I had no idea that Germany would have Catholic Churches funded this way. From the Catholic Herald,
in a story headed Record numbers leave Church in Munich archdiocese:
The Munich statistical office told CNA Deutsch,
CNA’s German-language news partner, on May 26 that 10,744 Catholics
formally withdrew from the Church in 2019. It noted that this was a
fifth higher than in 2018, when 8,995 people left.
Statisticians said this was the first time that annual departures had
surpassed the 10,000 mark since records began. Previously, the highest
figure was 9,010, set in 1992.
In March, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Bavaria’s public-service broadcaster, reported
that people gave a variety of reasons for leaving, including a desire
to stop paying church tax, the clerical abuse scandal and the position
of women within the Church.
The Church in Germany is largely funded through a tax collected by
the government. If an individual is registered as a Catholic then 8-9%
of their income tax goes to the Church. The only way they can stop
paying the tax is to make an official declaration renouncing their
membership of the Church. They are no longer allowed to receive the
sacraments or a Catholic burial.
While the number of Catholics abandoning the faith has increased
steadily since the 1960s, the Church’s income has risen. In 2018, the
Church’s income rose to 6.64 billion euros, while 216,078 people left
the Church, according to a report by the German bishops’ conference.
I find that all rather surprising...
Kirchensteuer. It seems odd from our perspective in Australia but it must come pretty naturally to a nation that has had concepts like tithing for centuries.
ReplyDeleteApparently in the unification of Germany a lot of East Germans were miffed to find their solidarity tax replaced by church taxes. (The communists didn’t have Kirchensteuer.)