Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabruck The vice president of the German bishops’ conference has urged a debate on whether Catholic clergy should bless same-sex unions.
“I’m concerned with fundamental questions of how we deal with each other; although ‘marriage for all’ differs clearly from the Church’s concept of marriage, it’s now a political reality,” said Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabruck.
“We have to ask ourselves how we’re encountering those who form such relationships and are also involved in the Church, how we’re accompanying them pastorally and liturgically.”
In autumn, the first gay weddings were conducted in Germany, following a June 30 vote by the parliament to allow full same-sex marriage.
“Same-sex relationships are generally classified as a grave sin in the Church, but we need to think how we can differentiate,” Bishop Bode said in an interview with the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung daily.
“Shouldn’t we be fairer, given that there is much that’s positive, good and right in this? Should we not, for example, consider a blessing – something not to be confused with a wedding ceremony?”
He said the Church should discuss same-sex unions in more detail and recognise “silence and taboo” settled nothing.
Canons 1055-1057 of the Church’s Code of Canon Law define marriage as an indissoluble union between a man and woman.
June vote
The June vote to allow same-sex marriage was condemned by German church leaders, including Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin, chairman of the church’s Marriage and Family Commission, who said in a statement same-sex cohabitation could be “valued through other institutional arrangements”.