Ukrainian Catholic bishops have delivered a fraternal correction to the bishops of Germany for their \u201csynodal path\u201d that, among other things, promotes changing Catholic sexual teaching on contraception, masturbation, and homosexuality.<\/p>\n
According to Polish newsmagazine wPolityce.pl, the Ukrainian Episcopate\u2019s Commission for the Family, headed by Bishops Rados\u0142aw Zmitrowicz and Jan Niemiec, sent a letter on Thursday to the German bishops\u2019 own Commission on Marriage and the Family, headed by Bishop Heiner Koch.<\/p>\n
In the February 6 letter, the Ukrainians urge the Germans to stop bowing to LGBT ideology, but instead to remain faithful to the perennial teachings of the Church.<\/p>\n
The parts of the letter translated into Polish and published by journalist Grzegorz G\u00f3rny illustrated that the Ukrainian bishops believe that the German bishops are giving material support to a \u201cmass ideological attack\u201d against the young.<\/p>\n
\u201cLGBT circles are leading a mass ideological attack on our young people and children with the aim of demoralizing them,\u201d the bishops wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe above mentioned organizations justify and support their activities and their propaganda, among other things, with \u2018the new view\u2019 of the German Episcopate,\u201d the continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurts us to observe how LGBT propaganda quotes your wording to fight with Christianity and also with everyone who acknowledges the true anthropology based on Holy Scripture and natural law.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian bishops underscored that both same-sex attracted people and married couples in their dioceses have been affected by the conclusions made by German churchmen at the end of a conference on sexuality they hosted last December in Berlin. These included the ideas that homosexuality is \u201cnormal\u201d and that \u201ca sexual relationship after a divorce and remarriage is no longer generally assessed as being a grave sin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our faithful, who themselves carry the burden of homosexuality and other wounds in the sexual sphere, learning of the statement of your Commission [for the Family], feel powerless in the fight for a chaste life,\u201d the Ukrainian bishops wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarried couples opposed to the contraceptive mentality of this world as well as open to the gift of life feel deep doubt after reading your opinions about birth control.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter writers reported that faithful Catholics in Ukraine are also having to face accusations of apostasy from their Protestant and Orthodox neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our faithful suffer the claims, and even accusations, of other Christians that the Catholic Church is departing from the truth revealed by Christ,\u201d the bishops explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome Protestant communities accuse us of infidelity to the Word of God, and our Orthodox brethren of infidelity to Tradition,\u201d they continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy? Because they see your position not as your private teaching or even as the separate path of the Church in Germany, but as the position of the whole Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Grzegorz G\u00f3rny, the Ukrainian bishops then asked the German bishops to become faithful again to the scriptures and traditional Catholic doctrine.<\/p>\n
G\u00f3rny also reported that in an interview with the Ukrainian website Rodyna, Bishop Zmitrowicz said that \u201cfraternal correction\u201d was not enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that this is above all a spiritual battle and prayer and other forms of penance are of great importance,\u201d Zmitrowicz stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the same temptations. Writing this letter helped us to see that truth that sets us free,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as the German Commission publicly presently the first results of its work, so we dare to present publicly our understanding of faith and morals. We want only to be faithful to the Revelation of God, which we cannot change, reduce, or \u2018sugar-coat\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked why the German bishops were so radically departing from the faith, Zmitrowicz said that he wasn\u2019t sure, but that there is a temptation to \u201cbe like other nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times did the Chosen People of both the Old and New Testaments experience this temptation?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to me that what strongly influences the thinking of some Catholics in Germany and other countries strongly affected by secularization is the environment in which they find themselves. It is a society which has lost real contact with faith in God. That means, they understand their work, rest, health, illness, death, love, marriage, sex and sexuality, education\u2026apart from Gospel revelation. Christian proposals for life seem too marvelous, too beautiful, unrealistic, impossible to practice in this world we live in. People try to adapt teachings and rules for life to the society in which they live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zmitrowicz said that the earliest Christians had the \u201cpower of the Risen Christ\u201d which helped them set aside their old and unhappy lives. Their belief in God \u201cinfected others and slowly changed society.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that he is \u201chappy and proud\u201d that the Catholic Church understands sex (gender) and sexuality so well, mentioning in particular the \u201cTheology of the Body\u201d of St. John Paul II. However, he has grave misgivings about the ideological current in the German Church<\/p>\n
\u201cThe German Commission proposes the opposite direction, which destroys people\u2019s lives. It closes them to the love brought to us by Jesus Christ. Without this love, man cannot be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zmitrowicz hopes that other Bishops\u2019 Conferences in the world will also offer the German Bishops fraternal correction and thinks that the Ukrainians might inspire them to action.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany bishops from different countries have criticized the German ecclesiastical revolution only in their private circles, but they haven\u2019t taken any public stand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy? I don\u2019t know. But their silence is taken as consent.\u201d<\/p>\n