Source: Religion News Service
BERLIN, GERMANY, 2010: In the months since news of child sexual abuse scandals roiled German society, barely a week goes by without news of yet another Catholic parish reporting declining membership.
While it may be premature to estimate the long-term impact of the scandal — especially since many of the cases were decades old — the latest figures were startling enough to raise concern in the German
Conference of Bishops. Last year, well before the scandal erupted in earnest this spring, 125,585 Germans chose to leave the Catholic church, up from 121,155 in 2008, according to the bishops.
“This high number of departures cannot leave us at peace. Anyone who leaves the church wants to fulfill his faith and his life’s desires without the church in the future,” said Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, the bishops’ president, in a recent statement. “That kind of decision always raises questions directed at us from which we cannot shy away.”