German Catholic priest blesses same-sex couples. Where’s the Vatican?
And the consequence for blessing a sin and confusing the faithful will be…? Absolutely nothing.
If Catholicism allows anything and everything, the faith will understandably seem malleable too many.
“In a small Catholic parish church in Berlin’s leafy Charlottenburg neighbourhood Father Jan Korditschke will on Sunday defy the official teachings of the Vatican and offer a blessing to same sex couples.
In scenes that are being repeated by Roman Catholic priests at more than 100 churches across Germany this week under the banner Liebe Gewinnt, or “Love wins”, Fr Jan will offer a blessing to any who want it, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
The humble and soft-spoken Fr Jan seems an unlikely figure to take on the Vatican, yet that is what he and his fellow priests are doing.
In March one of the Vatican’s most powerful departments ruled that the church cannot bless same-sex unions because it would amount to “blessing sin”.
“I’m not an activist,” Fr Jan says. “I’m a pastor. I don’t spend my time promoting LGBTQ causes, or any other causes. I spend my time saying mass, hearing confession, and preparing people for baptism.
“But in my work as a pastor I meet a lot of LGBTQ people who want to be a part of our church, and who want its blessing for their love. They tell me about their love for each other, the way it enriches their lives. And I cannot accept that their love is a sin.”
Everyone could use a blessing but that’s not what’s going on here. This priest is specifically blessing the union between two people of the same sex. The Vatican shrugging this off creates a wildfire of confusion for Catholics.
The media predictably only speaks with people who celebrate this “progress” with rainbow pom-poms. They’ve shown no interest in speaking to traditional theologians.
This pretty much sums that up.
It's odd that @AP interviewed 2 people who were in support of this problematic idea, but didn't interview 1 theologian who had defended Church teaching on this matter.
— Fr Matthew P. Schneider LC 🙏 (@FrMatthewLC) May 10, 2021
We aren't hiding: I was cited in the link below & would gladly explain things to AP. https://t.co/Qg567tcWme https://t.co/Cn8WWrKF1b
Dark days are no longer coming. They are here.