EUROPE: GERMANY: BISHOP'S MESSAGE- WITNESS TO THE RISEN LORD

KATH.NET REPORT: The Church needs, according to the Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke Eichstätter first of everything again the commitment of each baptized person to overcome their current crisis. are more important than all the recipes and image management theories today Christians, their faith not just reel off, but act as witnesses to the faith, the bishop said at the celebration of the respective years in Eichstätt Cathedral.

In his sermon called on Bishop Hanke to a factual analysis of the current situation, the Mirror in a number of leaving the church, which is "frighteningly high and painful." The current crisis in the Church is above all a crisis of faith, of the faith had fallen alarmingly, "the beliefs no longer effective." The teachings of the Church would find in a pluralist offer this Limited Acceptance: "It becomes saturated in the search for meaning in other sources.

The current crisis is also a crisis of confidence, mainly because of the pedophile crimes of priests and religious. The way the church superiors with such crimes and the perpetrators had in the past in any way distinguished from the secular treatment facilities and superior service. "We must have clear call sin as sin and death as a crime." In addition, it has succeeded enough to communicate in force since 2002, described by experts as exemplary guidance in matters of sexual abuse as a basis for action and to make the change of perspective in favor of the victims clearly.


According to the Eichstätt bishop is in view of the church history is not appropriate to describe the current situation as the worst crisis of the church, as happened in some media. The current situation of the church was without a doubt a decision situation.Every baptized person must ask, "Where do I stand in experiential relationship with Jesus Christ?" Way out of a crisis had been in church history always cause individuals who have been proactive and others won to work on problem solving and healing: "The Lord is not looking for the masses, but the individual to change the world". The power of individuals is also needed today to tackle the crisis. "I am not afraid of the future if they see us again and again witnesses of the Risen Lord," said Hanke.

Specifically the bishop said in his New Year's sermon to the parents who make efforts to adolescents endure, the elderly, the cross and suffering, trusting in God's assistance, the young people and particularly the altar inside and acolytes for their service, the priests for their living testimony just in what was an often not an easy year, the staff and the many volunteers who are involved in the parishes, so that the Word of God is alive. He urged Christians to walk with confidence the way as a witness of Jesus Christ by the Holy Scripture often occupied motto: "Do not be afraid."

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