The German “Synodal Way” forum on sexual morality has lost a theologian.
According to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, Katharina Westerhorstmann left the forum “not only because of time constraints, but also because of the concrete work in the synodal forum itself,” as reported by Catholic television station K-TV.
The Synodal Way is a contentious multi-year assembly of German bishops and laypeople to address four primary topics: the Church’s power structure, the priesthood, women’s roles, and sexual morality.
Westerhorstmann is a theology professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Austrian branch. She will continue to be a member of the “Synodal Way” and will be able to participate in plenary assembly debates.
She stated that the direction of the synodal forum was obvious from the start. Her proposed revisions “were highlighted in color since they did not suit the intended path” when a draft document was provided, she added.
Hendrik Johannemann, speaking to katholisch.de, the official news website of the German bishops, refuted Westerhorstmann’s claim. Johannemann is a member of the synodal forum on sexual morality and came out as gay earlier this year during the German television campaign “Out in Church.”
According to Johannemann, when text changes were made, all “amendments that were not along the lines of the original text” were marked in color. He said that these adjustments may have been “much more progressive” or “substantially more conservative.”
Westerhorstmann emphasized that she and other synodal forum participants, notably Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau in Bavaria, had previously attempted “to clarify more precisely our perspective of man, which accords to the current teaching of the Church.” The proposed document, however, was not accepted.
Several texts were presented to the Synodal Way plenary session by the synodal forum on sexual morality. They’ve already been voted on once, but they’ll go through two more rounds of debate before being put to a final vote.
“The synodal assembly calls on the bishops to officially allow in their dioceses celebrations of blessing for couples who love each other and want to commit, but to whom sacramental marriage is not available or who do not want to enter into it,” according to one text, “Celebrations of blessing for couples who love each other.”
On the basis of a re-evaluation of homosexuality as a normative variant of human sexuality, this also applies to same-sex couples.”
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican reaffirmed in 2021 that the Church lacks the authority to bless homosexual relationships.
The “Magisterial reassessment of homosexuality,” another document introduced by the Synodal Way forum, calls for a change in Catholic teaching on homosexuality, claiming that sexual orientation is “inseparable” from every human being. The text claims that sexual orientation “is not self-selected and cannot be changed.”
As a result, it calls for a change to the Catholic Church’s Catechism, which states that the Church “has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’
“They are in violation of natural law. They connect the act of sexuality with the gift of life. They don’t stem from genuine affective and sexual compatibility. They cannot be accepted under any circumstances.”