Thursday, February 10, 2011

German Jesuit On German Catholic Dissidents

Fr. Hans Langendörfer, S.J.
Father Hans Langendörfer, S.J., the secretary of the German bishops’ conference, has responded to a recent statement by over 140 German theologians calling for changes in Catholic doctrine and discipline. “In their memorandum, many professors of Catholic theology wish to contribute to the conversation about the future of faith and the Church in Germany,” Father Langendörfer said. The priest noted that bishops and theologians have been engaged in “beneficial” structured dialogue for 20 years and that the theologians’ memorandum includes “ideas often discussed together.” 
Link (here) to the full story at Catholic Culture.

1 comment:

TonyD said...

This “dissent” is both good and bad.

Ideally, we should be lead by those who are able to hear divine guidance. It is unfortunate that we don’t currently have such leadership. And while some may want to lay all the blame on the Pope or the hierarchy, that ignores that we are a people who are unable to conform to real divine guidance.

We cannot blame the hierarchy for our values. We have taken unsound teaching and made them our own. And unfortunately, neither historical Church teaching nor logic replaces divine guidance. We are left with poor options.

So we can only try to find a different solution to the leadership problem.

The solution to this problem necessitates a leadership that is not so authoritarian and not so hierarchical. While this is, most definitely, not divine leadership, it is the better option at this point in time.

Perhaps, if we are able to move closer to God’s values, we will become those who can again hear the voice of God.