While some claim that becoming more liberal is the Catholic Church’s pass to increasing membership, the German church is an example of the inevitability of failure of this approach.
The most liberal Catholic region in the world, Germany, has offered same sex blessings and even Communion for Protestants, as well as offering ‘experimental’ liturgies.
Despite, or because of, this, membership has freefalled again and again for the past decade. New figures have shown that 221,000 Catholics walked away from the ultra liberal church in the past year. Similarly, 220,000 left the Evangelical Church.
In an article a few weeks ago, the Irish Times hilariously stated: German Catholic Church's survival may hinge on facing down Rome
It is fending off calls for women priests and blessings of same-sex couples amid criticism of its handling of sex abuse cases
The opposite is of course true, the church as a whole must do its best to try to limit the malignant failures of the borderline schismatic German Church before they spread elsewhere.
A significant factor in both its liberalism and its defections has been the church tax, which forces members to pay a standard amount of their incomes to their church. This has led to a panicked liberal hierarchy have tried to bring in such novelties as same sex blessings as a means of widening their tax base, but so far this has not worked.
Bizarrely, recent surveys have shown that young Germans have more faith in God than their European counterparts have.
There is no east answer to Germany’s problems, but liberalism will only make them worse.
Ken Moore
