Mara Klein, left, with a fellow queer Catholic holding the Nonbinary Flag outside St. Peter’s Basilica during the Synod General Assembly in October 2023
Yesterday, Bondings 2.0 reported on several LGBTQ-related developments in Germany, including a joint homily given by Mainz’s Bishop Peter Kohlgraf and nonbinary Catholic Mara Klein during a leadership meeting last month. Today’s post details a more extensive interview Klein gave about the German church’s synodal work, their place in the church, and how to advance LGBTQ+ reforms.
After the German church concluded its four-year Synodal Way process last year, one of the proposals was to establish a Synodal Committee by which lay people and bishops could work together. Mara Klein, a member of the Synodal Way process who came out as nonbinary and was central in the process’ transgender-positive resolution, was elected to the Synodal Committee. Klein, a contributor to Bondings 2.0, is now serving as one of four members leading the Synodal Committee’s work.
In an interview with Katholisch.de, Klein said they agreed to help lead the Synodal Committee after members desired gender and generational balance in its leadership. Asked what this commitment to diversity means, Klein replied:
“What does it mean. . .that out of four people, one is female and that two priests and no non-ordained men are part of the Presidium? I do think that it points the way for what we are trying to achieve: a church of diversity and participation. At least formally, this should also be evident in the Presidium, although this diversity and participation are not yet structurally present in the church. The fact that this is at least symbolically there hopefully also means something for the way we work.”
Commenting specifically on what it means to represent gender-diverse Catholics at such a high level, Klein answered:
“[T]he pressure [to do justice] is always there. I am aware that I am often the first trans person or first non-binary person that a person encounters and that how this whole group is perceived depends on the encounter with me – whether consciously or unconsciously. I know that I can never do justice to this. I cannot speak for an entire group. Nor am I representative of this group. Nevertheless, I hope to have a symbolic effect that gives trans people, diverse people and non-binary people in the church more self-confidence and a sense of self-efficacy.”
Klein spoke to the “great respect” they have been afforded by German church leaders in “an atmosphere of learning, an atmosphere in which I can make corrections and where this is accepted.” Such an environment gives Klein “courage and hope,” especially at a political moment where right wing partisans are seeking restrictions on gender diversity and sometimes rely on trans-negative statements by Catholic leaders.
The interviewer asked Klein whether they worried about the Vatican’s critical attitude toward German Catholics’ synodal efforts, including direct interference. Klein answered:
“A Roman intervention. . .shows that we are making a start. If that didn’t exist, I would very much doubt that we are even on a path that questions structures.”
Finally, aside from church politics and disputes, Klein affirmed Catholicism as “a home into which I was baptised and which has given me a great deal,” but which is also restrictive and needs to better defend human rights. For this reason, Klein remains hopeful that, if change in Germany is possible, it is likewise possible for the wider church.
Mara Klein previously wrote for Bondings 2.0 about the Synodal Way and its pro-LGBTQ+ outcomes as a source of hope, which is available here.
They have also opined for the journal’s coverage on Dignitas Infinita, the Vatican’s trans-negative declaration on human dignity released this spring, and for how Pope Francis handles LGBTQ+ issues, which she graded in 2023 as a “D-“.
In 2022, Klein was a panelist for New Ways Ministry’s webinar, A Rainbow Synod: Global LGBTQ+ Perspectives on Synodality So Far, a recording of which is available here.
—Robert Shine (he/him), July 6, 2024
