Cardinal Lehman Attacks Cardinal Brandmüller's Letter in Defense of Celibacy

Cardinal Lehmann attacked Cardinal Brandmüller in his own paper "Glaube und Leben" and shamed himself with an open letter to the Cardinal -- no critical word for the CDU-Politicians -- see the Survey on Lehman  -- speak out!

The Face of Germany's Bloated Hierarchy

Mainz  (kath.net) Cardinal Karl Lehmann, the former President of the German Bishops Conference had sharply attacked the Roman Curial Cardinal Brandmüller, because he had criticized a provocative assertion about celibacy by some CDU-Zdk politicians.  The politicians had made an appeal to the German Bishops advocating for a change in the practice of celibacy.  In this, they posed the question, "how can the growing priest shortage be managed?"

Lehmann spoke in connection with the provacative letter of "eight serving CDU-politicians in the Federal and National level", who recalled "one such inexhaustible theme" that has been discussed in the Church well "over 40years long".  Then the Mainz Bishop spoke of a "climbing priest shortage"  -- a contention, which appeared elsewhere in the last days in "Focus" --which was disproved by editor Alexander Kissler -- if one did not ordain priests "men who've proved themselves in families and occupations".  Lehmann recognized then that he had always took pains so that the Church is also "open to new ways of thinking" with an afterthought about the priesthood, "without that the discussion was already identical with an answer on these difficult questions".  For the Cardinal was also "expectant", that these questions about the "viri probati" [responsible men in families and marriages] would come again in the order of the day, if one were invited to a "Dialog Process" over today's questions.

Then Lehman attacked Cardinal Brandmüller's open letter and opines:  "I'm very ashamed of the tone taken by this open letter, and in all sympathy for the powerful objection of the letter by eight politicians for I have  worked for years as Bishop, active for a long time in Germany.  One must really not compare, if one touches on the subject of 'viri probati', speak of wanting 'another Church',  to put 'the German experience' in play, which 'leads to the path of the schism of a national German church.'"

Beloved by the Media

Lehman showed himself "deeply disappointed", as here for example the sitting Bundespresident, in any case after the Bundespresidents, the second authority in the land, a serving Bundesminister and three highly esteemed Ministerial Presidents are "attacked", who have worked in the Church for decades.  "This is not the style with which we go about our differences of opinion in this country."  For the Mainz Bishop, these opinions are "extreme", and even the opinions of the "Süddeutschen" he regards as "extreme".  "The Dialog Process must seek a new middle, without drifting into lazy compromises.  Hopefully we can come out of this stalled double dialog," he finally concluded.

Parts of Cardinal Brandmuller's letter, Celibacy Originates with the Time of Jesus, here translated from kreuz.net...

You can participate in a poll on kath.net if you want, make the first selection if you think that Cardinal Lehmann should be ashamed of himself for attacking Cardinal Brandmueller.  Most of the readers of kath.net feel that Cardinal Lehman should be ashamed of himself at the bottom of the article, here.

 Thanks to TIA for the photos.