German bishops ready to change policy, allow divorced/remarried and homosexual employees

December 16, 2014

The Catholic bishops of Germany will soon approve a change in policy allowing people in irregular marital arrangements to work for Church agencies, reports Edward Pentin in the National Catholic Register.

Archbishop Stephan Burger of Freiburg im Breisgau said that the bishops would change their existing policy to preserve the “credibility” of the Church. The change would allow for divorced and remarried Catholics, or those living in same-sex unions, to work for Catholic employers.

The German bishops had scheduled a vote on the policy for their November meeting, and reportedly were prepared to endorse the change. But the vote was postponed until April 2015.

Also in November, a German court ruled that a Catholic hospital had the right to dismiss a doctor who was divorced and remarried. That decision upheld the legal validity of the policy that the bishops are now reportedly prepared to abandon.

 

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Further information:

• German Bishops Will Revise Church’s Labor Laws (National Catholic Register)