The Crisis in German Catholicism

George Weigel shoots straight here about the crisis in German Catholicism.

There is a fundamental crisis of faith at the heart of the German church, but…

When one tries to discuss this catastrophe with senior German churchmen, one rarely finds, these days, a sobered openness, born of the recognition that something has gone terribly wrong and that another approach to evangelization and catechesis must be found—an “All-In Catholicism” rooted in the joy of the Gospel preached and lived in its full integrity. Rather, what you often find is a stubborn doubling-down. “You don’t understand our situation” is the antiphon, typically spoken with some vehemence.

Yet is it really the case that we obtuse non-Germans don’t understand? The statistics on German Catholic practice—more accurately, the lack thereof—are not pontifical secrets. Those statistics are embodied by what visitors observe in German cities on Sunday: largely empty churches. Now comes this report for the synod, which suggests that, on matters of marriage, the family, the morality of human love, and the things that make for genuine happiness, German Catholic thinking is virtually indistinguishable from that of non-believers.

I commented on this problem for National Catholic Register this week–comparing the German relationship with the state to the conditions in the Church of England.

And still the German episcopate suggests that more dumbing down of Catholic doctrine and practice is the answer, now on a global scale. It’s quite remarkable. And it will certainly be remarked upon, and not favorably, in Rome in October.

Uh huh. It’s the typical example of modernist madness. The definition of insanity being that you do the same thing but expect a different result.

So after seeing the disaster of modernism in the church, what do they prescribe? More modernism.

I’ve written more about this weird and disturbing phenomenon here.

Go here to read Weigel’s whole article

Image via Bing