Interview with Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner CPS

We were able interview Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner CPS (Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood). She is a German religious and since 2009 has been the Secretary General of the Nordic Bishops' Conference, which includes the bishops from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland.

Maria 1.0: In March 2022, the bishops of the Nordic Bishops' Conference wrote to Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German Bishops' Conference. The letter, which you also signed, expresses concern about the direction, methodology and content of the German synodal way. The synodal way is now complete. Do you see your concern confirmed?

Sister Anna Mirijam: Basically, the concern we expressed still exists. Some texts, which are now formulated more as a request to the Pope and not as a demand, have been defused by intervention of the bishops and thus probably made acceptable. Nevertheless, it remains true that the continued pursuit of the establishment of a Synodal Council in particular - which, after all, is to be prepared by the Synodal Committee - and which thus goes against the Pope's decision, causes us concern. It is true that many of the issues of the Synodal Way - the role of women, the participation of lay people, dealing with people of other sexual orientations, dealing with power, etc. - are also being discussed elsewhere, but the vehemence, the sharpness and the pressure with which this was debated and decided in the Synodal Way is still worrying, because this promotes polarization among the faithful.

Maria 1.0: What specifically do you miss in the synodal way?

Sister Anna Mirijam: Personally, I have missed the inclusion of the whole people of God from the beginning, as it happened, for example, in the worldwide synodal process. True synodality means walking together. In the synodal way in Germany, the representatives were selected from the beginning - also according to their church-political attitude, and thus majorities and minorities were created. In my opinion, this did not do the entire process any good.

Another point that I think was missing was really listening to each other without immediately giving reactions to what was heard - in the form of expressions of displeasure, applause or other reactions. This built up a pressure that is generally harmful to synodal processes. I also missed times of silence and prayer. After all, it is about the cause of God - and if HE does not get “speaking time,” it is easy to talk past Him.

I also missed the response to the letter of Pope Francis to the people of God in Germany. If the Pope writes a letter to a country and refers to the project of the Synodal Way, then this letter must also be taken into account and its contents must be included.

If a church in Germany sets out on the path of renewal, then in my opinion it must also be asked how it can be that so many believers today no longer know the basics of the Christian faith. How is it that more and more people are leaving the church, even before the cases of abuse became known? How can it be that baptized and confirmed Catholics no longer know what we celebrate at Easter or Christmas? I missed these questions and also approaches for a deepening of faith. I would have been more convinced if, at the same time as the Synodal Way with its attempts at structural change, a new evangelization campaign had been launched over several years. I am not convinced that the faithful in the parishes are so preoccupied with the structural issues of the Catholic Church in Germany that they will stay in the church because of them - or that those who have left will rejoin the church.

Maria 1.0: In his reply letter, Bishop Bätzing assured [the Pope] that he did not want to take a special German path. Nevertheless, the synodal assembly has decided to allow blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples. That must be irritating!

Sister Anna Mirijam: The decision of the synodal assembly is certainly an affront to the decision from Rome, and Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has already commented that a local church cannot make such a decision on its own. The synodal assembly has decided that rituals and liturgical aids for such a blessing celebration should be developed by 2026. It remains to be seen here what such a blessing celebration should look like in concrete terms. In addition, the synodal world process initiated by Pope Francis will certainly have dealt with this question by then.

Maria 1.0: Let's take a look at the global synodal process: What was your experience in the Nordic countries? How was the synodal process received locally?

Sister Anna Mirijam: In our dioceses, the synodal world process was received very positively. In all our countries, in particular, we succeeded in taking the first survey of God's people right down to the individual congregations and collecting the responses from there. This required a great deal of commitment on the part of the volunteers, but the responses showed that the parishes were very intensively engaged with the questions.

Maria 1.0: Delegations from 39 bishops' conferences met in Prague from February 5 to 9 on the occasion of the continental phase of the worldwide synodal process for the Region of Europe. How did you experience these days; what do you remember about them?

Sister Anna Mirijam: The days in Prague were very intense and full. This was due on the one hand to the many reports of the bishops' conferences, and on the other hand also to the fact that experiences with and on church topics in Europe are very different. There were statements that called homosexuality in itself a sin, others that called for marriage for all. What I remember in particular is the approach. It was about listening, not just about hearing or listening, but really about genuine listening - under the question: What does God want to say to us? For this purpose, after each of the four reports of the bishops' conferences, there was a time of silent prayer, which I learned to appreciate very much. What was heard could resonate and be taken into prayer then. In this prayer time, God had "speaking time."

After the first day and a half, I had the impression that we would never be able to find a common thread in all of this because of the many different experiences and reports from the countries. But amazingly, at the end, we still managed to get a sense of direction. There were a number of themes that came up in many countries: the strengthening of the role of women in the church, the consistent processing and prevention of cases of abuse, the question of more involvement of the laity, etc., all themes that are also dealt with in the Synodal Way. Nevertheless, the way these issues were dealt with was different. In contrast to the Synodal Way in Germany, there were no heckling, no spontaneous expressions of displeasure or applause, but all reports, opinions, etc. could first be spoken and heard.

In the afternoons, meetings were held in language groups, which were also not intended for debates, discussions, arguments, but were conducted as a spiritual conversation. These meetings were intended to sense the “red thread” that ran through all that was heard and to report back to the plenum.

All in all, the meeting in Prague did not deliver any results, but showed that we are on the way together, and that it is not yet finished. I am very curious about the results of the other continental assemblies and am confident that the direction will then become clearer.

Maria 1.0: On the German synodal path, it has been emphasized again and again that the German reform demands are identical in many points with reform demands from other countries. To what extent can you confirm this for the Nordic countries?

Sister Anna Mirijam: In our countries, there are very flat hierarchies overall - also socially. Synodal structures have therefore existed in the church for a long time. Without the participation and collaboration of volunteers, church life would not be possible at all. Of course, there are isolated calls for strengthening the role of women or abolishing compulsory celibacy. But overall, the survey of our faithful has revealed that the question is more about how to preserve the faith in a minority church and proclaim it in a secular environment. It was asked that more effort be put into catechesis - not just for youth and children. We, as Catholics, are an absolute minority in all countries. Sometimes only one child in a school is Catholic. How can community experience succeed here? How can children and young people be led to the faith? Our Church is growing very strongly because of immigration and, in some cases, conversions. How can we integrate people from different nations? Where do we get churches and places of worship? We get almost no government support - except in Sweden and Norway - and we are a poor church in rich countries. The question of funding for our priests, for maintenance and new construction of churches is always a concern for us.

Maria 1.0: Is there anything else you would like to share with us and the believers in Germany?

Sister Anna Mirijam: It is always difficult to give advice from a different culture and from a distance. I would wish the faithful to have some patience and to engage in the world church process. I would wish that we could reduce the polarization in the church-political discourse and listen to each other better, knowing that we all want the best for the Church of Jesus Christ and are all on the way together.

Maria 1.0: Thank you very a much, Sister Anna Mirijam, for this Interview! We wish you the best and God’s blessing on your work!