In an open letter published on 10 January, eleven priests from the archdiocese of Cologne have emphasised how crucial it is for the Church to admit women to the priesthood and make celibacy voluntary.
It makes no sense “continuously to pray to the Holy Spirit for vocations, if, at the same time, women are excluded from the priesthood. We urgently need to forge ahead with courageous initiatives regarding admission to the priesthood”, the priests write.
The priests also point out that although they all accepted celibacy, they did not choose it. “Celibacy seldom releases a spiritual source for pastoral work”, they point out, "but often leads either to loneliness and social isolation or to frantic workaholism”.
They are also sharply critical of parish clustering. It only helps to increase the ongoing “anonymisation” and isolation taking place in society, they say. “For us – and for many others – these questions are burning issues and we know that they are also a great source of worry for Pope Francis and [Archbishop of Cologne] Cardinal [Rainer Maria] Woelki”, Msgr Wolfgang Bretschneider, one of the eleven priests, told the archdiocesan radio station domradio.de.
As it does not look as if women’s ordination is on the Church’s agenda, what did the priests hope for, he was asked. “We hope the issue will not be shelved. There was a time when one could not even discuss women’s ordination openly”, he recalled, but a lot has changed under Pope Francis, he said. He and his fellow priests hoped that increasing awareness and “putting a finger” on the problem would lead to a change of opinion and a possible solution.
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