Perhaps this entitles to some minds the idea that Germany have more than its proportional share of influence over the theology and practice of Rome. In any case, while the financial picture may be rosy, the membership stats are not so complimentary.
With a total membership of more than 23.7 million, Roman Catholicism in Germany is the largest single religious group there with some 29 percent of the population. Yet the church there is not gaining members. Instead, people are leaving the Church in serious numbers. In 2015, some 181,925 people departed membership and took their incomes off the tax roles for church purposes. By comparison, records show only 2,685 people became Roman Catholic, and 6,474 reverted to their Roman Catholic faith.
When you compare this to the statistics of twenty years ago (only a generation), you find that the number of baptisms has actually declined by more than a third, from 260,000 babies baptized in 1995 to about 167,000 in 2015. If that were not bad enough, the marriage situation is even worse; twenty-one years ago, 86,456 couples were married in Church while last year, that number was down by about half, So in a nation of some 80 million people, only 44,298 couples were married in the Roman Catholic Church in 2015. Added to that is the rather distressing numbers showing a significant decline in church attendance (from 18.6 percent in 1995 to 10.4 percent in 2015).
It is more than a nifty program that is needed for the vitality of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to improve; they need nothing less a miracle! They need to reintroduce the faith to areas where secularization has gutted the churches and they need to catechize with renewed vigor the basics of the Christian faith. Perhaps the time is ripe for a new Reformation. In any case, it all proves that good finances are not necessarily the most important sign of the health of any church. The Roman Catholic Church in Germany can write checks easily; what they cannot do is retain the faithful. The wealth of the Church that matters is doctrinal integrity, Scriptural unity, and attendance. Where these remain, the finances are will endure. Without them, no amount of money can rescue a lost church.
Something the Rick Warrens and Bill Hybels, and the like would do well to heed. It is disturbing the "churches" of Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Ken Copeland and even those mentioned in the first sentence (plus MANY more) do not have the Gospel. They are in error or heretical and if their faithful desert, they simply move to another similar group. Money has never bought salvation. Pope Francis is still selling indulgences. Indeed, a new Reformation is needed in Europe AND in America.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible clearly addresses the issue of prosperous churches with a lukewarm message. To see what happens, please open your Bible to the Book of Revelation.
ReplyDeleteYou should talk, Fr. Peters. The "Lutheran" church in Germany, the EDK, is also losing members hand over fist and has been for quite some time. They also have failed to catechize, teach, preach, etc.
ReplyDeleteChris
ReplyDeleteFr Peters doesn't (and can't) speak for the EKD. We Missouri Lutherans are not in communion with the EKD, because it is not in any meaningful sense a Lutheran body. It is, rather, "a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed, and United (Prussian Union) Protestant regional and denominational Churches" (per Wikipedia). Instead, we are in communion with the independent, confessional independent Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche -- SELK).
Perhaps the SELK is hemorrhaging members as fast as or faster than the Roman Catholics and liberal Protestant groups like EKD; I don't know. But if you are going to give Fr Peters a tu quoque, at least make sure you identify the "tu" correctly.
I like the picture of the church in the article. Such massive buildings are expensive to maintain. Can you imagine if some of these ancient buildings also have heat/ac? That is another reason why there is a church tax. Church employees get paid by the state and function as sleepy civil servants. It really should be called a museum tax, and the priests are the curators.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the EKD is the German version of the ELCA. The LCMS and members of the International Lutheran Council have nothing to do with the ELCA, nor with the EKD.
ReplyDeleteThe historical reason for the "church tax" is as a compensation to the "historical churches" (both Roman Catholic, but also Protestant [Lutheran, Reformed, and "Unionist"]) for the lands which they once owned, and which were unilaterally "secularized" during the French Revolution/ Napoleonic period. In return for the "church tax" these churches renounced all legal claims to these properties.
Being state churches is the whole problem, no matter what the history is. People associate the church with taxes. The German states served their purpose a long time ago. The answer would be the free churches, but Europe has a host of other problems, I.e. Secularism, immigrants who are hostile to Western ideas, etc.
ReplyDeleteAll of Christendom is hemorrhaging adherents. Not just the Catholic Church. I understand the point of the article...money doesn't buy membership...but this is a problem we all face, regardless of denomination. I don't know what will come. Perhaps more suffering and martyrdom before things get better. I hope not but it is possible and we should be prepared.
ReplyDeleteI went to a parish in Athens, Greece. The building probably could hold about 150 parishioners...maybe 200 tops. They serve a community of 11,000 Orthodox. 11,000! I asked incredulously how they handled so a large volume of parishioners in the tiny building and the priest said, 'This is a wealthy part of Athens. For the wealthy, things are OK...they think they have less need of God.'