Judging by the answers to a questionnaire on family matters which was sent to dioceses around the world by the Synod of Bishops, the Church in Germany is struggling to understand and accept basic Catholic moral teaching.

CNA is reporting on the troubling responses sent by Germany to the Synod of Bishops in preparation for the upcoming Synod on the Family which indicate that the German people and many of her priests and bishops want the Church to become more open to divorce and remarriage as well as to homosexual relations.

Most of the comments on the questionnaire deal with how to pastor the divorced and civilly remarried, cohabiting couples and Catholics who are involved in same-sex unions. The statements reflect the position of the German bishops themselves, in consultation with their laity, as well as with official representatives of religious superiors, theologians, marriage and family pastoral offices, and priests councils.

“While noting that many aspects of Church teaching are neither understood nor accepted, the German bishops do add that Catholics in their nation do at least agree with some of the Church’s teachings: the values of monogamy, faithfulness, fertility, and marriage itself, as well as a rejection of abortion,” CNA reports.

However, they want to see more acceptance of those who do not live up to the demands of the Gospel.

For instance, the cause celebre of the German bishops since 1970s has been to admit the divorced and civilly remarried to the sacraments.

“There can be no doubt that this remains a pivotal issue for the credibility of the Church. There is a very high expectation among the faithful that the Synod of Bishops will open up new paths for pastoral care in this respect,” the questionnaire reads.

The bishops cited select passages from St. John Paul II’s 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio to support the idea of admitting civilly remarried divorcees to the Sacraments, while ignoring passages from the same document which explicitly forbid admittance to Penance and the Eucharist to anyone who was not “sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage.”

They also called for consideration of the Orthodox practice of second marriages after divorce: “it is also proposed to consider blessing a second (civil) marriage, which should however be quite distinct from a church marriage in liturgical terms.”

Questionnaire comments also suggested that the Protestant partner in a marriage to a Catholic might be allowed to receive Communion.

“The exclusion from communion of the partner who belongs to a different denomination is regarded as an obstacle particularly for the Christian upbringing of the children and of the faith life of the family …” the questionnaire states. “(I)n the interest of strengthening sacramental marriage, and when it comes to the Christian upbringing of the children, the question thus needs to be asked as to how the non-Catholic spouse is to take part in the life of the parish and under what circumstances he/she can in fact be admitted to communion.”

As for streamlining the nullification process, which is already under discussion in Rome, this would be “certainly welcome” even though Germans consider this move to be “ineffectual” because most people don’t bother with getting an annulment.

Turning to pastoral care of persons with homosexual tendencies, the bishops noted that Germany has a broad consensus welcoming civil unions, which is “shared by a majority of Catholics,” CNA reports.

The bishops write: “Only a small number of respondents fundamentally reject homosexual relationships as constituting a grave sin. The vast majority expects the Church to carry out a differentiated moral theological evaluation which takes account of pastoral experience and of the findings of the humanities. Most Catholics accept homosexual relationships if the partners practice values such as love, faithfulness, responsibility for one another and reliability, but they do not thereby place homosexual partnerships on the same footing as marriage … Some of the statements also favor a blessing for such partnerships which is distinct from marriage.”

The document concluded that “pastoral care that accepts homosexuals requires a further development of the Church’s sexual morals which incorporates recent findings from the humanities, as well as from anthropological, exegetic and moral theology.”

The German bishops’ document certainly echoes comments made by Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, president of the conference, who said there are “certain expectations” of Germany in helping the Church to open doors and “go down new paths,” and that “in doctrine, we also learn from life.”

Cardinal Marx had added that “we are not a branch of Rome. Each conference of bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its cultural context and must preach the Gospel in its own, original way. We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here,” explaining that the German bishops would pursue its own program of pastoral care for marriages and family regardless of the outcome of October’s Synod on the Family.

This comment brought a swift response from German prelates serving in Rome, such as Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, and Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Cardinal Mueller called Cardinal Marx’ understanding “an absolutely anti-Catholic idea that does not respect the Catholicity of the Church,” adding that bishops conferences “are not a magisterium beside the Magisterium, without the Pope and without communion with all the bishops.”

Even more disturbing, CNA reports on recent surveys which have found that only 54 percent of priests there go to confession even once a year; only 58 percent of priests pray daily; 60 percent of parishioners don’t believe in life after death; and 66 percent don’t believe in Christ’s Resurrection.

Cardinal Cordes observed in March that only 16 percent of Catholics in western Germany believe God to be a personal being, adding that there is thus “no reason to pride ourselves on our faith if we stand in comparison to other countries.”

“If [Cardinal Marx] wanted to express that Germany is an example in leading the faithful to a giving oneself up to Christ, then I think the bishop is fooled by wishful thinking,” Cardinal Cordes wrote.

“The existing German ecclesial apparatus is completely unfit to work against growing secularism.”

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