September 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The German bishops continue their march towards schism. Today, on their own website, they published an apologia for same-sex “marriage,” crossing a whole new line in their battle to reform the Church’s basic moral teachings.
In an essay titled “Love Counts” on Katholisch.de, theology student Simon Linder argues that since the “societal climate” in Germany has changed, one does not have to justify oneself anymore when defending the idea of “marriage for all.” Rather, says Linder, those opposed to same-sex “marriages” have to defend themselves. And he asks: “Where does the Church have the idea … that homosexuality is a burden for male and female homosexuals? And more fundamentally: Who gives the Church the right to declare homosexuals as people who are to be pitied?”
In his six-page long essay, Linder criticizes German Bishop Stefan Oster, who oversees the diocese of Passau, for defending the traditional moral teaching of the Church on sexuality, claiming that to say it is a scandal to ask to bless homosexual couples “is a scandal” itself. With reference to Ireland, Linder insists that people are now demanding “more rights for the male and female homosexuals.”
He also refutes the argument that homosexual unions are to be opposed because they cannot be fertile and have children. Linder says:
It is a fact: In earlier times, having children was necessary for being cared for in old age. Today, there is a social system in Germany for retired people who do not have children of their own. Partnership and marriage, therefore, do not need any more to be defined by having children. That is good and important for those who – for whatever reason – are not able to have children. That means: Love counts. Could it be a little less cramped?
Linder proposes a local solution to the question of homosexuality, allowing Germany to go its own way. “'Think globally, act locally,' only this way, we could start to relax,” claims the young man. He also insists that by “merely” repeating the Church's teaching and tradition, one cannot reach people anymore.
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With reference to the interdiction of homosexuality in Holy Scripture, Linder quotes from the recently published German book edited by Stephan Goertz. According to the quoted passage, the Old Testament only condemned homosexuals – “which were then not yet known [sic]” – because one needed to secure offspring for the survival of the Jewish people. Linder writes: “The Bible did not condemn love between homosexuals – one did not even yet know those at the time – but the act itself for the sake of the interest of society. Anyone who wants to interpret the Bible, has to know and consider the circumstances under which the texts were written. Anyone who does not do this, does not do justice to Holy Scripture.”
These comments by a young student, as published by the German Bishops' Conference under the leadership of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, are in opposition to the traditional moral teaching of the Church. In June 2015, Bishop Athanasius Schneider repeated this continual teaching in an interview with LifeSiteNews, saying:
Practicing homosexuals are persons who, in a grave manner, sin against the will of God the Creator, because, by their acts, they reject the fact of the Divine Order of the sexuality. However, the order of the sexuality consists now only of two sexes, the male and the female, and this order has been created and declared as being good by God's infinite wisdom and goodness. If someone revolts consciously in his acts against this order, then he revolts against God's wisdom and love and finally rejects the Will of God in a very important area.