In a noteworthy exchange with reporters covering the Synod on Synodality, Bishop Franz Josef Overbeck of Essen warned against “clinging to habits and traditionalisms,” and insisted that if the Church does not respond to the “signs of the times,” interest in the faith will decline.
Bishop Overbeck drew a good deal of media attention by reporting that since taking over leadership of the Essen diocese in 2009 he had ordained only 15 priests, while presiding at the funerals of 300. Those figures, he said, show the need for the Church to find “other solutions.”