How many times have we been forewarned against the use of the passive voice in our writings? (You notice, of course, that I am violating that same taboo with my initial text alone.) As a professor of German for over four decades, however, I consider my stance to be justified as far as such a violation. Why? Unlike the users of English, German speakers and writers are encouraged to incorporate the passive voice into their means of communication. In fact, any user of the German language will enjoy an enthusiastic applause, were s/he to formulate sentences in this voice. The key, as to be expected, is in the mastery of this construction. A flawless delivery is, in sum, a must.
My exhaustive familiarity with and prolonged professional communication through German has, as you can imagine, influenced my view on the two different schools of thoughts on this matter: I do not deny the passive voice its place in the English language either. As long as the outcome is a context-appropriate, coherent, cohesive and grammatically correct construction, I welcome its use in English as well.