Munich, Germany, Feb 3, 2022 / 15:25 pm
As the opening assembly of the Synodal Way is taking place in Germany, the “New Beginning” initiative has warned of a schism arising from the country. In a letter to bishops there and around the world, the organizers describe “a spirit of rebellion” at work which betrays the gospel.
In their essay “Seven questions to the Catholic Church in Germany on Freedom and Autonomy” the initiative expressed its concern that the Synodal Way proclaims a new paradigm of radical, absolute self‐determination which may lead the Church in Germany into schism.
The initiative describes itself as an association of theologians, philosophers and anthropologists who call for radical reform in the Catholic Church, but who do not consider the German Synodal Way a viable solution.
The essay says, “The focus is no longer on the Lord ‐ his word and will ‐ but on man ‐ his will, his interests, his identity, his desires, his freedom is to determine what is the matter in the Church, what still seems plausible before the tribunal of modernity … what may and may not be taught and lived.”