POZNAN, Poland (LifeSiteNews) —The president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference on Tuesday published a letter to his counterpart in Germany, urging him to change course regarding the Synodal Path and to resist the temptations to succumb to popular but un-Christian standards of morality.
“The Catholic Church in Germany is important on the map of Europe, and I am aware that it will either radiate its faith or its unbelief onto the entire continent. Therefore, I look with unease at the actions of the German ‘synodal path’ so far. Observing its fruits, one can get the impression that the Gospel is not always the basis for reflection,” wrote Stanisław Gądecki of Poznan to Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg.
Gądecki invoked Poland and Germany’s “communion of faith,” in which they are “united by more than a thousand years of common history,” and addressed Bätzing “in a spirit of Christian charity” and “fraternal care.” He urged the German bishops to resist various temptations he sees manifested “especially in the context of the ‘synodal path.’”
The German Synodal Path, a series of “synodal” meetings begun at the end of 2019, is a process by which the German bishops seek to change Church teaching on issues such as female priesthood, homosexual relationships, and priestly celibacy. It has been firmly condemned by German Catholic laypeople, as well as by Church prelates.
The first temptation Gądecki warned against is that of believing in the “infallibility of social science,” and comparing Jesus’ teaching “with the current developments in psychology and the social sciences.”
“If something in the Gospel does not agree with” the current prevailing view, “the disciples, wanting to save the Master from being compromised in the eyes of his contemporaries, try to ‘update’ the Gospel,” wrote Gądecki.
He noted that not only have “scientific errors” been made historically with “dramatic consequences,” but “ideological fallacies” occur alongside them, such as those currently underlying “change[s] in attitudes toward sexuality.” As an example of such errors and fallacies, he cited Judith Reisman’s work on the fraudulent but massively influential studies on sexuality by Alfred Kinsey.
Gądecki then mentioned the temptation of “living with an inferiority complex” induced by the “pressure of public opinion,” which he believes many Catholics in both Germany and Poland suffer from during a time when “faith is often rejected, derided, marginalized and ridiculed.”
“Faithful to the Church’s teaching, we should not yield to the pressures of the world or to the patterns of the dominant culture … Let us avoid the repetition of worn-out slogans, and standard demands such as the abolition of celibacy, the priesthood of women, communion for the divorced, and the blessing of same-sex unions,” wrote Gądecki.
He also framed the German synodal “demand to abolish the obligation of priestly celibacy,” included in the text “Commitment to Celibacy in Priestly Ministry,” as capitulating to a “corporate” solution to the problem of decreasing vocations in Germany.
This would be an ineffective solution, argues Gądecki, since “the causes” of the vocations crisis “lie elsewhere.” On the contrary, “the faithful deserve priests who put themselves fully at Christ’s disposal,” he wrote.
Moreover, Gądecki pointed out that the ordination of women, being called for in the text “Women in ministries and offices in the Church,” is theologically untenable.
“St. John Paul II definitively settled this matter,” he wrote, citing the pope’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis: “In order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance … I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”
Gądecki also firmly condemned the working document, “Living in Successful Relationships,” which he noted “endorses the erroneous and scandalous practice of blessing same-sex relationships and attempts to change Church teaching on the sin of homosexual acts.”
Gądecki continued, “The Catechism clearly distinguishes between homosexual inclinations and same-sex acts. It teaches respect for every human being regardless of his or her inclination, but unequivocally condemns same-sex acts as acts against nature (cf. Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9-10).”
“The impermissibility of blessing same-sex couples was reiterated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” he added, referring to the CDF’s Feb. 22, 2021, Responsum to a dubium regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex.
It is now, “when the Church is … under pressure to depart from Jesus’ teachings” that “the authority of the pope and bishops is most needed,” wrote Gądecki. “It is necessary to forcefully proclaim: ‘But there is no other Gospel: there are only some people who sow confusion among you and who would like to twist the Gospel of Christ’ (Gal 1:7).”