Meet Bishop Robert Zollitsch

The following article, entitled “I Would Like To Have Been a Father” was written by Raimund Neuss and appeared in the February 18, 2008 edition of the Kölnische Rundschau. I printed the German text, then translated it. It’s an interesting article. I liked Bishop Mixa’s accurate warning against seeing women as “baby factories”. I’ve heard such statements from the pulpit on several occasions by a number of priests, that families should have as many kids as possible, since kids are gifts from God – such statements, I might add, fly in the face of Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae….but that’s another story altogether (my opinion: if humans were meant to have a zillion offspring, we’d be born in litters like cats). Zollitsch seems pretty “middle of the road”. Interesting comments regarding sacerdotal celibacy and regarding the gays in the Church. I think his stance on the Lutherans would make most any neo-trad cringe (if not wet his fiddle back)…not to mention the bishop’s willingness to accept divorcees actually as part of the Church. I would have also liked to have seen a statement about single Catholics. So frequently, singles are looked at as freaks who didn’t marry or become priests or religious, although the Catechism states that being single is perfectly fine. If there’s a program for singles in the Church, it’s a support group: “Hi, my name is Hank, and I’m a single…Hi Hank..” My observation: this bishop seems to acknowledge that the Catholics are actually “the good, the bad and the ugly”. So frequently we are mislead to believe that good Catholic families look just like the pictures in the old St. Joseph missals: Father in a sharp business suit, Mother in a neat dress with a perky cardigan and a hat, little son dressed just like dad in his lace-up oxfords, and daughter dressed like mom in white gloves, hat, and nicely polished Mary Janes and neatly folded ankle socks. At any rate, meet Bishop Zollitsch:


Freiburg - Deutliche Worte vor dem Amtsantritt: Von heute an ist der Freiburger Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch Vorsitzender der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, am Wochenende erregte er durch Interviewäußerungen Aufsehen. Zollitsch grenzte sich von Bischöfen wie Walter Mixa (Augsburg) ab, der im Streit um die Kinderbetreuung vor Frauen als „Gebärmaschinen“ gewarnt hatte. Sein Freund und Vorgänger Karl Kardinal Lehmann pflegte so etwas diplomatischer zu formulieren. Hat er sich auch zu Sachthemen ähnlich klar geäußert?
Freiburg – Meaning-filled words before taking office: From today on, the archbishop of Frieburg Robert Zollitsch is the head of the German Conference of Bishops. Over the weekend, his interview comments drew attention. Zollitsch drew away from Bishops like Walter Mixa of Augsburg, who in the child care debate had warned against seeing women as “baby factories”. Zollitsch’s friend and predecessor Karl Cardinal Lehmann was used to formulating such a statement with more diplomacy. Has Zollitsch expressed himself with similar clarity?
Zölibat
In der Frage der Ehelosigkeit der Priester legte er sich nicht fest, warnte aber vor Denkverboten. Einerseits sei der Zölibat ein „großes Geschenk“, andererseits theologisch nicht notwendig. Damit formulierte Zollitsch eine Tatsache: Schon heute gibt es in der katholischen Kirche Priester, die nicht zölibatär leben müssen - Priester ostkirchlicher Riten etwa und zum Katholizismus konvertierte einst anglikanische Geistliche.
Celibacy: Regarding the question of the unmarried status of priests, he gave no definitive stance, but he warned against closed mindedness. On the one hand, celibacy is a “great gift”, but on the other hand, it is theologically unnecessary. With that, Zollitsch presented a fact: Even today there are priests in the Catholic Church who must not live a celibate life: priests of eastern rites for example, and former Anglican clergy who converted to Catholicism.
Ehe
Zollitsch wurde auf den Wunsch des - katholischen - niedersächsischen Ministerpräsidenten Christian Wulff angesprochen, nach seiner Scheidung wieder kirchlich heiraten zu können. Er bekräftigte die geltende Lehre: „Auch für Ministerpräsidenten gilt: Was Gott verbunden hat, darf der Mensch nicht trennen.“ Er äußerte Verständnis für das Leid geschiedener und wiederverheirateter Katholiken, denen nach wie vor die Seelsorge gelte - darüber habe er auch schon mit dem Papst gesprochen. Ein eindeutiger Reformappell war das nicht; Zollitsch ging weniger weit als etwa der Wiener Erzbischof Christoph Kardinal Schönborn, ein enger Vertrauter des heutigen Papstes. Der hatte 2004 in der Totenmesse für den geschiedenen und exkommunizierten Bundespräsidenten Thomas Klestil „Barmherzigkeit mit dem menschlichen Scheitern“ angemahnt.
Marriage: Zollitsch was approached by the Catholic minister president of Lower Saxony that he wanted to marry again in the Church after his divorce. Zollitsch reiterated the pertinent teaching: “It pertains also to minister presidents: What God has joined, men may not divide.” He expressed understanding for the pain of divorced and remarried Catholics, who as before were entitled to spiritual guidance – he even spoke about that with the Pope. This was not a specific plea for reform. Zollitsch went no farther than the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, a very close confidant of the current Pope. At the requiem Mass for the divorced and excommunicated federal president Thomas Klestil, he mentioned “Merciful charity in the case of human weakness”.
Homosexualität
Zur Frage, ob sein Katholizismus für Homosexuelle offen sei, sagte Zollitsch, Homosexualität sei eine „gesellschaftliche Realität“. Er bekräftigte das Recht des Staates, rechtliche Regeln für ihre Lebensgemeinschaften aufzustellen; Ehen seien das nicht. Zollitsch distanziert sich so indirekt von Amtsbrüdern, die eine Gleichstellung homosexueller Partnerschaften mit der Ehe befürchten - die gebe es nicht.
Homosexuality: To the question whether his Catholicism is open to homosexuals, Zollitsch said that Homosexuality is a “social reality”. He supported the right of the state to make rules for its own life-partnerships, that these are not marriages. So Zollitsch distanced himself from his fellow bishops who fear that homosexual partnerships may be held equal to marriage – there is no homosexual marriage.
Protestanten
Gegenüber der evangelischen Kirche ging Zollitsch auf Distanz zur Wortwahl des Vatikan: Man könne ihr das Kirche-Sein nicht absprechen. „Sie ist Kirche, aber eine andere“, die nach katholischem Verständnis nicht im vollumfassenden Sinne Kirche sei. Diese Wortwahl kommt der nahe, die sich EKD-Chef Wolfgang Huber von der katholischen Seite wünscht.
Protestants: Regarding the Lutheran Church, Zollitsch tiptoed around the Vatican’s phrasing that one can not remove their claim from being a Church. “The Lutheran Church is a Church like any other”, which according to Catholic understanding is not a Church in the all-encompassing idea. This choice of words is close to that, which the head of the Lutheran Church, Wolfgang Huber, hopes to hear from the Catholic side.
Fazit
Zollitsch hat mit einzelnen Aussagen große Erwartungen geweckt, sie aber teilweise im gleichen Atemzug wieder eingeschränkt.
Conclusion: Zollitsch wakened great expectations with some of his statements, but dashed them to some extent in the same breath.