German bishop supports blessings for gay couples: “How can I refuse?”
“I believe the Catholic Church must reposition itself: How are we dealing with same-sex people in our pastoral work, and how do we assess that?”, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen Heinrich Timmerevers asked September 28 in an interview with the German KNA Catholic news agency.
The German bishop said he “can understand” the desire of gay couples to receive a Catholic blessing on their partnership.
When reminded that the Church does not permit that possibility, he pointed out nonetheless that “the question is: What do I bless?”
“I bless people”, Timmerevers explained. “And if a person stands before me and asks for a blessing – how can I refuse this blessing?”
“A blessing is the encouragement of God. A distinction must be made between this and the fact that with such a blessing I do not ‘bless’ everything that these people do, and find it good. You have to look at this in a very differentiated way”, the German bishop insisted.
“A blessing is the encouragement of God. A distinction must be made between this and the fact that with such a blessing I do not ‘bless’ everything that these people do, and find it good. You have to look at this in a very differentiated way”, the German bishop insisted.
This post is also available in:
Italiano (Italian)
