Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Freethinker

Home
Nonreligious
Catholic abuse scandals: Church is at ‘a dead end’ says cardinal

Catholic abuse scandals: Church is at ‘a dead end’ says cardinal

Last updated on: June 4, 2021 at 11:00 pm by Barry Duke

Catholic abuse scandals: Church is at ‘a dead end’ says cardinal 2021-06-04T23:00:44+02:00 Barry Duke

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image via YouTube

GERMANY’S Cardinal Reinhard Marx, above, today (Friday) offered to resign over the Catholic Church’s ‘catastrophic’ mishandling of clergy sexual abuse cases, declaring ‘in an extraordinary gesture’ that the scandals had brought the church to ‘a dead end.’

According to this report, the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, where Marx, 67, has served as archbishop since 2007, published his resignation letter to the Pope Francis online, in multiple languages, and the cardinal said Francis had given him permission to make it public. In it he declared:

It is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by Church officials over the past decades.

But he also issued a challenge of sorts for his fellow bishops to use the opportunity of the scandal to save the church and reform it.

Marx, who led the German Bishops’ Conference from 2014 until 2020, wrote that investigations during the last decade showed there had been:

A lot of personal failures and administrative mistakes but also institutional or ‘systemic’ failure.

In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger when the abuse took place, and nearly a third of them were altar boys, according to the report.

Earlier this year, another report came out about the church officials’ handling of alleged sexual abuse in the country’s western Cologne diocese. The archbishop of Hamburg, a former Cologne church official who was faulted in that report, offered his resignation to the pope and was granted a “time out” of unspecified length.

Marx himself has not been implicated in any of the investigative reports to date, but he said all members of the hierarchy shared blame for the failures. A report is expected this summer about the handling of sexual abuse cases in Marx’s archdiocese.

He letter says:

My impression is that we are at a ‘dead end’ which, and this is my paschal hope, also has the potential of becoming a ‘turning point’.

He hoped his offer to resign would be seen as a signal for a new beginning:

For a new awakening of the Church, not only in Germany.

Marx later told reporters that he wasn’t tired of being a bishop, but believed someone had to personally take responsibility for the abuse scandal so that the church can be reformed.

I am convinced that there will be a new epoch of Christianity, there’s no question about it,” he said. “But this can only happen … if the church renews itself and learns from this crisis.

Conservative Catholics will be glad to see the back of him, not least for his belief that the Catholic Church owes LGBT communities an apology:

For its scandalous and terrible treatment of them, which had not changed until very recently.

In 2018, writing for The American Conservative, Rod Dreher described Marx as a “disaster” and, on learning today of his offer of resignation, said:

No kidding, the Catholic Church in Germany really had reached a dead end, if by ‘dead end’ one means the liberal, modernist way forward led by Cdl Marx. He is right to resign. Let someone rise who can offer leadership based in truth.

Image via Youtube

This is mild compared to what LifeSiteNews’ John-Henry Westen said of Marx in January:

Your false teaching on abortion, adultery and homosexual acts have perverted a whole generation of Catholic young people. Many of them now go on to practice abominable acts which cry out to heaven for vengeance, which will imperil their souls and make them suffer in their bodies too, all because you want to twist the truth of Christ for your own benefit.

You want to rub shoulders with the elite of this world. You talk about helping the poor and yet you spent over 20 million US dollars renovating your residences in Munich and Rome. You speak of care for those with homosexual orientation yet you encourage the very behaviours that you know lead to AIDS and other deadly diseases and worse than that to the loss of eternal salvation. Their blood is on your hands.

• Please report any typos/errors to [email protected]

If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee – and boy, do I get through a LOT of coffee keeping this site active – please click the link below.

I’d love a cup of coffee

Previous Post

June 4, 2021

'Jesus is the cure for Covid': Indian nurse denies conversion attempt

Next Post

June 5, 2021 Wife dumps husband & six kids to marry the 'Holy Spirit'

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Archive My Atheism News Opinion Reviews Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 March 2007 April 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul say we see now as in a mirror dimly, but will one day see face to face?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Christ Heaven Knowledge God

Books by This Author Books by The Freethinker

See All Titles »