Church - Bishop Bätzing: Majority no longer have anything to do with religion
According to the Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, the two major churches are in dramatic decline. "The loss of members is rapid, their social significance is dwindling," stated the Bishop of Limburg in his New Year's Eve sermon in Frankfurt am Main, according to a speech text distributed in advance. "Our country is becoming more secular, and the majority of the population is hardly approachable in religious terms."
Bätzing referred to the study on church membership published this year, for which more than 5,000 people were surveyed on a representative basis. "Only 48 percent of the population in our country now belong to one of the two major churches," summarized Bätzing. "The criticism of the church as an institution is confirmed, but at the same time the theory is refuted that people take their religiousness out of the churches and into the private sphere, so to speak." Living faith outside the churches is virtually non-existent, and religious beliefs have almost no significance for people's lives there.
In the study, only four percent of Catholics and six percent of Protestants still state that they are closely connected to their church. "Trust, especially in the Catholic Church, has fallen enormously," admitted Bätzing. "And almost half of Catholics are thinking about leaving the church, with only a third ruling it out in principle. To suppress or trivialize such developments would be fatal."
Bätzing: Overwhelming proportion in favor of reforms
At second glance, however, the study also provides some encouraging results, according to Bätzing. "I find it astonishing that half of all members of the Catholic Church are involved in voluntary work - significantly more than the average." The approval rate for confirmation and first communion remains high. A third of the population attended a church daycare center. Church children's and youth work programs continue to be used.
The study also shows that those who are still members expect the church to work against poverty and for justice, specifically for refugees, for example. Church members are also pushing for reforms. "I often hear critical voices saying that a supposedly silent majority is skeptical about reform processes in the Catholic Church." The survey proves the opposite: "An overwhelming 96% of Catholics say: "My church must change fundamentally if it wants to have a future."
The most important issues included a positive approach to homosexuality, more co-determination for lay people, the abolition of compulsory celibacy for priests and greater cooperation with the Protestant Church. "Reforms will certainly not solve all of the Catholic Church's problems, but they will worsen if there are no reforms," concluded Bätzing. Retreat has never been promising for the future - what the Church needs is change.
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- Bishop Georg Bätzing, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, hails from Frankfurt on the Main in Germany.
- The Catholic Church, as criticized by many, is facing a significant decline in trust and membership, according to the Bishop of Limburg.
- The German Bishops' Conference, an influential body in the German Catholic Church, is headed by Hesse resident Bishop Georg Bätzing.
- The German Bishops' Conference, a part of the German Catholic Church, has seen its social significance dwindle as the population becomes increasingly secular.
Source: www.stern.de
