The Wanderer, Maike Hickson: As reported on 31 August on OnePeterFive, the German lay organization Zentralkomittee der deutschen Katholiken (ZdK – Central Committee of German Catholics) has now proposed to slacken the demands for priestly celibacy in light of the decreasing numbers of German priests. Thomas Sternberg, the president of the ZdK said in an 29 August interview with the German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine: “If it does not work any more otherwise – if we are losing personnel in the field of pastoral care – and if it is the case that celibacy is an obstacle [sic], then it has to be slackened, because it is less important,” Sternberg explained. In his eyes, to have “imported priests” from other countries cannot be a solution in the long run. Following the Sternberg initiative, the German author Mathias von Gersdorff reports now that representatives of two political parties – the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as well as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – have added support for the discussion about a gradual loosening of priestly celibacy. Von Gersdorff strongly resists such an intrusion by political parties into the Catholic Church’s doctrinal and disciplinary debates, and he calls upon all Catholics in Germany “to resist such an aggressive action against the Catholic Church.” Full article is here.
