Germany’s Synodal Way Takes a Boring Route| National Catholic Register

In their recent ad limina visit to the Vatican, the German bishops spoke as if the Synodal Path is irreversible and has reached conclusions that are irrevocable as far as they are concerned, putting the Church in Germany on a collision course with Rome, not to mention traditional Catholic teachings on sexual morality, women’s ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions. However, Bishop Georg Bätzing, head of the German episcopal conference, threw cold water on the notion that a schism is looming and stated, “We are Catholics, and we will remain Catholics, but we want to be Catholic in a different way.”

Well, then, there you have it: All of this hullabaloo is just a minor misunderstanding since the Germans desire nothing more than to be a bit “different” from the rest of the universal Church. The problem is that the differences of which Bishop Bätzing speaks are not superficial and are not mere matters of local taste. But Bishop Bätzing knows this, and his downplaying of the crisis at hand as a dispute over a few “differences” is a deflection meant to redirect attention away from the possibility of schism, whatever form that may take.

Germany’s Synodal Way Takes a Boring Route| National Catholic Register