Friday June 18, 2021
Sharp criticism of the diocesan council
Woelki wants a “new beginning of the small steps”
The papal investigators have moved away again and Cardinal Woelki speaks of a new beginning in Cologne. All sides should move towards each other. But the non-clerics see the archdiocese at a dead end. And the reformers cannot imagine a future with the cardinal.
In order to overcome the crisis that has been smoldering for months in the Archdiocese of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki has called for a “new beginning of small steps”. “There are contradictions and contradicting positions, and we have to live with these tensions,” he said at the beginning of a two-day meeting of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, the archbishop’s central advisory body. “That’s why we have to approach each other, in small steps,” said Woelki. He assured that he would do his part himself.
The Diocesan Council in the Archdiocese of Cologne – representing the non-clergy – had previously sharply criticized Woelki. “With Cardinal Woelki we have now reached a dead end,” said a statement. “We perceive with bitterness that we can no longer make any progress. The strength of everyone involved is at an end. Our diocese must be revived.” The chairman of the diocesan council, the Lord Mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, held against Woelki that he had not participated in the general meetings of the diocesan council for years.
This week, the two Apostolic Visitators Anders Arborelius and Hans van den Hende completed their one-week visit to Cologne. The Pope’s plenipotentiaries should clarify how the archbishopric dealt with allegations of sexual abuse by priests and whether Woelki made mistakes.
The reform movement “We are Church” no longer sees a future with Woelki in the largest German diocese. Should the Pope leave him in office, “this would cause unforeseeable tremors not only in the Archdiocese of Cologne, but in the entire Church in Germany,” warned “We are Church” on Friday.
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