Can this new springtime happen to the USA?
Is this what Pope Benedict XVI prophesied about a smaller but purer Church, purely liberal attractive to those on the verge of becoming nones?
Is this what Pope Benedict XVI prophesied about a smaller but purer Church, purely liberal attractive to those on the verge of becoming nones?
German archdiocese plans to cut parishes from 1,000 to 40
Some jaw-dropping news, from CNA:
A German archdiocese is pressing ahead with plans to dramatically reduce the number of its parishes despite the Vatican’s decision to block a similar plan in another diocese.
CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German language news partner, reported July 15 that Archbishop Stephan Burger intends to turn the archdiocese’s 1,000 parishes into 40 mega parishes.
In a July 14 letter to archdiocesan staff, Archbishop Burger described the proposal as an “adequate response to the challenges facing our archdiocese.”
He said: “At the moment, I see no reason to make any changes to the objectives and the main features of the project.”
The Archdiocese of Freiburg, which has almost 1,000 priests and serves 1.8 million Catholics, is located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. According to official statistics published in June, 22,287 people formally left the Church in the archdiocese in 2019.
The reorganization project, known as “Church Development 2030,” is currently being discussed in deaneries. Their feedback will result in a second draft. After further discussion, a final decision will be taken on the program by the end of the year.
The Vatican intervened last month to stop the Diocese of Trier, located in the west of Germany near the border with Luxembourg, from merging its 887 parishes into 35 larger parishes, following a three-year diocesan synod.
The diocese said that two Vatican departments — the Congregation for Clergy and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts — had raised concerns about “the role of the pastor in the leadership team of the parish, the service of other priests, the conception of the parish bodies, the size of the future parishes and the speed of implementation.”Read more.
13 comments:
Given the largess the Catholic Church receives in Germany from the government, I am surprised this is necessary. When I was in Germany several years ago, I was struck by how few people there attend Sunday Mass. I guess they did not hear about the joys and wonders of Vatican II and the Novus Ordo.
This is already happening in the US, although not quite as dramatically as in Germany. Given the bishops' weak response to the homosexual clerical scandals in the clergy and its overall cowardice during the covid crisis, I suspect the downward trend in Novus Ordo parishes will accelerate.
Let’s say this was occurring in a diocese that is orthodox, has mostly EF Masses and parishes. It seems nones don’t want any form of religion, orthodox or heterodox. Is it best to be a small orthodox diocese or a small heterodox diocese?
well, we will see a lot fuller church than in that picture for the funeral (yet to be announced) of Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, who died overnight. He has been hailed as a civil rights "hero"--understandably for his role in the freedom rides and pushing for voting rights at Selma. But I can only hope his successor (who inevitably will be a Democrat as Lewis's district is one of the most heavily Democratic in the United States) will show more sympathy for the rights of the unborn. Regretfully, Lewis embraced a "woman's right to choose", so much so that about 15 years ago, Atlanta's archbishop at that time barred him from speaking at some event at a Catholic parish because of his support for abortion on demand. When you think about it, what do certain rights like voting, housing and the like matter if there is not the right to life? Yet can anyone think of a lot of civil rights leaders who also opposed abortion on demand?
Father McDonald,
In Freiburg, with 1400 parishes, they had mostly EF Masses and parishes? Pretty astounding. Never heard that before.
FYI, according to the Latin Mass Directory, there is one EF in the Diocese of Freiburg
"New Springtime"
"New Evangelization"
"Hermeneutic of Continuity"
"Extraordinary Form"
"Dialoge"
"Accompaniment"
ALL B.S. TERMS. There was ONE holy Catholic, and apostolic Church. In the Roman Rite we have (or at least had) ONE liturgy (before the Manipulated Rite). The OLD Evangelization (Missionary Work) worked just fine.
Generations from now, Catholics will look upon us and shake their heads in disbelief at our foolishness.
It is unfortunate that the priests, particularly those who are pastors, the bishops on up to the pope himself do not recognize that they are part of the problem. Their pride and acceptance of their interpretation of the teachings of the Council seems to prevent this from happening. Western Christianity is collapsing because it has morphed into something no one intended.
Conversely, I imagine you would be hard pressed to find a TLM parish willing to let laity act as pseudo-presbyters and to receive other than kneeling and on the tongue.
There are two distinct churches within the Roman church. In proportion, one is growing, the other shrinking. Hopefully, those within the shrinking Church will recognize that it is worth saving and perhaps turn to those in the growing Church for guidance or, at least in part, begin to emulate their approach. Again, pride will likely prevent this from ever happening.
As a follow-up on John Lewis---he mentioned getting arrested dozens of times during the Civil Rights era and a few times while in Congress. But as a conservative black organization noted, there was one cause he was not willing to get arrested for---abortion. That is, protesting a abortion clinics. He had a perfect, or near-perfect, record of supporting abortion on demand. Support for federal funding of abortion? Sure thing? Support for banning partial-birth abortion? No way!!! But you won't hear that from the mainstream media! Watch out if some of our bishops want to (in effect) canonize him!
Father McDonald,
We all need a little cheering up. Here is a story that will bring a smile to your face:
https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/a-community-of-cistercian-nuns-is-bringing-medieval-monastic-dynamism-back
Here in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Archbishop Vigneron, in a response to the COVID shutdown, announced the "Unleash the Gospel" program (a diocese wide fundraiser intended to raise billions of dollars) has been cancelled, and will be replaced with the "Family of Parishes" program, which is a plan for "families" to form of 3 to 6 parishes that will operate essentially as one parish with several locations. Every parish is ordered to join a "family", and no parish will be allowed to remain solo. Just about everyone here agrees this is a trojan horse to start closing smaller and weaker parishes and selling off church buildings and property.
AoD,
The Archdiocese of Detroit has been shrinking for decades. An indication of its losses is that a Red Hat is no longer given to its Archbishop. Vigneron has been a huge disappointment. His specialty is attacking faithful, traditional priests who have been effective pastors,
Pierre,
The AOD's problems go back decades, to Cardinal Dearden, who so strongly entrenched the "spirit of Vatican II" into the metro Detroit area, I don't think it will ever recover. Dearden was named by The Wanderer at the time as "the most dangerous heretic in America". To this day,at Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary, is a defaced statue of Jesus who was painted a minstrel blackface by rioters in the 60s, and Dearden ordered it not to be cleaned. Cardinal Szoka, bless his soul, tried his best to undue some of the damage, but Dearden really gave it deep roots. Cardinal Maida sort of muddle through not trying to upset either side, and Vigneron,as you pointed out, has been a huge disappointment. We often pray that Vigneron would be transferred to another diocese and Cardinal Burke would be named Detroit's Archbishop. Alas. our prayers, to date, are unanswered.
Dearden was a bigtime leftwing loon who wreaked havoc on the Church in Detroit. I saw where Father Perrone was exonerated unanimously of all charges and awarded $125,000. Vigneron has said nothing. Another black mark for Vigneron
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