(The Pillar. LUKE COPPEN).
The ZdK, which co-sponsored Germany’s “synodal way,” accused the bishops in a May 28 statement of putting the contentious reform project in jeopardy. In a sharply worded message, ZdK said that the bishops had “cast doubt on the extent to which they respect the central resolutions of the synodal way, commit themselves to them, and see them as a central component of their leadership actions.” How, precisely, have the bishops antagonized the ZdK? And what does the strain mean for the “synodal committee,” the body created to advance the synodal way’s agenda over the next few years?
The Pillar takes a look.
Scouts honor
The Catholic Church in Germany is losing hundreds of thousands of members a year. But it still has an impressive network of organizations, ranging from Caritas Germany, one of the country’s biggest welfare institutions, to the German Catholic Scout Association, the nation’s largest scouting group. The association, known by its German initials DPSG, has around 95,000 members, including both boys and girls. It welcomes children from all religious backgrounds, while encouraging members “to discover their spirituality and their relationship with God.” The DSPG has a three-member national executive board, consisting of a chairman, a chairwoman, and a person known as the Bundeskurat (literally, the “national curate”), who is responsible for pastoral care and serves as the association’s spiritual adviser. The current national curate is Fr. Matthias Feldmann, a priest of the Diocese of Essen, who was elected for a three-year term in 2018 and re-elected in 2021.