Dioceses

“Only the tip of the iceberg” – that is how the authors of a Swiss study described their findings on sexual abuse in the Church.

Fr Klaus Mertes, who made public the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Germany 13 years ago, struggles to deal with the convicted perpetrators in his order and those who covered up their deeds.

The president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Baetzing, has said he wants blessing ceremonies for same-sex and divorced couples to be offered in his diocese of Limburg while defending controversial resolutions of the Synodal Path for a stronger participation of Catholic laypeople.

The German Association of Catholic Women (kfd) has called on women to preach in Church services.

The Synodal Times was at the Living Synodality Now symposium to chart some of the intriguing insights highlighted during the useful event where both laity and clergy reflected on the fruits of synodality in Ireland and ambitions for the future.

Despite concerns from the Vatican, the German Catholic bishops want to stick to their reform course.

Ian Dunn shrewdly looks at the potential outcomes of the Synod in England and Wales.

‘Scotland went unmentioned in the Continental synthesis and there is a sense here that the big boys in Rome will have their say and we’ll deal with it when the time comes,’ writes Ian Dunn.

Dozens of bishops attended the quadrennial assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania, which concluded on Friday 9th February.