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Baden-Baden / Freiburg (dpa / lsw) - A rainbow flag in front of the church and a blessing service explicitly “for all couples” - what is happening these days at the Baden-Baden Autobahn Church, pastoral consultant Norbert Kasper wants to see as a clear statement: against that recently the Vatican announced no to the blessing of homosexual couples.
Kasper is not alone in his attitude: In the days around May 10th, Catholic parishes are offering blessing services across Germany explicitly for lesbian and gay couples under the motto #liebegewinnt. In the south-west, in addition to the Baden-Baden motorway church, communities in Freiburg and Constance are also participating in the campaign. The Vatican banned the blessing of homosexual couples in mid-March because this "objectively" did not correspond to God's will - and thus triggered a storm of protest in the German Catholic Church.
"We hung up the flag to show that we are concerned with all couples," said the Baden-Baden pastoral advisor Kasper of the German press agency.
He wants to bless lovers for two hours on Sunday lunchtime in the Autobahn church, regardless of their sexual orientation.
The fact that the Vatican says this shouldn't be is as “unnecessary as a goiter,” says Kasper.
Many in the community asked themselves: "What's the point of this now?"
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He had heard of some same-sex couples who had now left the church due to the announcement from Rome.
“That is a loss of diversity,” he regrets.
With the campaign, he and the team who were jointly responsible wanted to show: “This is where this openness exists.
This exclusion should not take place here.
You are welcome here! "
The #liebegewinnt campaign does not meet with great sympathy in the Archdiocese of Freiburg.
A spokeswoman explains: "We believe that holding blessing services as a manifestation of church politics (...) is not very conducive to dialogue within the Catholic Church."
The Synodal Way - an ongoing reform process - seems to be the more appropriate forum for these fundamental discussions.
The diocese had recently declared that it would stick to the no from Rome.
Apparently equating church weddings and blessings for same-sex couples should be avoided, the archdiocese's spokesman said at the time.
This is the will of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - and it is shared in Freiburg too.
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Siegfried Huber, leading pastor of the Catholic parish Freiburg Südwest, does not want to accept this argument. "Anyone who comes to a wedding will clearly notice the difference," he says. Confusing that could only be willful. In the Church of St. Andrew he wants to hold an ecumenical blessing service on Friday, according to the online announcement for people in relationships “who love each other, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity”. “We don't see this as a revolt, but as a matter of course,” says Huber.
Pastor Armin Nagel from Constance, who wants to offer a service for lovers on Monday evening in the Church of St. Peter and Paul, sounds more combative.
He describes the power word from Rome as an "unspeakable announcement".
"After that, it was time for me not just to deliver words, but to follow up with deeds."
The ban on blessing goes by the reality of people's lives "by no means", says Nagel.
"That is a slap in the face for those affected and also for the pastors on site."
If he were to take seriously what the Church is currently teaching, says the pastor, he would have to say to divorced or homosexuals: "Bad luck."
In view of this, it is no wonder that people are leaving the church en masse.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210509-99-525849 / 2
#love won