CHUR, Switzerland (LifeSiteNews) — A group of faithful Swiss priests in the Diocese of Chur has put out a new statement in response to the mounting pressure for priests and Church employees to sign a pro-LGBT code of conduct issued by a heterodox bishop.
In its statement, the group Churer Priesterkreis suggests that priests, deacons, and all employees of the diocese who are forced to sign the heterodox code of conduct add a clause that states that Catholic teaching has priority over the code of conduct if the two contradict each other.
In April 2022, Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur signed and published the new code and issued a letter to all priests and employees of his diocese saying that the new code would be “binding for all leaders and employees of the diocese from mid-2022 onwards.”
The document is aimed at preventing sexual abuse, but, as the group of faithful Swiss priests has pointed out, it contains passages that are incompatible with Catholic teaching.
In one of these passages, priests must agree to “refrain from sweeping negative assessments of allegedly unbiblical behavior based on sexual orientation.”
The priests noted that this would prevent them from “proclaim[ing] the Church’s teaching on homosexuality as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).”
The CCC teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” “contrary to the natural law,” and can be approved “under no circumstances.”
Priests who commit themselves to the new code would also have to agree “not to actively take up topics related to sexuality, and to refrain from offensive questioning about intimate life and relationship status” when engaging in pastoral conversations.
“This also applies to conversations I have as a supervisor,” the code adds.
According to the priests who issued their first statement against the new code in April 2022, this would prevent priests from asking necessary questions for marriage preparation, which are there to ensure, among other things, that the future spouses agree with the Church’s teaching that marriage is a “sacramental community of life and love between a man and a woman.”
The priests who refuse to sign the code acknowledge that prevention of sexual abuse is important. “The Chur Circle of Priests firmly supports the cause of abuse prevention,” they wrote in their latest statement. However, they reiterated that they cannot support “the implementation of LGBTQ concerns that contradict the Magisterium of the Catholic Church” contained in the code of conduct.
Growing pressure to sign the heterodox code has led the priest group to come up with the idea of adding a clause that gives Church teaching primacy over the heretical contents of the code, as attempts to convince bishop Bonnemain to rewrite the problematic passages have not been fruitful, according to the Swiss priests.
Bonnemain is well-known for his heterodox positions. The Swiss Opus Dei bishop expressed support for same-sex unions and knowingly gave Holy Communion to non-Catholics during his ordination ceremony.
READ: Opus Dei bishop’s support for same-sex unions makes him ‘perfectly unfit’ for office: psychologist
Furthermore, the Swiss prelate has been accused by priests in his diocese of implementing “LGBT ideology” in the Church “under the guise of preventing sexual assault.” Bonnemain has also been accused by two groups of lay Catholics of knowingly tolerating liturgical abuse in the form of women “concelebrating” at Catholic Masses in his diocese.
In October 2022, Bonnemain failed to correct one of his employees who endorsed the use of pornography, and in November of the same year, he abolished the office of exorcist in his diocese, saying that there are “normal solutions” for most problems.
Bonnemain was appointed by Pope Francis as Bishop of Chur in February 2021.