German Catholics fear schism over same-sex marriage

Scores of progressive churches across the country are ignoring a Vatican ban against blessing such unions.

BERLIN — At about 100 churches across the country, Germany’s powerful Roman Catholic progressives are openly defying a recent Vatican prohibition on blessing same-sex unions.

Blessings planned this week at open worship services are the latest pushback from more liberal German Catholics against a document released in March by the Holy See’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which said that Catholic clergy cannot bless samesex unions because God “cannot bless sin.”

The document pleased conservatives and disheartened advocates for LGBTQ Catholics around the globe. But the response has been particularly acute in Germany, where the church has been at the forefront of discussion on hot-button issues such the church’s teaching on homosexuality as part of a formal process of debate and reform.

The dozens of church services celebrating blessings of gay unions are the latest escalation in tensions between conservatives and progressives that have sparked alarm, primarily from the right, that part of the German church might be heading into schism.

Germany is no stranger to schism: 500 years ago, Martin Luther launched the Reformation here.

Pope Francis, who has championed a more decentralized church structure, has already reminded the German hierarchy that it must remain in communion with Rome during its reform process, known as a “synodal path.”

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 same-sex couples at a worship service on Sunday.

“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 was important that LGBTQ people 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.”

The head of the German Bishops Conference last month criticized the grassroots initiative for gay blessings, which is called “Liebe Gewinnt” or “Love Wins.”

Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing said the blessings “are not suitable as an instrument of church political manifestations or political actions.”

However, 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 was planning to attend a church service with gay blessings in the western city of Hamm on Monday at which she would pray for “the success of the synodal path in which we, as a church, recognize sexuality as a positive strength.”

The ZdK has been taking part in the “synodal path” meetings for more than a year with the German Bishops Conference. They are due to conclude in the fall. The meetings include talks about allowing priests to get married, the ordination of women and a different understanding of sexuality, among other reforms. The process was launched as part of the response to revelations of clergy sexual abuse.

“We’re struggling in Germany with a lot of seriousness and intensive theological discourses for the right path,” Mock added. “Things cannot continue the way they did — this is what the crimes and coverups of sexual abuse showed us.

“We need systemic changes, also regarding a reassessment of the ecclesiastical morality of sexuality,” Mock said.