Offener Brief von 100 Konvertiten an die Synodenväter – „Wahrheit über die Ehe bekräftigen“


Bischofssynode 2015: 100 Konvertiten fordern die Glaubenslehre unverkürzt zu bewahren
Bischofs­syn­ode 2015: 100 Kon­ver­ti­ten for­dern die Glau­bens­leh­re unver­kürzt zu bewahren

(Rom) Die Syn­oden­vä­ter fan­den in den eigens für sie im Vati­kan ein­ge­rich­te­ten Post­fä­chern einen Brief und einen Appell vor. Bei­des stammt aus den USA und trägt das Datum des 24. Sep­tem­ber, das war der zwei­te Tag des Pasto­ral­be­suchs von Papst Fran­zis­kus in den USA.

Anzei­ge

Der Appell ist ein „Offe­ner Brief an die Syn­ode“ und stammt von 100 Kon­ver­ti­ten, die sich im Erwach­se­nen­al­ter zum katho­li­schen Glau­ben bekehr­ten. Allen gemein­sam ist, daß es zur Kon­ver­si­on gera­de auch des­halb kam, weil sie von der katho­li­schen Leh­re über die Ehe und Sexua­li­tät ange­zo­gen wurden.

Um so irri­tier­ter sind sie heu­te wegen der umstrit­te­nen Dis­kus­si­on, eben die­se Leh­re, die das Leben der Kon­ver­ti­ten von Grund auf ver­än­der­te, ändern zu wol­len. Dage­gen wen­den sie sich mit ihrem Appell an die Syn­oden­vä­ter, die katho­li­sche Ehe- und Moral­leh­re unver­kürzt bei­zu­be­hal­ten und zu bekräftigen.

Die Vor­schlä­ge [Kas­per, For­te] wider­spre­chen nicht nur der katho­li­schen Leh­re, so die Unter­zeich­ner, son­dern lau­fen Gefahr, die Situa­ti­on jener noch zu ver­schlim­mern, denen man vor­gibt, hel­fen zu wollen.

Das Begleit­schrei­ben, der Offe­ne Brief in der Ori­gi­nal­fas­sung und die Namen der Unterzeichner:

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An Open Letter to the Synod from over 100 Converts

Sep­tem­ber 24, 2015

Dear Arch­bi­shop:

I am wri­ting to deli­ver you a copy of an “Open Let­ter to the Syn­od from over 100 Con­verts.“ The let­ter wit­nesses to the fact that for all of us, the Church’s stead­fast­ness on que­sti­ons con­cer­ning the human body was for us a point of attrac­tion, and a sign that the Church was the surest link to Jesus Christ Incarnate.

What occa­si­ons the let­ter are con­cerns about cer­tain pro­po­sals made by some, regar­ding the best way to deal with the cri­sis of the fami­ly in the cur­rent cul­tu­ral con­text. We refer abo­ve all, to the pro­po­sals to chan­ge the Church’s disci­pli­ne regar­ding recep­ti­on of the Eucha­rist for the divorced and civil­ly remar­ried, but also to other ope­nings to co-habi­ta­ti­on, con­tracep­ti­on, and homo­se­xua­li­ty. We think that the afo­re­men­tio­ned pro­po­sals (and ope­nings), not only con­tra­dict the Catho­lic tea­ching about the human body, sexu­al dif­fe­rence, sexua­li­ty, mar­ria­ge and the fami­ly, but that they risk aggravating the very suf­fe­ring they seek to alle­via­te. Abo­ve all, we think that the pro­po­sals in que­sti­on fail to take to heart the real cri­sis of the fami­ly under­ly­ing the pro­blem of divorce, con­tracep­ti­on, coha­bi­ta­ti­on and same-sex attrac­tion which as Bene­dict XVI once obser­ved, is “a fal­se under­stan­ding of the natu­re of human free­dom,“ and even more deep­ly, “the very noti­on of being − of what being human real­ly means.“

All of the over 100 signa­to­ries con­ver­ted to the Catho­lic Church as adults. They include: seni­or mem­bers of one of the world’s lar­gest cha­ri­ta­ble orga­nizati­on, foun­ders of busi­nesses and non-pro­fits, aut­hors, well-known spea­k­ers, lay lea­ders, mem­bers of the judi­cia­ry, lawy­ers, doc­tors, psy­cho­lo­gists, publishers, and pro­fes­sors in many fields from The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca, Not­re Dame, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin, Mount St. Mary’s, Fran­ciscan Uni­ver­si­ty of Steu­ben­ville, Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty, George­town Uni­ver­si­ty, Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty, De Sales Uni­ver­si­ty, Insti­tu­te of World Poli­tics, Prin­ce­ton, Yale, Bos­ton Col­lege, and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to. Many were for­mer mis­sio­na­ries, mini­sters, pastors, rec­tors, priests, and bishops.

As you gather with the Holy Father in Rome for the Syn­od on the fami­ly, we want to offer you the wit­ness of our con­ver­si­on, which testi­fi­es to the attrac­ti­ve­ness of the truth about man and women as it has been “made clear“ by Christ through His Church. We will be pray­ing for you during the Synod.

Yours in Christ,

Mar­ga­ret Har­per McCarthy
Assi­stant Pro­fes­sor of Theo­lo­gi­cal Anthropology,
The John Paul II Insti­tu­te at The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of America
Edi­tor, Humanum

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SYNOD FROM OVER 100 CONVERTS

Your Holi­ness; Dear Fathers in Christ,

We are all con­verts to the Catho­lic faith. Some of us were rai­sed in other Chri­sti­an com­mu­ni­ties; some of us came, unbap­ti­zed, from other faiths; some of us had once been tho­rough­ly secu­lar and thought of our­sel­ves as agno­stics or athe­ists. Despi­te the diver­si­ty of our back­grounds we all have this in com­mon: we ente­red the Church as adults. As you prepa­re for the Syn­od on the Fami­ly we hope that you will be encou­ra­ged by the mul­ti­tu­de of lay faithful who were, and con­ti­n­ue to be, attrac­ted to the Church in lar­ge part becau­se of what she pro­po­ses about the human being in her tea­ching about sexu­al dif­fe­rence, sexua­li­ty, mar­ria­ge and the family.

Ear­ly on, most of us would have objec­ted to at least some ele­ments of the Church’s tea­ching about such mat­ters. Yet, as we began to noti­ce how harmful were the effects of popu­lar con­cep­ti­ons of human sexua­li­ty, and as some of our own con­gre­ga­ti­ons began to give way to the domi­nant cul­tu­re − its ide­as about free­dom, equa­li­ty, pro­gress, and its gro­wing gno­stic ten­den­ci­es − each of us star­ted to suspect that the­re was some­thing right about the Church’s under­stan­ding of things. Unpo­pu­lar though they often were, the Church’s tea­chings about the facts of life beca­me stran­ge­ly attrac­ti­ve to us. And in time, we beca­me con­vin­ced that they expres­sed the deepest truth of our­sel­ves, a truth that is both good and beau­tiful, how­soe­ver deman­ding. What is more, the cer­tain­ty the Church had in her tea­chings and her con­fi­dence in pro­no­un­cing them even in the face of hosti­le oppo­si­ti­on was for us evi­dence that we could encoun­ter in her the life of Jesus Christ as He tru­ly is. As human beings we under­stand the dra­ma­tic natu­re of desi­re and the self-justi­fy­ing “dic­ta­tor­ship“ that often accom­pa­nies it. But as con­verts we also know the ten­den­cy, whe­re­ver eccle­si­al bodies lack a visi­ble, histo­ri­cal, and aut­ho­ri­ta­ti­ve bond with Christ through His vicar, to adapt Chri­stia­ni­ty to the domi­nant men­ta­li­ty. In short, the fact that the Catho­lic Church held fast to the deepest truth about our embo­di­ed human exi­stence was for us a point of attrac­tion, and a sign that the Church was the surest link to Jesus Christ Incarnate.

With respect to the bewil­de­ring diver­si­ty of con­tem­po­ra­ry opi­ni­ons about the human good, espe­ci­al­ly whe­re que­sti­ons about the human body are con­cer­ned, we under­s­tood that the radi­cal natu­re of the Chri­sti­an cla­im − that God, the Son, had taken up all fle­sh into Hims­elf − was at sta­ke. Christ “reve­a­led man to hims­elf“ (Gau­di­um et Spes 22). He ther­eby “made clear“ the mea­ning of our huma­ni­ty – and with it the mea­ning of the body, of sexu­al dif­fe­rence, of sexua­li­ty, mar­ria­ge and the fami­ly. He did this, for exam­p­le, when the Pha­ri­sees asked him about divorce, and he tur­ned them (and his own disci­ples) back to “the begin­ning,“ to human natu­re as it was crea­ted. What is more, he brought some­thing new to that same huma­ni­ty, besto­wing on it, mer­ciful­ly, a share in His own fide­li­ty to the Church. It was not by acci­dent, then, that ear­ly Chri­sti­ans were drawn to the Church through the radi­ant huma­ni­ty of His fol­lo­wers, mani­fest, for exam­p­le, in their uni­que atti­tu­des toward women, child­ren, human sexua­li­ty, and mar­ria­ge. And it was not by acci­dent that, for the same rea­sons, we too were drawn to the Church many cen­tu­ries later.

We are keen­ly awa­re of the dif­fi­cult pasto­ral situa­tions that you will be con­fron­ting at the Syn­od, espe­ci­al­ly tho­se con­cer­ning divorced Catho­lics. We also share some­thing of the bur­den you car­ry in con­fron­ting them. Some of us have expe­ri­en­ced the pain of divorce in our own lives; and vir­tual­ly all of us have fri­ends or clo­se rela­ti­ves who have been so aff­lic­ted. We are the­r­e­fo­re gra­teful that atten­ti­on is being paid to a pro­blem that cau­ses such grie­vous harm to hus­bands and wives, their child­ren, and inde­ed the cul­tu­re at large.

We are wri­ting you, howe­ver, becau­se of our con­cerns about cer­tain pro­po­sals to chan­ge the church’s disci­pli­ne regar­ding com­mu­ni­on for Catho­lics who are divorced and civil­ly re- mar­ried. We are frank­ly sur­pri­sed by the opi­ni­on of some who are pro­po­sing a “way of pen­an­ce“ that would tole­ra­te what the Church has never allo­wed. In our judgment such pro­po­sals fail to do justi­ce to the irre­vo­ca­bi­li­ty of the mar­ria­ge bond, eit­her by wri­ting off the “first“ mar­ria­ge as if it were somehow “dead,“ or, worse, by reco­gnizing its con­tin­ued exi­stence but then doing vio­lence to it. We do not see how the­se pro­po­sals can do anything other than con­tra­dict the Chri­sti­an doc­tri­ne of mar­ria­ge its­elf. But we also fail to see how such inno­va­tions can be, as they cla­im, eit­her pasto­ral or mer­ciful. Howe­ver well mea­ning, pasto­ral respon­ses that do not respect the truth of things can only aggrava­te the very suf­fe­ring that they seek to alle­via­te. We can­not help but think of the aban­do­ned spou­ses and their child­ren. Thin­king of the next gene­ra­ti­on, how can such chan­ges pos­si­bly foster in young peo­p­le an app­re­cia­ti­on of the beau­ty of the indis­so­lu­bi­li­ty of marriage?

Abo­ve all, we think that the pro­po­sals in que­sti­on fail to take to heart the real cri­sis of the fami­ly under­ly­ing the pro­blem of divorce, con­tracep­ti­on, coha­bi­ta­ti­on and same-sex attrac­tion. That cri­sis, as Bene­dict XVI obser­ved, is “a fal­se under­stan­ding of the natu­re of human free­dom.“ Still worse, as he con­tin­ued, we now have to con­front an out­look that “calls into que­sti­on the very noti­on of being − of what being human real­ly means“ (“Address of His Holi­ness Bene­dict XVI on the Occa­si­on of Christ­mas Gree­tings to the Roman Curia,“ 2012). Not only are the chan­ges in the Church’s disci­pli­ne cal­led for by some far from ade­qua­te to the chall­enge befo­re us, they seem to us to capi­tu­la­te to the pro­blem they pur­port to address.

As has ever­yo­ne else, we have wit­nessed the human wrecka­ge brought about by the cul­tu­re of divorce. But as con­verts we have also wit­nessed Chri­sti­an com­pli­ci­ty in that cul­tu­re. We have watched our own com­mu­ni­ties aban­don the ori­gi­nal radi­cal Chri­sti­an wit­ness to the truth about man and woman, tog­e­ther with the pasto­ral accom­p­anime­nt that might have hel­ped them live it.

And so we turn to you. We look to you to uphold Christ’s tea­ching on the indis­so­lu­bi­li­ty of mar­ria­ge with the same fide­li­ty, the same joyful and cou­ra­ge­ous wit­ness the Catho­lic Church has dis­play­ed throug­hout her enti­re histo­ry. Against the world­ly-wise who coun­sel resi­gna­ti­on and con­ce­de defeat, let the Church once again remind the world of the beau­ty of spou­sal fide­li­ty, when lived in unity with Christ. Who is left who can offer the world some­thing other than an echo of its own cyni­cism? Who is left who can lead it toward a real expe­ri­ence of love? Now more than ever the world needs the Church’s pro­phe­tic wit­ness! As Pope Fran­cis said to the thou­sands of young peo­p­le at World Youth Day in Brazil:

„Today, the­re are tho­se who say that mar­ria­ge is out of fashion.…They say that it is not worth making a life-long com­mit­ment, making a defi­ni­ti­ve decis­i­on, ‘fore­ver,’ becau­se we do not know what tomor­row will bring. I ask you, instead, to be revo­lu­tio­na­ries, I ask you to swim against the time; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this cul­tu­re that sees ever­ything as tem­po­ra­ry and that ulti­m­ate­ly belie­ves you are inca­pa­ble of respon­si­bi­li­ty, that belie­ves you are inca­pa­ble of true love.“

As you gather in Rome for the Syn­od on the Fami­ly, we want to offer you the wit­ness of our con­ver­si­on, which testi­fi­es to the attrac­ti­ve­ness of the truth about man and woman as it has been “made clear“ by Christ through His Church. It is our hope that our wit­ness will streng­then yours so that the Church may con­ti­n­ue to be the ans­wer to what the human heart most deep­ly desires.

Sin­ce­re­ly in Christ,

Mark Alder – Direc­tor, Chri­sten­dom Awake

James D. Ander­son − Seni­or Advi­sor, Histo­ry & Theo­lo­gy, The Coming Home Net­work Inter­na­tio­nal; for­mer Luther­an seminarian

Bryan Atkin­son – Hospi­ce Medi­cal Director

Joseph Atkin­son – Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Sacred Scrip­tu­re, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te for Stu­dies in Mar­ria­ge and the Fami­ly at The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca (Washing­ton DC); Direc­tor, Theo­lo­gy of the Fami­ly Pro­ject; for­mer Angli­can priest

Fran­cis J. Beck­wi­th − Pro­fes­sor of Phi­lo­so­phy and Church-Sta­te Stu­dies, Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty; for­mer Pre­si­dent of the Evan­ge­li­cal Theo­lo­gi­cal Socie­ty; for­mer mini­ster in the United Evan­ge­li­cal Churches

Phil­ip Bess − Pro­fes­sor of Archi­tec­tu­re, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Not­re Dame

Rachel­le Belo­kur – Nur­se, Heri­ta­ge Chri­sti­an Ser­vices (New York)

Timo­thy T. Bergs­ma – Phar­ma­co­me­tri­ci­an, Certara

Lau­ra Bra­mon − Inter­na­tio­nal child pro­tec­tion and anti-human traf­ficking specialist

Clin­ton A. Brand − Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor and Chair of the Depart­ment of Eng­lish, Uni­ver­si­ty of St.Thomas (Hou­ston, TX)

Christine-Thérà¨se Broe­sam­le − Mis­sio­na­ry in Afri­ca and Euro­pe; inter­na­tio­nal nego­tia­tor; aut­hor; for­mer Evan­ge­li­cal missionary

J. Bud­zi­szew­ski − Pro­fes­sor of Govern­ment and Phi­lo­so­phy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin

Joshua Belo­kur – Nur­se, High­land Hos­pi­tal (New York) NY); for­mer pastor in The Church of the Nazarene

Gail Buck­ley − Pre­si­dent and Foun­der, Catho­lic Scrip­tu­re Stu­dy Inter­na­tio­nal; Pre­si­dent, The Catho­lic Lea­der­ship Conference

Rev. Mark Can­na­day − Admi­ni­stra­tor of St. Gil­bert of Sempring­ham Catho­lic Church, Per­so­nal Ordi­na­ria­te of the Chair of St. Peter (Reti­red) (Boer­ne, Texas); for­mer Epis­co­pal canon and rector

Ste­ven L. Carl­son − Cate­chist, St. John the Bap­tist Catho­lic Church (Plum City, WI); for­mer mini­ster in the ELCA Luther­an Church

Paul Cates – Pre­si­dent, Faith Chri­sti­an Mini­stries; for­mer Luther­an pastor

Jeff Cavins − Foun­der and Pre­si­dent, The Gre­at Adven­ture Bible Stu­dy System

Charles M. Clo­we − Pre­si­dent, Clo­we Oil Co. (Ard­mo­re, Oklahoma)

Pais­ley H. Clo­we – Tea­cher, music minister

Adam G. Coo­per − Per­ma­nent Fel­low and Asso­cia­te Dean of Rese­arch, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te for Mar­ria­ge and Fami­ly (Mel­bourne); for­mer pastor in the Luther­an Church of Australia

Rob Cor­zi­ne − Vice Pre­si­dent of Pro­grams, St. Paul Cen­ter for Bibli­cal Theology?
David Craw­ford – Asso­cia­te Dean for Aca­de­mic Affairs, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te for Stu­dies in Mar­ria­ge and the Fami­ly at The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca (Washing­ton DC)

David B Cur­rie − Fel­low, St Paul Cen­ter for Bibli­cal Theo­lo­gy; aut­hor; spea­k­er; for­mer fun­da­men­ta­list missionary

Rev. Peter H. Davids − Direc­tor, Hou­se of Stu­dies of the Per­so­nal Ordi­na­ria­te of the Chair of St. Peter; Priest-in-Resi­dence, Our Lady of Wal­sing­ham Catho­lic Church (Hou­ston, TX); Visi­ting Pro­fes­sor of Bible and Applied Theo­lo­gy, Hou­ston Gra­dua­te School of Theo­lo­gy; for­mer Epis­co­pal priest

Alan J. Doks­an­sky − For­mer Bap­tist pastor

Most Rev. Peter J Elliott − Auxi­lia­ry Bishop, Mel­bourne; Direc­tor, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te (Mel­bourne)

Peter G. Epps − Visi­ting Assi­stant Pro­fes­sor of Eng­lish, Okla­ho­ma Sta­te University;
RCIA Coor­di­na­tor, St. Fran­cis of Assi­si Catho­lic Church (Okla­ho­ma City, OK); for­mer pro­fes­sor at Col­lege of Bibli­cal Stu­dies, Hou­ston, TX

Tho­mas F. Farr − Direc­tor, Reli­gious Free­dom Pro­ject, The Ber­kley Cen­ter for Reli­gi­on, Peace, and World Affairs, George­town University

John Fin­nis − Pro­fes­sor Eme­ri­tus of Law and Legal Phi­lo­so­phy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oxford

John Fray­si­er − Owner, Cast­le­Guard Pest Manage­ment, Inc. (New York); for­mer Area Direc­tor, Inter­Var­si­ty Chri­sti­an Fellowship

Clin­ton Fro­scher – Mem­ber, edi­to­ri­al board of Com­mu­nio Inter­na­tio­nal Catho­lic Review; bookseller

Jen­ni­fer Ful­wi­ler – Aut­hor; radio host

Lau­ra L. Gar­cia − Scho­lar in Resi­dence in Phi­lo­so­phy, Bos­ton College

She­rif Gir­gis − Rese­arch Scho­lar, Withers­poon Insti­tu­te; JD can­di­da­te, Yale Law School; PhD can­di­da­te, Prin­ce­ton Uni­ver­si­ty; author

Dawn Eden Gold­stein – Aut­hor; S.T.D can­di­da­te, The Uni­ver­si­ty of St. Mary of the Lake

Gre­go­ry Gra­ham, Direc­tor of Tech­no­lo­gy, Cis­ter­ci­an Pre­pa­ra­to­ry School (Irving, TX)

Geor­ge Grif­fin – For­mer Metho­dist pastor

Mar­cus C. Gro­di – Foun­der and Pre­si­dent, The Coming Home Net­work Inter­na­tio­nal; host, The Jour­ney Home (EWTN); for­mer Pres­by­te­ri­an minister

Jean De Groot − Pro­fes­sor of Phi­lo­so­phy, The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of America

Rev. Lee W. Gross − Dean of Stu­dents, Mount St. Mary’s Semi­na­ry (Emmit­sburg, MD); for­mer Luther­an and Epis­co­pal minister

Scott Hahn – Pro­fes­sor of Theo­lo­gy, Fran­ciscan Uni­ver­si­ty of Steu­ben­ville; aut­hor; for­mer Pro­te­stant pastor

Kim­ber­ly Kirk Hahn – Aut­hor; speaker

Jac­que­line Hal­big von Schlep­pen­bach – Con­sul­tant and Lay Leader

Micha­el Han­by – Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Reli­gi­on and Phi­lo­so­phy of Sci­ence, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te for Stu­dies in Mar­ria­ge and the Fami­ly at The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca (Washing­ton DC)

Gre­ta Har­per – Foun­der, Voices in the Square

Rev. Bri­an W. Har­ri­son − Scho­lar-in-Resi­dence, Obla­tes of Wis­dom Stu­dy Cen­ter (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri); Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor Eme­ri­tus of Theo­lo­gy, Pon­ti­fi­cal Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Puer­to Rico (Pon­ce, PR); Cha­p­lain, St. Mary of Vic­to­ries Cha­pel (St. Lou­is, Missouri)

Father Doug Hay­man − Priest Admi­ni­stra­tor, Church of the Annun­cia­ti­on of the Bles­sed Vir­gin Mary (Otta­wa, Cana­da), a Qua­si-Parish of the Per­so­nal Ordi­na­ria­te of the Chair of St. Peter; Cha­p­lain and Facul­ty mem­ber, Augu­sti­ne Col­lege (Otta­wa); for­mer priest of both the Angli­can Church of Cana­da and the Angli­can Catho­lic Church of Canada

Joy Eliza­beth Hee­bink − Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Reli­gi­on, Wal­dorf Col­lege; for­mer Luther­an (ELCA) pastor

Todd Hartch − Pro­fes­sor of Histo­ry, Eastern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty; for­mer cam­pus mini­ster, Inter­Var­si­ty Chri­sti­an Fellowship

Richard Geor­ge Her­bel − Monk at St. Augustine’s Hou­se (Oxford, Michi­gan); for­mer Luther­an pastor

Frank W. Her­mann − Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Eng­lish, Fran­ciscan Uni­ver­si­ty of Steubenville

Kent R. Hill − Inter­na­tio­nal deve­lo­p­ment exe­cu­ti­ve; reli­gious free­dom acti­vist; for­mer Naza­re­ne Col­lege president

Fr. John L. Hol­le­man – Pastor, Holy Name of Jesus Church (Sem­mes, AL); for­mer Epis­co­pal priest Chan­cell­or of the Arch­dio­ce­se of Grouard-McLennan (Reti­red)

Rod­ney How­sa­re − Pro­fes­sor of Theo­lo­gy, DeSa­les Uni­ver­si­ty; for­mer pastor in the Assem­bly of God Church

Jane Hart­man Irwin − Pro­fes­sor of Music, Lin­coln Land Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege; pia­nist; recor­ding artist

Mike L. Isbell – Mem­ber, Board of Edu­ca­ti­on (Beau­fort Coun­ty, North Caro­li­na); for­mer Disci­ples of Christ pastor

Rev. Joseph Jacob­son – Chan­cell­or of the Arch­dio­ce­se of Grouard-McLennan (Reti­red) (Alber­ta, Cana­da); Paro­chi­al Vicar, Cathe­dral Parish of St. John the Bap­tist (Reti­red) (Alber­ta, Cana­da); for­mer Luther­an pastor and bishop (Alber­ta Syn­od, ELCIC)

Susan Jenk­ins − Pasto­ral Acti­vi­ties Mini­ster, Maria Stein Shri­ne of the Holy Relics (Ohio)

Frank John­son − Master Cate­chist; for­mer United Metho­dist pastor?
Jen­ni­fer John­son − Asso­cia­te Direc­tor, The Ruth Institute

Kathe­ri­ne M. John­son – Aut­hor; adult mini­stry lea­der; for­mer mis­sio­na­ry with Wyclif­fe Bible Translators

Rev. Phil­lip M. John­son − Pastor, Parish of St. Tho­mas More (Cher­ry Hill, New Jer­sey); for­mer Luther­an pastor

Richard John­son – Adult and Fami­ly Mini­stry Direc­tor Holy Spi­rit Catho­lic Church (Dun­can­ville, Texas); for­mer Direc­tor of Per­son­nel, Wyclif­fe Bible Translators

Rev. Car­le­ton P. Jones − Pri­or, St. Domi­nic Prio­ry (Washing­ton, DC); for­mer Angli­can clergyman

Eliza­beth Kan­tor – Aut­hor; Edi­tor, Reg­nery Publishing

Rev. Leo­nard R. Klein – Admi­ni­stra­tor, Cathe­dral of St. Peter and St. Mary’s/St. Patrick’s Parish (Wilm­ing­ton, DE); for­mer Luther­an pastor

Rev. W.E. Knicker­bocker, Jr.− Sacra­men­tal Mini­ster; St. The­re­sa Catho­lic Church (Junc­tion, TX); Pro­fes­sor Eme­ri­tus, Mem­phis Theo­lo­gi­cal Semi­na­ry; for­mer Epis­co­pal priest

Robert C. Koons − Pro­fes­sor of Phi­lo­so­phy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin

Chri­sto­pher Marc LaRo­se − Assi­stant Direc­tor The Coming Home Net­work Inter­na­tio­nal (Reti­red); for­mer United Metho­dist pastor

Jody Vac­ca­ro Lewis − Assi­stant Pro­fes­sor of Sacred Scrip­tu­re, Pon­ti­fi­cal Facul­ty of the Imma­cu­la­te Con­cep­ti­on at the Domi­ni­can Hou­se of Studies

V. Brad­ley Lewis − Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Phi­lo­so­phy, The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of America

Jur­gen Lii­as – Pastor, St. Gre­go­ry the Gre­at Ordi­na­ria­te Catho­lic Church (Bos­ton, MA) for­mer Epis­co­pal priest

Kathe­ri­ne E. Lund­strom − President/​CEO, Firm Foun­da­ti­ons, Inc.

Mar­ga­ret Har­per McCar­thy – Assi­stant Pro­fes­sor of Theo­lo­gi­cal Anthro­po­lo­gy, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te for Stu­dies in Mar­ria­ge and the Fami­ly at The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca; Edi­tor, Humanum

Sr. Lau­ra Marie Men­ge – Novice of the Mis­sio­na­ry Bene­dic­ti­ne Sisters of Tutz­ing; for­mer Luther­an pastor

Sere­na Har­per Mig­gins – Busi­ness Ope­ra­ti­ons Mana­ger, Aqui­nas Com­pa­nies (Hou­ston, TX)

David Mills – Edi­to­ri­al Direc­tor, Ethi­ka Poli­ti­ka; Seni­or Edi­tor, The Stream; for­mer Exe­cu­ti­ve Edi­tor, First Things.

Anca Nemoia­nu − Direc­tor, Inten­si­ve Eng­lish Pro­gram, The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of America

Ala­na New­man − Foun­der and Direc­tor, The Anony­mous Us Pro­ject and The Coali­ti­on Against Repro­duc­ti­ve Trafficking

Rev. Jay Scott New­man – Pastor, St. Mary’s Catho­lic Church (Green­ville, S C)

Rev. David Ous­ley – Pastor, Church of St Micha­el the Arch­an­gel and Bles­sed John Hen­ry New­man Catho­lic Com­mu­ni­ty in the Per­so­nal Ordi­na­ria­te of the Chair of St Peter (Phil­adel­phia); for­mer Epis­co­pal rector

Rev. Dn. Joseph A. Pas­quella – Dea­con of St. Patrick’s (Bell­fast, NY), St. Patrick’s (Fill­mo­re, NY) and Our Lady of the Angels (Cuba, NY); for­mer Pen­te­co­stal minister

Colin Pat­ter­son − Per­ma­nent Fel­low, The John Paul II Insti­tu­te for Mar­ria­ge and Fami­ly (Mel­bourne); for­mer mini­ster in the Uniting Church in Australia

Chad Pirot­te − Ins­truc­tor, School of Faith (Kan­sas City); for­mer Pres­by­te­ri­an pastor

Dale Pol­lard − Pro­fes­sor of Socio­lo­gy and Lea­der­ship, Tri­ni­ty Western Uni­ver­si­ty; Direc­tor, 8th Day Com­mu­ni­ty non-pro­fit; for­mer pastor in the Assem­blies of God

Ste­ve Ray – Aut­hor; spea­k­er; pro­du­cer; pil­grimage guide
Mark Reg­ne­rus − Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Socio­lo­gy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin; Seni­or Fel­low, Austin Insti­tu­te for the Stu­dy of Fami­ly and Cultur

Jay Richards − Assi­stant Rese­arch Pro­fes­sor, School of Busi­ness and Eco­no­mics, The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca; Exe­cu­ti­ve Edi­tor, The Stream

Keith A. Rickert Sr.− for­mer priest in the Inter­na­tio­nal Com­mu­ni­on of The Cha­ris­ma­tic Epis­co­pal Church

Anna Rist – Author?
John Rist − Eme­ri­tus Pro­fes­sor of Clas­sics and Phi­lo­so­phy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto

Chri­sto­pher C. Roberts – Aut­hor; can­di­da­te for the dia­co­na­te, St. Charles Bor­ro­meo Seminary

Rev. Patrick Rohen − Cha­p­lain (Cap­tain), United Sta­tes Army (Reti­red); for­mer Evan­ge­li­cal minister

Devin Rose – Catho­lic apo­lo­gist; author

Austin Ruse – Pre­si­dent, Cen­ter for Fami­ly & Human Rights (C‑Fam)

Cathy Ruse − Seni­or Legal Fel­low, Fami­ly Rese­arch Council

Karen Sado­ck – Cate­chist; for­mer can­di­da­te for priest­hood in the Epis­co­pal Church

Rev. John Saward − Priest-in-char­ge, SS. Gre­go­ry and Augu­sti­ne, Oxford; Fel­low, Black­fri­ars Hall, Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty; for­mer Angli­can clergyman

Mari­an­ne Scar­bo­rough − For­mer Lec­tu­rer in Anci­ent Histo­ry, Salis­bu­ry Uni­ver­si­ty (MD); nfor­mer Angli­can missionary

Joshua W. Schulz – Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Phi­lo­so­phy, DeSa­les Uni­ver­si­ty; Edi­tor, Mari­tain Notebook

Rebec­ca Samu­el Shah – Rese­arch Asso­cia­te, The Ber­kley Cen­ter for Reli­gi­on, Peace and World Affairs, George­town University

Timo­thy Shah – Asso­cia­te Direc­tor of The Reli­gious Free­dom Pro­ject, The Ber­kley Cen­ter for Reli­gi­on, Peace and World Affairs, George­town University

Mark Shiff­man − Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor, Depart­ment of Huma­ni­ties, Vil­lano­va University

Richard Ups­her Smith, Jr. − Pro­fes­sor of Clas­sics, Fran­ciscan Uni­ver­si­ty of Steu­ben­ville; for­mer priest of the Angli­can Church of Cana­da and of ECUSA

R. J. Snell − Pro­fes­sor of Phi­lo­so­phy, Eastern Uni­ver­si­ty; Exe­cu­ti­ve Direc­tor, The Ago­ra Insti­tu­te for Civic Vir­tue and the Com­mon Good

Tim Stap­les − Direc­tor of Apo­lo­ge­tics and Evan­ge­lizati­on, Catho­lic Answers

Msgr. Jef­frey Steen­son – Ordi­na­ry, Per­so­nal Ordi­na­ria­te of the Chair of St. Peter; for­mer Bishop of the Dio­ce­se of the Rio Gran­de in the Epis­co­pal Church USA

Rev. D. Paul Sul­lins − Rese­arch Pro­fes­sor of Socio­lo­gy, The Catho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Ame­ri­ca; Seni­or Fel­low, Mar­ria­ge and Reli­gi­on Rese­arch Insti­tu­te (MARRI); for­mer Angli­can clergyman

Bruce Sul­li­van − Parish cate­chist; advi­sor, Coming Home Net­work Inter­na­tio­nal; for­mer mini­ster in the Church of Christ

Karen Talia­fer­ro − Tho­mas W. Smith Post­doc­to­ral Rese­arch Asso­cia­te, James Madi­son Pro­gram in Ame­ri­can Ide­als & Insti­tu­ti­ons, Prin­ce­ton University

Charles G. Tate – Spe­cial District Judge (Reti­red), Sta­te of Okla­ho­ma; for­mer Pro­te­stant pastor

Rebec­ca Rys­kind Teti − Direc­tor of women’s Pro­grams, Our Lady of Bethes­da Retre­at Center

Paul Thig­pen – Aut­hor; Pro­fes­sor of Theo­lo­gy (Reti­red), Sou­thern Catho­lic Col­lege; for­mer mem­ber of the Natio­nal Advi­so­ry Coun­cil of the U.S.C.C.B.; for­mer Pro­te­stant pastor and missionary

Hila­ry Towers − Deve­lo­p­men­tal Psy­cho­lo­gist; author

Rev. Vaughn A. Tre­co – Cha­p­lain, The Socie­ty of Saint Bede the Venerable Cha­p­lain & Tea­cher, Pro­vi­dence Aca­de­my; for­mer Angli­can clergyman

Wes­ley Vin­cent − Cli­ni­cal Psychologist

Msgr. Peter Wil­kin­son − Pre­la­te of Honour; for­mer Arch­bi­shop of the Angli­can Catho­lic Church of Cana­da Affairs, George­town Uni­ver­si­ty Rese­arch Asso­cia­te, The Ber­kley Cen­ter for Reli­gi­on, Peace and World Asso­cia­te Direc­tor of The Reli­gious Free­dom Pro­ject, The Ber­kley Cen­ter for Reli­gi­on, Peace, and World Affairs, George­town University

Joseph R. Wood − Pro­fes­sor, Insti­tu­te of World Politics

Ste­phen Wood − Pre­si­dent, Fami­ly Life Cen­ter Inter­na­tio­nal; for­mer mini­ster in the Pres­by­te­ri­an Church in America

_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​
24.9.2015

Text: Giu­sep­pe Nardi
Bild: Sinodo2015

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Hel­fen Sie mit! Sichern Sie die Exi­stenz einer unab­hän­gi­gen, kri­ti­schen katho­li­schen Stim­me, der kei­ne Gel­der aus den Töp­fen der Kir­chen­steu­er-Mil­li­ar­den, irgend­wel­cher Orga­ni­sa­tio­nen, Stif­tun­gen oder von Mil­li­ar­dä­ren zuflie­ßen. Die ein­zi­ge Unter­stüt­zung ist Ihre Spen­de. Des­halb ist die­se Stim­me wirk­lich unabhängig.

Katho­li­sches war die erste katho­li­sche Publi­ka­ti­on, die das Pon­ti­fi­kat von Papst Fran­zis­kus kri­tisch beleuch­te­te, als ande­re noch mit Schön­re­den die Qua­dra­tur des Krei­ses versuchten.

Die­se Posi­ti­on haben wir uns weder aus­ge­sucht noch sie gewollt, son­dern im Dienst der Kir­che und des Glau­bens als not­wen­dig und fol­ge­rich­tig erkannt. Damit haben wir die Bericht­erstat­tung verändert.

Das ist müh­sam, es ver­langt eini­ges ab, aber es ist mit Ihrer Hil­fe möglich.

Unter­stüt­zen Sie uns bit­te. Hel­fen Sie uns bitte.

Vergelt’s Gott!

 




 

2 Kommentare

  1. Genau die­se unab­än­der­li­che Leh­re der Kir­che über die Ehe hat Hw Andre­as Hirsch von der Petrus-Bru­der­schaft in unmiss­ver­ständ­li­chen Wor­ten so zusammengefasst:
    -
    [.…]
    „Da Jesus am besten weiss, was für uns gut ist, ist sei­ne Leh­re über die Ehe ein­deu­tig. Er will dabei die Fami­lie schüt­zen, beson­ders Frau und Kin­der. Des­halb ver­bie­tet Jesus die Wie­der­hei­rat und bezeich­net die­se Todsünde 
    als Ehe­bruch: Was Gott ver­bun­den hat, das darf der Mensch nicht tren­nen (Mt 19,6)
    [.…]
    Jesus for­dert die Ehe­bre­che­rin Maria Mag­da­le­na auf, nicht mehr zu sün­di­gen, nach­dem Er sie vom Tod durch Stei­ni­gung ger­ret­tet hat. (Joh 7,53ff). Sie folgt ihm und wird eine gro­sse Büsse­rin und Hei­li­ge. Das ist die wah­re Barm­her­zig­keit Jesu: Erlö­sung der Men­schen von den Sün­den und Hil­fe­stel­lung für die Umkehr und für ein neu­es Leben in Sei­ner Liebe.

    „Wenn dich dein Auge zur Sün­de ver­führt, dann reiss es aus, es ist bes­ser ein­äu­gig ins Him­mel­reich ein­zu­ge­hen als mit bei­den Augen in die ewi­ge Ver­damm­nis“ (Mk 9,47) Damit meint Jesus nicht die Selbst­ver­stüm­me­lung, son­dern die Tren­nung von Lebens­si­tua­tio­nen, die nicht dem Geset­ze Got­tes ent­spre­chen: Got­tes und Men­schen­hass, Ehe­bruch, Unzucht sowie jeg­li­ches Ver­hal­ten gegen die 10 Gebo­te. Wenn wir fal­len, sofort wie­der auf­ste­hen, beich­ten und die gefähr­li­che Situa­ti­on mei­den und mit gutem Vor­satz neu anfan­gen. Für Ehe­bre­cher mit Kin­dern ist zusätz­lich die Tren­nung im Hin­blick auf die Woh­nung gefor­dert, ohne die gemein­sa­me Sor­ge für die Kin­der auf­zu­ge­ben, was mög­lich ist. Ein wei­te­res Zusam­men­le­ben bringt schwe­re Ver­su­chun­gen mit sich, die zur Sün­de füh­ren sowie ein schlech­tes Vor­bild für die eige­nen Kin­der und ande­re Men­schen. Hier müs­sen wir den Ablauf der Ehe rich­tig stellen,die immer nach den Geset­zen Got­tes aus­ge­rich­tet sein muss.

    Nach dem Auf­ge­ben des ehe­bre­che­ri­schen Zusam­men­le­bens und der dar­auf fol­gen­den hl. Beich­te besteht wie­der die Mög­lich­keit, Chri­stus in der hl. Kom­mu­ni­on zu emp­fan­gen, da man den ein­mal geschlos­se­nen Ehe und wie­der hei­lig hält. So wie Chri­stus Sei­ner Kir­che immer treu ist,
    so sind auch die Ehe­part­ner ange­hal­ten, ein­an­der immer treu zu sein. Die Eucha­ri­stie ist die sakra­men­ta­le Ver­ge­gen­wär­ti­gung des Opfers Chri­sti am Kreuz. Chri­stus war aus Lie­be treu – obwohl wir Men­schen untreu waren und sind – und somit müs­sen auch die Ehe­part­ner treu sein und dür­fen nicht Glei­ches mit Glei­chem ver­gel­ten. Man kann nicht im Ehe­bruch leben und gleich­zei­tig zu den Sakra­men­ten gehen, das ist ein Wider­spruch gegen die Lie­be und damit gegen Gott.
    Für die Hei­lig­keit und Unauf­lös­lich­keit der Ehe sind Johan­nes der Täufer,
    Bischof John Fisher und Tho­mas Morus in den Tod gegangen.
    Man muss Gott mehr gehor­chen als den Men­schen (Apg 5,29).
    Wir sind nicht Her­ren über die Barm­her­zig­keit Gottes,
    die immer mit Sei­nen Geset­zen übereinstimmt.
    [.…]
    Nach der Umkehr und der Berei­ni­gung der den Geset­zen Gottes 
    wider­spre­chen­den Situa­tio­nen muss und darf man zur Beich­te gehen.
    Eine Beich­te ohne Been­di­gung des Ehe­bruchs oder ande­rer sünd­haf­ter Situationen
    wäre ungültig
    In der Beich­te emp­fängt man die Ver­ge­bung der Sün­den in der Lie­be und Vergebung
    Jesu wie Maria Magdalena.
    Erst dann ist der Emp­fang Chri­sti in der hl. Kom­mu­ni­on möglich.“
    [.…]
    -

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