ROME. Between the Vatican and the German Catholic Church there is “a difficulty in understanding and believing each other”, but trust is possible, by cultivating a relationship of mutual listening, which overcomes dialectical oppositions and rediscovers the common faith in the Gospel. Christian Hennecke, theologian of the diocese of Hildesheim, is convinced of this, who has just published in Germany the book “Raus in eine neue Freiheit”, out in a new freedom, subtitle: “Die Ueberwindung der klerikalen Kirchen”, the overcoming of the clerical Church ( Koesel editions). An opportunity to rethink ordained ministries, both as regards formation courses, beyond the seminary, and for the identification of vocations at the service of the community.
In Germany, the number of people who formally leave the Church, Catholic as well as Protestant, is increasing every year. The sexual abuse scandal has induced the bishops’ conference to start a multi-year synodal process, together with the organization of the laity. The reform proposals touch upon issues – sexual morality, compulsory celibacy, power in the Church, the role of women – which arouse some apprehension in the Vatican. In reality, the crisis is long-lasting, secularization affects Catholicism far beyond Germany. For Christian Hennecke, focolarino, a long tradition with Rome, these problems must be seen in the right perspective. Convinced that we must look to the future without fear, Hennecke does not believe, however, that it is enough to reform and redistribute ecclesial power, nor that the right question is: “How to bring people back to the Church?”.
“I wrote this book because it seems to me that many of the discussions we have take place in a dialectical way, that is, they end up in an opposition that, in the end, does not advance things,” explains the German theologian in this interview. «The clerical Church lives from above and below, the hierarchy which is ‘above’ and the faithful who are ‘below’. But if we turn it around and say “now it is the under that decides”, in reality we fall back into the same problem that we are trying to overcome. Instead, I ask myself what the sacramental ministry can be in the Catholic Church without falling back into this usual historical dialectic of the above / below. If baptism is the maximum dignity of every Christian, then how to develop ministries and services in the people of God that are no longer a delegation from the clergy but the expression of God’s gifts, which are then confirmed by the community, and by the ministry ordered, as an expression of this “vocation”? One can also ask, then, when there are people who lead communities in a group of three, four, five people, as I have seen done in other countries where there are fewer priests, for example in the Philippines, or in Africa, why not to take a step forward and not develop – in the near future – a theology of local ordination? Why not ordain these leaders, for the local church they are already serving? This idea, which was proposed by Bishop Emeritus Fritz Lobinger, seems to me consequential if I begin to think of the church from baptism, without losing sight of our tradition of the sacramental order. And it can have various consequences. Imagine that a person matures to the point where a community recognizes his or her talents and at that point is called upon to serve the community. Can people who mature in these services be called and recognized for a possible sacramental ordination? Is it a way that we can dare to think, starting from our tradition? It is different from the clerical conception which risks thinking of ministries in terms of state of life and position: I have conquered it, I have not yet conquered it. Instead, we should think in terms of ongoing processes. A person goes on a journey, along the way he discovers his talents, the others who live with this person discover them, and there comes a point where a community says: we want to ask this person to become responsible for our Church, and the the bishop orders it ».
How can the formation of future ministers of our Church take shape in this perspective?
“In my opinion, people must have the opportunity to develop their own path of faith. Forming oneself, not because they lack something, but because everyone has the right to develop: it is the joy of growing up and finding one’s own path. And the diocese at a certain point may ask a person: “We need you because you have matured, you have these talents in your life as a Christian, as a Christian, and now we have a task for you … and we also pay you”. In my opinion, in a world like the present one, seminaries are not the ideal place to train young recruits for diocesan service. I don’t think that before the age of 35 or 40 there are people who have matured, who can then be entrusted with such a task. So where can they mature? In my opinion not in seminars, but in their life, at work, in family life or as individuals. In community life, in daily life where people usually reveal themselves, where vocations emerge, where others can understand if that person is suitable to carry out a ministry “.
Do you think parishes are the place to live your faith?
“The parish is not a priori a single community, but a structure that helps people to mature in the various communities that are formed and find their unity in faith. That a parish becomes a homogeneous community, understood in a sociological sense, seems to me rather difficult due to the diversity of the people who are in each parish. It seems more important to me that distinct communities, even very different ones, arise, perhaps in the context of a parish. The parish is the space of possibility to mature in the Christian faith, and it is the place of the announcement of the word and of the Eucharistic celebration, the place where the presence of the Risen One makes the ways of faith grow. How then each, each, each community, each group experiences this maturation will be very different. Not therefore a structure similar to a castle, but a space to which I approach in order to grow; not a place that limits me, but a place that gives me the strength to develop ».
When you say that dialectical thought is a dead end, are you also referring to the dialectic between Rome and the German Church in this historical moment?
“Yes, I mean that too. I think that the problem with dialectics is that the issue under discussion takes a back seat to the opposition. If I affirm that “this and only this way the priest must be”, for example, and you are against this affirmation of mine, you are opposed starting from the thing you oppose. Then somehow the opposition is dependent on the norm. And so it does not come out. The idea of a priest that we have today originated from the Gospel and developed in the great theological tradition, but it is also “clothed” with many ideas developed in the course of history. As long as these two things are not distinguished, one stops in opposition to the “dress” without going to the origin of the question. But history changes, today we live in a different time from the past, and I have to go to the bottom and ask myself what the ordained ministry is for this time, what is it for. If I don’t go to the root, I remain in the oppositions that are not fruitful ».
Is there a risk of an opposition between Rome and Germany which is also mutual dependence?
«Between Rome and Germany at the moment I think there is above all a difficulty in understanding and believing each other. In other words, there is a risk of repeating the same ritual over and over. An idea arrives from Rome and in Germany it is automatically perceived as an aggression against one’s own positions: and then it is thought that we must go to Rome to make people understand what we have devised for the salvation of the whole Church. And vice versa I imagine: from Germany an idea arrives and in Rome there are those who think that German Catholics are actually Protestants. When there is no relationship, you think the other does not understand, or is backward, or is unorthodox. But these are prejudices that have to do not with faith, but with historical constellations. But the faith of the Pope and the faith of a German Catholic are the same faith. It takes relationship, which does not mean that every now and then I write a letter or pay a visit: you have to know the other well, listen to him and understand him starting from his way of life, and vice versa. Relationships are always between people and consist of trust. If there is no trust, and if it’s just a question of power, I don’t get to the relationship. Trust means that I believe in your faith, I don’t say: “your faith will certainly be wrong”. An Italian Catholic, a Pole, a Croatian have the same faith but different traditions to express it. I don’t have to become Polish to have the right faith, but I believe in his faith, and it would be nice if he accepted me for who I am and took my attempt to believe seriously. If the relationship is missing, what is central to Christianity is missing, the relationship of trust between brothers and sisters. And if trust is lacking, in the end two dogmatics are opposed and the confrontation becomes polarized “
Pope Francis often speaks of “unity in diversity” as a way for the synodal future of the Church: what is, according to you, the unity of the Church today, and what is diversity?
“Unity, which is a reality very dear to me, exists where we recognize the common foundation of the Gospel, the common foundation of faith in Christ who is present. I believe that in this age the form of Christianity is that of synodality, which is walking in common. It is important that you walk “in common”. We are all on a journey, and we do not know the future, because this journey, in which we develop, is not a cake that we eat, but a future, from which a person comes to meet us, and makes himself away for us “.
Is it also possible to coexist even between progressives and conservatives, who also show themselves more distant than ever in these years?
«But it already happens. In Berlin, or Frankfurt, or Rome there are different communities, people choose one community or another, based on their inclination, and that’s okay. After all, the Gospels have different theologies, there is the theology of John, that of Paul … The important thing is that I recognize that you come to live the Gospel with your path, and vice versa: believe in each other. I find repugnant populism which divides, and which certainly has nothing to do with the Gospel. We are together in the search for the truth, which is not a dogmatic formulation, but the experience of discovering together the truth that is Christ… It is a process, a path of synodality ”.
Could Christianity be an example for the rest of society with synodality?
«With synodality and brotherhood. And we see it. Where more people live in an authentic relationship, in a more or less explicitly Christian way, this is attractive. Christianity should show the possibility of living happily together despite the distinction. Synodality then seems to me a great school for the whole Church, and it seems to me that Pope Francis is inviting the local Church and the whole Church towards a process in which to find a new world of participation, of common research and discernment. If we learn it, it could also be a model for a world that seeks these paths in an increasingly complex reality. Synodality brings with it a set of attitudes to learn. It would be wonderful if we were able to testify that we are on this path in our Church, highlighting many other attempts at synodality in other Churches, religions and societal practices “.
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