TYLER, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has condemned the German bishops’ newly approved “rite of blessing” for same-sex “unions” as a “blessing of sin” and branded their defiance of Catholic moral teaching an “arrogance” that is “devastating.”
In a March 16 post on Twitter, Strickland declared, “Let us clearly and vigorously denounce this ‘blessing of sin’ which will bring grave harm to those involved and to the Church. The arrogance is devastating.”
Let us clearly and vigorously denounce this “blessing of sin” which will bring grave harm to those involved and to the Church. The arrogance is devastating… https://t.co/nOXmpEMN0f
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) March 16, 2023
Earlier this month, Strickland called for a worldwide condemnation of the German bishops’ approval of same-sex “blessings,” saying, “The president of every Bishop’s Conference around the world should denounce the schismatic vote of the 38 German bishops who have voted to bless same sex unions. We must speak out and call them to return to Catholic teaching. They have hardened their hearts to the Truth.”
The president of every Bishop’s Conference around the world should denounce the schismatic vote of the 38 German bishops who have voted to bless same sex unions. We must speak out and call them to return to Catholic teaching. They have hardened their hearts to the Truth.
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) March 10, 2023
READ: US bishop slams German Synodal Way: ‘No one has the authority to change Church teaching’
Strickland joins Bishop Donald Hying of Madison in denouncing the German bishops, as well as Cardinal Raymond Burke, former head of the Apostolic Signatura, and Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), who also spoke out against the German Synodal Way in interviews with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN.
The interviews followed a meeting in which the Synodal Way voted overwhelmingly to approve “blessings” for same-sex “unions,” with the two cardinals stating that such a thing is impossible in the context of Church teaching.
Insisting that Catholic teaching on marriage is not up for debate, Burke stated, “It simply needs to be said clearly that the question of God’s plan for man and woman, His plan for the sexual union, His plan for marriage, could be a topic of discussion and debate is absurd.”
READ: ‘Sins against Christ’: Cdls. Burke, Müller slam German bishops’ approval of same-sex ‘blessings’
Last month, Müller denounced the LGBT agenda of the German Synodal Way as a wholesale rejection of the Catholic faith. “The homosexual and gender ideologies, which contradict every scientific, philosophical, and theological anthropology, have replaced the hermeneutics of the Catholic faith in the ‘being different’ Catholicism of the German Synodal sect,” Müller stated.
In recent comments, Müller condemned the Synodal Way as “worse than schism,” saying that the German bishops have abandoned “the very essence of Christianity […] in favor of its transformation into a variant of the materialistic and nihilistic woke culture of man’s self-redemption and self-creation.”
Bishop Hying denounced the stance of the German bishops in a statement in which he reiterated the immutability of the Church’s teaching on marriage, declaring, “No one has the authority to change Church teaching, as if the truth given is malleable and adaptive to changing cultural norms.”
Shortly after the German bishops’ approval of same-sex “blessings,” Bishop Georg Bätzing, the head of the German bishops’ conference (DBK), said that the bishops will implement the practice in Germany regardless of what the Vatican says. In justification of the move, Bätzing said the bishops in Belgium have already implemented same-sex “blessings” and that the practice has “even been agreed upon with Rome.”
READ: Belgian bishop claims Pope Francis approves of blessing ceremony for homosexual couples
The German Synodal Way also voted to approve proposals to introduce women deacons and transgender priests. They showed further disregard for Rome by moving forward on their proposed permanent Synodal Council, which the Vatican has expressly forbidden.
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