{"id":10855,"date":"2015-06-09T07:08:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T07:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles-29416\/"},"modified":"2015-06-09T07:08:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T07:08:00","slug":"cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today’s often pagan lifestyles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register<\/a>).- Cardinal Gerhard M\u00fcller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church\u2019s teaching to today\u2019s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness.<\/p>\n

\tIn an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost <\/em>on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing \u201cany so-called lived realities\u201d on the same level as scripture and tradition is \u201cnothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe cardinal\u2019s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent \u201cshadow council\u201d<\/a> when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today\u2019s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabr\u00fcck, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate\u2019s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the \u201clived realities\u201d of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\tBut Cardinal M\u00fcller stressed that these \u201clived realities\u201d can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops\u2019 freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by \u201cnostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a \u201cwitness and teacher of the revealed faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tReferring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal M\u00fcller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be \u201cshaken to her foundations,\" he said.<\/p>\n

\tThe Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. \u201cShe does not need anybody \u2013 as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is \u2013 to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.\"<\/p>\n

\tBishop Koch appointed<\/p>\n

\tOn Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Mei\u00dfen as the new Archbishop of Berlin.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting<\/a> and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops\u2019 marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that \"any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.\"<\/p>\n

\tIn an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to \u201cportray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful\u201d and that the Church \u201cneeds a different language when it comes to homosexuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tSince the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin.<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register<\/a>).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness.<\/p>\n

\tIn an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost <\/em>on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.”<\/p>\n

\tThe cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council”<\/a> when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\tBut Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.”<\/p>\n

\tThe German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.”<\/p>\n

\tReferring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations,” he said.<\/p>\n

\tThe Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.”<\/p>\n

\tBishop Koch appointed<\/p>\n

\tOn Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting<\/a> and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion.<\/p>\n

\tBishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that “any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.”<\/p>\n

\tIn an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.”<\/p>\n

\t“I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said.<\/p>\n

\tSince the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops’ conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin.<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nCardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today's often pagan lifestyles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.” The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported. But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.” The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.” Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations," he said. The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved." Bishop Koch appointed On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin. Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion. Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that "any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships." In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.” “I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said. Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin. The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today's often pagan lifestyles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.” The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported. But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.” The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.” Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations," he said. The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved." Bishop Koch appointed On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin. Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion. Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that "any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships." In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.” “I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said. Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin. The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-09T07:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Cardinal_Gerhard_Mueller_outside_the_Vaticans_Synod_Hall_after_a_session_of_the_Synod_on_the_Family_on_Oct_13_2014_Credit_Daniel_Ib__ez_CNA_CNA_10_13_14.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/\",\"name\":\"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today's often pagan lifestyles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-09T07:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-09T07:08:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.” The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported. But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.” The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.” Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations,\\\" he said. The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.\\\" Bishop Koch appointed On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin. Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion. Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that \\\"any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.\\\" In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.” “I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said. Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin. The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today’s often pagan lifestyles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today's often pagan lifestyles","description":"Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.” The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported. But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.” The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.” Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations,\" he said. The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.\" Bishop Koch appointed On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin. Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion. Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that \"any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.\" In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.” “I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said. Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin. The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today's often pagan lifestyles","og_description":"Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.” The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported. But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.” The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.” Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations,\" he said. The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.\" Bishop Koch appointed On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin. Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion. Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that \"any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.\" In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.” “I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said. Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin. The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2015-06-09T07:08:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Cardinal_Gerhard_Mueller_outside_the_Vaticans_Synod_Hall_after_a_session_of_the_Synod_on_the_Family_on_Oct_13_2014_Credit_Daniel_Ib__ez_CNA_CNA_10_13_14.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/","name":"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today's often pagan lifestyles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-09T07:08:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-09T07:08:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Jun 9, 2015 \/ 01:08 am (National Catholic Register).- Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness. In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.” The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics. Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported. But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.” The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.” Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations,\" he said. The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.\" Bishop Koch appointed On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin. Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion. Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that \"any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.\" In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.” “I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said. Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops' conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin. The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/cardinal-mller-warns-against-adapting-church-to-todays-often-pagan-lifestyles\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today’s often pagan lifestyles"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}