The Vatican Needs to be Prepared to Cut Off Its Sinful Hand in Germany

There are very few countries I have come to like more than Germany growing up.

Really, the only one I can think of is my own. 

After all, Germany is the land of castles, fairy tales, historic cathedrals, amazing architecture both historic and modern, canals, canals on top of canals (yes, they have this too), industry, great food and drinks, amazing cars and trucks, top sports and art, classical music, a uniquely intelligent language, and so many more amazing attributes. 

There is really no other country like Germany in the world. 

And, because Germany and its people do such a great job pushing above their weight, they not only provide the engine that powers the European Union, but they also provide a lot of the engine that powers the Catholic Church.

When you look at all national churches outside of the Vatican itself, it is the German Catholic Church which is the wealthiest! 

The reason for this is that Germany has a church tax system where all German Catholics are registered to pay part of their taxes to the certain registered church they belong to, such as the Catholic Church. This money goes to their diocese, similar to how taxes go to the city or state. While German Catholics can choose to abstain from this and leave their Church, most do not because they often want themselves or their family to receive sacraments, and most parishes will only allow you to if you are registered. 

This phenomenon has led to the fact that the German Catholic Church amasses a wealth of over 26 billion (US) Dollars and annual revenues that reach up to 7 billion (US) Dollars!

And, while this may seem good for the Catholic Church, and it has been, it has also created an evil within our Church as well.

See, it has become difficult to criticize this excess of wealth after the many errors of socialism during the last century. Socialism often has been horrible for humanity and especially for religion making any criticism of wealth that a socialist might make deeply troubling for the fact that one may be associated with socialism. So, with the risk of sounding socialist, it is true we must address how excess wealth is causing heresy in Germany, and how our papacy is being held hostage by the temptations to continue to garner this wealth. 

It is clearly evident that our Church desires to continue to benefit from the prospects of Germany, but are now conflicted on what to do next as some of the German bishops are hoping to abandon the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

The Germans Bishops simply want to appease German Catholics to continue their lucrative business like most of the corporations do now by promoting secular agendas that a majority of those who pay their wages like, even if these people are the ones who do not actually go to mass weekly.

And, the Vatican does not want to lose this money either, or parts of Germany it still possesses post-Reformation. 

Yet, this is not the way of a Church founded by Jesus. 

We are not supposed to be a church that places money, popularity, or even safety above God. 

Our Church must be prepared to follow Jesus Christ at the risk of being poor on Earth, at the risk of being unpopular on Earth, and at the risk of being persecuted on Earth!

We must remember to follow Jesus Christ's words, his actions, and we must always remember that our most important investment is not buying stock in Tesla (although that often has been a very lucrative idea), rather our most important investment is the one we make to receive eternal life in Heaven. 

At the end of your life, who do you want to be, the Rich Man or Lazarus? 

The truth is of course, it is not a question of being either the Rich Man or Lazarus because one can be rich and enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

But, we only can, whether rich or poor, if we follow God's commandments (“If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19: 17). 

And oftentimes, the temptation of more wealth tempts us to abandon certain Christian teachings in order to make more money like what is happening in Germany.

We see this everyday with ourselves when we miss weekly mass in order to go to a business conference or study for a test (an equivalency for a student). 

Jesus Christ outlines this best in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 18 and 19. 

In Chapter 18 and 19, Jesus Christ tells us some key points we should be keen to remember in our present lives both as a Church and as individuals. 

Jesus Christ tells us in Chapter 19 that  "it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven", and that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." (23-24)

What Jesus is trying to tell us is that with wealth and power comes immense responsibility that creates great difficulty because earthly temptations become more readily available to us. It is much easier to say that you will never cheat on your wife when no one wants you, but as soon as you make lots of money and women start making themselves available to you, then it becomes much more difficult to avoid this temptation. 

So, what do we do to avoid this temptation when we gain the ability to attain certain sins, whether it be sexual sin, avarice, and other sins?

Thankfully, Jesus Christ tells us the answer we are looking for and that is that we must do our best to detach ourselves from our ability to commit these sins.

Jesus Christ tells us in Chapter 18 that "[i]f your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." He continues for a few more sentences with these important points: "It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna." (8-9)

And this is a perfect response to what is happening in our Church today.

Right now, we have in Germany and elsewhere, mostly in Europe, many bishops who are trying to allow sin in our Church and not just allowing sin, they are actively trying to promote it and bless it. 

They do this in the name of growing the Church, in being welcoming, but not in following the principles of Jesus Christ. And let us be honest too, as it is very easy to camouflage greediness as welcoming in this case.  

Yet how dangerous this is that the German Bishops of our Church would rather lead people to hell than to guide their flock to Heaven! Is it really worth it to go to hell in order for the readers of Der Spiegel to like you?

Jesus Christ warned us against promoting God's children to sin in Matthew Chapter 18. He told us "[w]hoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!" (6-7)

Yet, it seems that the German synodal process does not know who these children are or what sins are because if they did, they would recognize that the "children" Jesus speaks of are us and the "he" in this case is our Church and these bishops. As for the sins, the German synodal way is promoting the blessing or approval of many such as various sexual sins and sinful marriages, unlawful divorce, heresy, the erasure of one's gender or sex, and plenty of others that go against our Church Dogma. 

They are going against beliefs and practices held infallible and given unto us by God Himself! What else do they need to do until they get punished and removed from their positions? 

And by doing so, the German leadership is not acting as Jesus commanded us to, which is to be as children, for they are abandoning the humbleness of a child to listen to God, and embracing their own ego of an adult to create their own path. They are acting as if they know more than God.

So, we should let them create their own path! Many Germans already have and they do not tend to embrace this new path very much either.

Jesus Christ commanded us to do such when He spoke of the brother who sins against you. He stated, "[i]f your brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector." (Matthew 18: 15-17)

In other words, if one of our brothers is committing sins and is not remorseful at all, we must simply treat him as not part of the Church. We must let him go. He has free will and we cannot force him to change, but likewise, we must protect ourselves from his ways.

Right now, that brother is the German Catholic Church.

Right now, our hand and foot that causes us to sin is the German Catholic Church and our perceived dependence on its wealth.

At a certain point, we either have to cut it off, or risk it eating us all up and causing 2,000 years of true worship to vanish because we want to keep Germany under our arms and continue to live more lavishly than we need to.

Therefore I write to any Catholic leader to really be ready to cut off this heresy from our Church. It does not need to be the whole German Church, but simply those causing this heresy to spread and approving it.

I am very concerned that those in the Vatican will not enforce their rules and risk greater schism and the growth of greater heresy because they care more about money and power than our Faith. 

And I hope they know that a vast majority of us that actually stand up for life and other Catholic values will actually be more willing to help the Church if we see the Church finally enforce its rules again instead of continuing on the path of allowing clergy to get away with crimes and heresy. 

We also must be willing to forgive those who have committed these sins, and we must pray for them to come back to us and be prepared to embrace them once they change their ways, but we cannot continue to allow these parts of our Church to bring us down when the goal of our Church is to lead souls to Heaven, especially when those parts are actively engaged in doing the opposite.