People march with posters and banners during a demonstration at the end of the fall plenary meeting of the German bishops' conference in Fulda. Photo: CNS Catholic lay organisations took to the streets of downtown Fulda under the motto “We remain loud” to express their dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church, on the final day of the German bishops’ annual fall plenary assembly.
On September 23, Catholics demonstrated in front of the 18th-century palace where the bishops met and marched to demand equality, justice and credibility in the Catholic Church after they claim bishops have asked them for years to be patient.
Throughout the week, Catholic lay organisations set up information stands outside the venue.
“This is demoralising. The signs of the times and the questions of justice are so urgent that further delay is no longer an option,” said Beatrix Ahr, one of the spokeswomen for Maria 2.0 Kassel, one of the lay Catholic groups that organised the march.
Catholic lay organisations and victim advisory councils have been pressing for changes since the extent of the Church sexual abuse first came to light in Germany in 2010.
The German Catholic Church is now under severe pressure to act quickly, but is divided by various internal factions among the 27 bishops, most notably an extremely reform-hesitant faction under Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, who was recently confirmed in his post by Pope Francis after an apostolic visitation of his diocese.
The cardinal has been accused of mishandling cases of abuse in the archdiocese.