A priest at the centre of German Catholic efforts to reshape the Church used a sermon on Sunday to defend his groups' efforts from recent Vatican criticism.
"Anyone who avoids a dialogue with modernity and even categorically resists it, loses out on any opportunities to force changes in the modern-day culture and win over the people of today for the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Georg Bätzing, according to an advance copy of a sermon he delivered in the western city of Essen.
Bätzing is head of the German Conference of Bishops and is leading a group called the Synodal Path, which is looking at ways to give women equal standing in the church. Other topics explored include sexual morality, priestly celibacy and questions of how to deal with authority.
The Vatican recently issued a statement saying that the German group had no authority to consider such sweeping changes to Church structure.
But Bätzing used his sermon to question how the Church could ever find itself in a situation in which it doesn't think it has a responsibility to change in some cases.
What's being attempted in Germany right now is not a "cheap" answer to the questions of the time. "It's the set path of the Church since its beginning," adding that the effort is trying to salvage something positive after the reputational damage the Church has suffered in recent years.
A fourth session of the synodal group is set to start on Thursday.
