Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
May 03, 2021
Catholic parishes across Germany plan to offer “blessing services for lovers” on and around May 10 in a campaign that is aimed in part at gay and lesbian couples – and will heighten the pressure in the church debate on the issue. In this 2015 file photo, LGBTQ supporters wave a flag outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn) 

Bonn (KNA) “Love wins” – that is the name of the initiative in which Catholic chaplains in parishes across Germany plan to invite people to “blessing services for lovers” on and around May 10. It was launched in Hamburg at the weekend.

The campaign’s website said the aim was to celebrate “the diversity of people’s different life plans and love stories” and to ask for God’s blessing.

Gay and lesbian couples are also invited, which is attracting public attention because the Vatican declared in mid-March that the Catholic Church had no authority to bless same-sex relationships as such unions did not correspond to the divine will. That statement has been widely criticized among church members in Germany. “I have blessed buildings and sugar beet harvesting machines,” said the Wuerzburg priest Burkhard Hose. “So why not also people who love each other?”

“I have blessed buildings and sugar beet harvesting machines,” said the Wuerzburg priest Burkhard Hose. “So why not also people who love each other?”

Hose and Bernd Moenkebuescher, a priest from the town of Hamm in North Rhine-Westphalia, started collecting signatures against Rome’s ban on blessing same-sex couples and have so far gathered some 11,000. Birgit Mock, the vice-president of the Catholic German Women’s Federation (KDFB), said: “The current discussion could lead to a historic step: a positive appreciation of responsibly lived sexuality in the Catholic Church in Germany.”

Mock and Bishop Helmut Dieser head one of four working groups of the Synodal Path reform project. The group deals with sexual morality, and the church’s approach to homosexuality is among its topics. Bishop Dieser has made clear that his office does not allow him to give a mandate to bless gay couples—but added: “In the case of requests to bless same-sex couples, pastoral ministers are bound by their conscience.” That doesn’t sound like a ban. However, the German Bishops’ Conference criticized the blessing services. “They are not suitable as an instrument of church-political manifestations or protest actions,” said the conference president, Bishop Georg Baetzing.

Baetzing is in an awkward position: the Vatican is increasingly critical of the debates in Germany but grassroots members are becoming ever more vocal in their demands for reforms. However, there is strong opposition to change at the universal church level. Australian Cardinal George Pell, for example, warned that part of the church in Germany was “resolutely heading in the wrong direction.”

After Hamburg, there will be further blessing services in about 70 locations. Why around May 10 of all days? Hose, a college chaplain, referred to the Orthodox Church which commemorates the biblical patriarch Noah on this day. God made a covenant with him after the Flood—under the sign of a rainbow. That is not far removed from the colors of the rainbow flag of the gay rights movement.

The argument is unlikely to meet with approval from the Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Hilarion of the Moscow Patriarchate praised the Vatican’s ban on blessing same-sex couples. On this point, the teachings of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches were in agreement, he said.

More: Europe / LGBT

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

A boy mourns over the body of his father and other Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip Oct. 9, 2024. They were killed in an Israeli strike amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (OSV News photo/Ramadan Abed, Reuters)
What motivates the pope in his stand on the war in Gaza? And why are some Jewish partners in dialogue expressing misgivings about his words?
David Neuhaus, S.J.December 04, 2024
Laws aimed at providing "death with dignity" and internet influencers promising to extend life unnaturally are actually two sides of the same coin: In both circumstances, humans usurp a role intended for God.
Joseph VukovDecember 04, 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, and his wife Brigitte Macron, second right, visit the restored interiors of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on Nov. 29, 2024, in Paris. (Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via AP)
Notre-Dame, and many churches in France, are owned by the state and merely used by the church. That gave the French government, and President Macron, a big voice in the restoration project.
Bridget RyderDecember 04, 2024
Voters wait to cast ballots at the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
In the language of Catholic social teaching, we might say that voters doubt whether the political system in which they participate sustains the common good.
The EditorsDecember 04, 2024