Catholic Revolt in Washington State and Germany

I noted yesterday how Catholic theologian Hans Küng has argued that the Catholic Church laity and priests need to rise in revolt and overthrow the Pope and reclaim the Church from the morally bankrupt and Pharisee like Church hierarchy.  Sooner than expected it seems that some former priests in Washington State and Catholics in Germany are taking Küng's calm to revolt to heart.  First, these highlights from the Seattle Post on developments in the gay marriage referendum battle in Washington State:

Sixty-three former Roman Catholic priests in Washington state will announce on Thursday that they support Referendum 74, which would make Washington the nation’s seventh state to legalize marriage between same-sex couples.

The stand comes as the state’s four Catholic bishops intensify a campaign of pastoral statements and videos urging parishoners to vote against marriage equality.

The 63 former priests, with collectively more than 800 years of service to the Church, beg to differ.

“We are uneasy with the aggressive efforts of Catholic bishops to oppose R-74 and want to support the 71 percent of Catholics (Public Religion Research Institute) who support civil marriage for gays as a valid Catholic position,” they said in a statement.

Former priest Pat Callahan, who organized the statement, added:  “This is the first public action we’ve taken.”  Callahan was in the Catholic priesthood for 15 years.

In Washington, ecclesiastical shepherds are finding a lot of trouble herding their flocks.  Same-sex marriage legislation passed last winter.  It was championed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Catholic:  Its chief legislative sponsor was State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, a practicing Catholic and long-partnered gay.

A group called Catholics for Marriage Equality-Washington was prominent in Seattle’s Pride Day march last June.    Several major Catholic parishes — including Seattle’s St. James Cathedral — refused Archbishop J. Peter Sartain’s request to serve as collection center for petitions to force a vote on same-sex marriage.

Catholics for Marriage Equality, in a statement this weekend, said:  “We are shocked when we read the language and examples used by our bishops to incite fear in our Catholic brothers and sisters if Referendum 74 passes.  The message of Jesus is love and compassion, not fear.”

And then there's the growing problems in Germany where Catholics are leaving the Church in droves.  NPR looks at the growing conflict between the growing conflict between rank and file German Catholics who resist paying taxes to the Church and the pompous Church hierarchy.  Here are highlights: 

Germany's bishops have a clear message for the country's 25 million Catholics: The road to heaven requires more than faith and good intentions; it requires tax payments, too.

Last month, German bishops warned that if members of the Catholic Church don't pay the country's church tax, they'll be denied the sacraments — including baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Registered Catholics, Protestants and Jews pay a surcharge of up to 9 percent on their income. The Catholic Church alone received some $6.5 billion in 2011.

In issuing the stringent new decree, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, the president of the German bishops' conference, said that not paying taxes for the church is a grave offense, and that sacraments will be banned for those who distance themselves from the church.

As church historian Carsten Frerk points out, setting conditions on church membership is against the church's own legal code.

The bishops issued their decree as church defections are growing. In 2010, when the clerical sex abuse scandal exploded in Germany, nearly 200,000 Catholics left the church. In a normal year, it's 100,000.  Church statistics show that only 13 percent of Germany's Catholics attend Mass weekly. And, Weisner says, the majority of those who are observant criticize the church leadership.

"We need and we ask for more transparency and more participation in the decision-making process," he says. "It can't be the case that only the bishop is deciding which parish will get money and which parish will get a new church."

One can only hope that the resistance to the hierarchy's dictates continues to grow and that increasingly members of the laity will withhold their money and hit the Vatican where it hurts most.  After all, the real God of Benedict and his fellow bitter old queens in dresses is money.