Jaded; kalee; markomalley; miele man; Mrs. Don-o; ...

2 posted on 10/23/2024 4:25:59 PM PDT by ebb tide ("The Spirit of Vatican II" is nothing more than a wicked "ideology" of the modernists.)

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