Roman Catholic Church in Germany
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany is one of the two major Christian denominations . For 2019, the German Bishops' Conference stated the number of members as 22,600,371, which corresponds to 27.2% of the total population. In 2016, 53% of Catholics were female and 47% were male.
Although the Roman Catholic Church sees itself as spanning the world (the ancient Greek word catholicos means “general”) and does not form national churches, differences and peculiarities are perceptible in the individual countries.
definition
In this article, the term “Catholic Church in Germany” refers to the Roman Catholic Church in the Federal Republic of Germany, but not to the Old Catholic Church in Germany . The regional calendar for the German-speaking area, on the other hand, also applies to Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg , German-speaking Belgium and South Tyrol , for which the Archbishop of Salzburg still holds the title of Primate Germaniae . However, no rights are associated with this title.
Organization and statistics
Catholics in Germany live in 9,936 parishes and other pastoral care offices (as of 2019), which are combined in deaneries and parish associations and belong to one of the 27 archbishoprics or dioceses.
The dioceses form the German Bishops' Conference and are organized as legal entities in the Association of Dioceses of Germany . The current chairman is the Limburg bishop Georg Bätzing . Furthermore, there is the Freising Bishops' Conference for the dioceses of ecclesiastical Bavaria, chaired by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising Reinhard Cardinal Marx. The Holy See is represented in Germany by the Apostolic Nuncio , currently Archbishop Nikola Eterović . As the head of the Catholic world church, the Pope has the right to issue instructions in the particular churches due to his primacy of jurisdiction . Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. is also a German citizen residing in Pentling .
For the soldiers of the Bundeswehr and their families there is the German Military Ordinary based in Berlin. It is divided into four deaneries. The military ordinariate is immediately subordinate to the Holy See and appoints its own vicar general. The Bishop of Essen , Franz-Josef Overbeck, has been military bishop since 2011 .
The bishops are elected on the basis of the various concordats by the cathedral chapters on the basis of a three-party proposal by the Roman Curia and then appointed by the Pope, whereby the governments of the countries have been granted a so-called right to remember in different ways. In "ecclesiastical Bavaria" ( Bavaria as well as the Palatinate (Bavaria) ) the Pope receives a three-way proposal from the cathedral chapter, but is then free to appoint.
A special feature of the German church is the extensive organization of the laity in its own committees. The parish councils are elected by the Catholics of the individual parishes (usually active voting rights from 16 and passive from 18 years); the pastors also appoint members. Deanery councils are elected by the parish councils, and then the diocesan councils and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZDK). Thomas Sternberg (CDU) is currently President of the ZDK. In addition to him, other politicians are represented there, such as Malu Dreyer ( SPD ), Reiner Haseloff (CDU), Bettina Jarasch ( Alliance 90 / The Greens ), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU), Winfried Kretschmann (Alliance 90 / The Greens), Gerd Müller ( CSU ) and Andrea Nahles (SPD).
In Germany there is a church tax system which helps the German dioceses to have a certain financial strength compared to the dioceses of other countries.
Clerics, consecrated life, full-time and volunteer workers
69 bishops are members of the plenary assembly of the German Bishops' Conference (as of September 2019), there were 10,891 world and 2,092 religious priests (a total of 12,983, of which 8,323 in active pastoral service) and 3,335 permanent deacons . In 2019, 3,568 men (2,621 priests) lived in religious communities in 389 monastic settlements in 104 independent provinces and abbeys (another 675 German religious are active abroad) and 13,448 women (in 1995 there were 38,293 women religious in Germany, most of whom belong to apostolic communities). . In 2017, 1,396 people belonged to secular institutes . Opus Dei had almost 600 members in 2006 and more than 400 active employees. In addition, around 170 consecrated virgins and between 70 and 80 diocesan hermits live in the German dioceses .
In terms of numbers, the largest religious communities in the Federal Republic of Germany are the Jesuits (274) after the Benedictines (576) and Franciscans (498 ). 45% of religious men and 17% of women religious are under 65 years of age. There are currently 51 novices.
In addition, the Catholic Church employed 3,267 pastoral officers and pastoral assistants (1,729 men, 1,538 women) and 4,499 parish officers and community assistants (966 men, 3,533 women) in Germany in 2019 .
Other employees in “follow-up services” work as church musicians, sextons, administrative employees and institutions and organizations affiliated with the church (e.g. Caritas with its diocesan and professional associations, old people's homes, hospitals, kindergartens, schools and educational institutions). A total of around 100,000 people are in full-time church services. The number of volunteers in youth, social and elderly work, in advisory and management bodies, as acolytes , members in choirs, etc. runs into the millions.
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Denominational classification
As a result of the regional principle laid down in the Peace of Augsburg and the Peace of Westphalia , Germany is still regionally divided between denominations. However, after the integration of the displaced persons and refugees from the eastern regions of the German Reich after the Second World War, this division is less pronounced than at the beginning of the 20th century. The south and west can be described as a tendency towards Catholicism (e.g. Diocese of Passau with 74.1%, Diocese of Aachen with 50.8% Catholics in 2018). Most of the residents of the new federal states , Berlin , Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg and Bremen do not belong to either of the (two major) Christian denominations (as of 2019).
Forms and degree of participation in church life
The number of visitors to the Sunday mass has fallen sharply in recent years and, according to the German Bishops' Conference in 2019, amounted to 2.1 million people, corresponding to 9.1% of the church members compared to 6.19 million visitors in 1990 (21.9% of the church members 1990). For comparison: 1.2 million Protestants (5% of the church members) attended the Sunday service in 2008.
In 2019, 158,983 people were baptized . The number of church weddings was 38,507. There were 166,481 first communions , 123,231 confirmations and 233,928 church funerals .
For some time now, the number of deaths and church resignations from the Roman Catholic Church has been significantly higher than that of baptisms, new admissions through conversion and re-entries. In 2010, as a result of the abuse cases that became known this year, 181,193 people left, an increase of 47% compared to 2009. The average higher number of church departures in the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), which is roughly the same today, and the higher proportion of Catholics among the immigrants, the EKD now has around two million fewer members than the Roman Catholic Church. This is also remarkable, since in 1990 the formerly predominantly Protestant East German federal states were added, but today the majority of the population is non-denominational . In 2014, the number of departures reached a new all-time high of 217,716 or 0.9%; there were 2,809 entries and 6,314 re-entries. In 2019, the number of departures was 272,668; there were 2,330 admissions and 5,339 re-admissions. In a representative survey by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy , which was carried out on behalf of the church in October and November 2009, 17 percent of Catholics described themselves as “devout members of the church” (for comparison: 7% of Protestants). 37% of the respondents said they were “critically connected to the church” and 32% as “ church distant ”. 6% percent of Catholics define themselves as “not religious”, while 3% describe themselves as “religious but not Christian” and a further 5% as “insecure of faith”. At the same time, there was great dissatisfaction with certain doctrinal opinions. Only 9% were satisfied with the teaching on contraception , 17% of Catholics shared the church's position on homosexuality . With the celibacy 13% agreed, with the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church 19%. There were higher approval ratings for charitable engagement (86%), advocacy for peace (77%) and human rights (68%), humane working conditions (65%) and attitudes towards upbringing and imparting values (54%).
The proportion of foreign-language Catholics in the total number of Catholics in Germany was 14% in 2016. Compared to 2015, their number increased by around 45,000 to 3.36 million (0.6 percentage points).
forecast
According to a coordinated membership and church tax forecast for the Catholic and Protestant Church in Germany prepared by the Research Center for Generation Contracts (FZG) at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg , the number of church members in Germany will decrease by 20 percent by 2035 and by 48 percent by 2060. The number of Catholics will decrease from 23.3 million in 2017 to 18.6 million in 2035 (minus 21 percent) and in 2060 to 12.2 million.
Geographical breakdown
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany consists of seven church provinces with a total of 27 dioceses . The oldest German diocese is the Diocese of Trier , which was founded in the 3rd century. Significant among the dioceses are the archbishoprics of Cologne , Munich-Freising and Berlin , whose archbishops are traditionally awarded the title of cardinal and who, as metropolitans, have a priority position. Since the 12th century, the city of Cologne has even used the name "Sancta" in the city name Sancta Colonia Dei Gratia Romanae Ecclesiae Fidelis Filia ("Holy Cologne by God's grace, daughter loyal to the Roman Church") popularly known as "et Hillije Kölle". The diocese of Mainz has the old privilege of calling itself the “Holy See of Mainz”, which no other diocese in the world except Rome has . Furthermore, the bishops of the Archdiocese of Paderborn and the Diocese of Eichstätt, as two of four dioceses worldwide, have the right to wear the rational as a special mark of dignity .
Overview of the church provinces in Germany
| number | Ecclesiastical province | Establishment | Metropolitan | Suffragan dioceses | Suffragan bishops | Location of the metropolitan area in Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bamberg | 1818 | Ludwig Schick | Eichstatt Würzburg Speyer |
Gregor Maria Hanke OSB Franz Jung Karl-Heinz Wiesemann |
|
| 2 | Berlin | 1994 | Heiner Koch | Dresden-Meissen Goerlitz |
Heinrich Timmerevers Wolfgang Ipolt |
|
| 3 | Freiburg | 1827 | Stephan Burger | Mainz Rottenburg-Stuttgart |
Peter Kohlgraf Gebhard Fürst |
|
| 4th | Hamburg | 1995 | Stefan Heße | Hildesheim Osnabrück |
Heiner Wilmer SCJ Franz-Josef Bode |
|
| 5 | Cologne | 795 | Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki | Aachen Essen Limburg Minster Trier |
Helmut That Franz-Josef Overbeck Georg Bätzing Felix Genn Stephan Ackermann |
|
| 6th | Munich and Freising | 1817/ 1821 |
Reinhard Cardinal Marx | Augsburg Regensburg Passau |
Sedis vacancy Rudolf Voderholzer Stefan Oster SDB |
|
| 7th | Paderborn | 1930 | Hans-Josef Becker | Erfurt Fulda Magdeburg |
Ulrich Neymeyr Michael Gerber Gerhard Feige |
|
Overview of the dioceses in Germany
history
Until the Reformation
The history of the Catholic Church in Germany began in Roman times. The first known diocese today was the Diocese of Trier, which emerged in the 3rd century. Shortly thereafter, other bishoprics such as Cologne, around 300, and in the 4th century Mainz, were founded. With the end of the Roman Empire, however, the mission came to a standstill , which was not revived even by Irish-Scottish missionary attempts. Only with St. Boniface came to new missions with the foundation of dioceses. Mainz, Cologne and Trier were established as the first church provinces. But even in the following centuries the power of the bishops was restricted by numerous powerful monasteries. The eastward expansion of the empire began at the end of the 10th century. It, too, led to new missions and the founding of dioceses, so that the basic structure of the Catholic Church in Germany can be regarded as complete by the early 12th century. The mostly large-scale dioceses, which in terms of their size cannot be compared with Italian or French dioceses, are a specialty. Primate Germaniae , even then a purely honorary title, became the Archbishop of Magdeburg .
- Ecclesiastical province of Besançon
- Church province of Bremen
- Church Province of Gniezno
- Church Province of Cologne
- Church province of Magdeburg
Lebus (from 1424, previously subordinated to Gnesen)
- Church Province of Prague
- Ecclesiastical Province of Riga
- Church province of Salzburg
- Church province of Tarentaise
- Church province of Trier
- Exemte dioceses
Reformation and Counter Reformation
Further changes within the Roman Catholic Church in Germany did not come about until the Reformation . This church renewal movement in Germany and Europe led to the division of Western Christianity into different denominations ( Catholic , Lutheran , Reformed ).
The territorial structure of the church changed during the Reformation, especially in the north: the ecclesiastical province of Bremen-Hamburg and the Mainz suffragans Halberstadt and Verden became permanently Protestant. The former Cologne suffragan Utrecht was elevated to an archbishopric and, with its suffragans, was now quite clearly part of the Belgian territory; the new Archdiocese of Mechelen was also established there, to which, among other things, the former Cologne suffragan Liège was subordinated. Vienna and Wiener Neustadt were exempted.
The Counter-Reformation led the Catholic Church to a new endeavor for pastoral care and, associated with it, an increase in the education of the simple clergy . New religious orders devoted themselves to schooling and nursing, and popular piety increased again. The Archbishop of Salzburg became Primate Germaniae in place of the bishop of the lost Archdiocese of Magdeburg .
18th century
In the 18th century the situation of the Catholic Church in Germany had stabilized and a rich popular piety flourished. In the second half of the 18th century, however, there were renewed reformatory movements, even if only small and inconspicuous at first. The Enlightenment brought about the desire for emancipation from the Church and a strengthening of the national idea, which led to an attempt to limit the Pope's power over the Roman Catholic Church in Germany.
In the meantime the Patriarchate of Aquileia had been abolished and the Archdiocese of Gorizia for the Austrian part took its place. Vienna and the newly created suffragans Linz and St. Pölten had been elevated to the status of an archbishopric, Breslau, Fulda, Laibach, Passau, and Sion were exempt . Saxony, Lusatia and Northern Germany had to be administered as apostolic prefecture or vicariate (including the Apostolic Vicariate of Upper and Lower Saxony ).
Secularization and subsequent time
Secularization had destroyed almost all hierarchical structures of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. Many bishop's seats were vacant for years , their territories fell to new sovereigns. Renegotiations were carried out with these in the first quarter of the 19th century: papal circumscriptions with the individual countries, which also had to provide financial support for the dioceses, rearranged the hierarchical structures.
German dioceses 1825:
- Bamberg with Eichstätt , Speyer and Würzburg
- Freiburg with Fulda , Limburg , Mainz and Rottenburg
- Cologne with Münster , Paderborn and Trier
- Archbishop's personal union Gnesen - Posen : Diocese of Kulm
- Munich and Freising with Augsburg , Passau and Regensburg
- Exemte dioceses: Breslau , Ermland , Hildesheim , Osnabrück , Apostolic Vicariate Anhalt (1825–1921), Apostolic Prefecture Meißen (called Lausitz) (1567–1921), Apostolic Vicariate of the Nordic Missions (1667–1868, then ... the Nordic Missions of Germany 1868 –1930), Apostolic Vicariate of the Saxon Hereditary Lands (1743–1921), Apostolic Prefecture Schleswig-Holstein (1868–1930)
The strengthening of popular piety and Catholic associations also had political consequences: for example, the Center Party was founded. Numerous new congregations were founded, particularly in the social field, for example in nursing and raising children .
The conflict with some German states, primarily Prussia, and the German Reich in the Kulturkampf , which contributed to a stronger separation of state and church, did not stop the rise of Catholicism. The secession of the Old Catholic Church in 1870 due to the First Vatican Council led to only a small loss of believers. Since the end of the 19th century, state and church have been increasingly reconciled. The Archbishop of Cologne, Felix von Hartmann, was considered a supporter of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Weimar Republic and Third Reich
In 1921, based on the old diocese of Meißen, the new exempte diocese (Dresden-) Meißen was re-established. In accordance with the Prussian Concordat , the East German church province of Breslau was established in 1930 with the newly founded diocese of Berlin (from the prince-bishop's delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania from the former prince-bishopric of Breslau, founded in 1821 ), the east-Prussian diocese of Ermland and the newly established archbishopric of Schneidemühl . Paderborn (formerly in Cologne) also became an archbishopric of the Central German Church Province , with the suffragans Fulda (formerly in Freiburg) and Hildesheim (formerly immediately ). The apostolic vicariates and the prefecture were abolished and assigned to the dioceses.
A concordat with the whole of the German Reich , for which Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli (later Pius XII. ) Endeavored, did not come about until July 20, 1933 under the National Socialist Reich government (→ Reich Concordat ); the prospect of it also played a role in the Catholic Center Party approving the Enabling Act . In this contract, the church's self-government was confirmed, but at the same time political Catholicism ended . The Reich Concordat continues to apply as pre-constitutional law and to this day determines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state.
In the Third Reich, the Catholic Church then succeeded in evading synchronization . The criticism of National Socialism that was initially expressed, which until 1933 was expressed, among other things, in a church ban on membership of the NSDAP , was put into perspective after Adolf Hitler's seizure of power and several church-friendly statements , even though the church still frequently spoke out critically such as For example, through the papal encyclical “ With burning concern ”, which was largely prepared by the German Archbishop Michael Cardinal Faulhaber, or the sermons of the later Cardinal Bishop Graf Galen . The Church thus resisted euthanasia and the persecution and murder of Jews .
It turned out that Hitler did not care much about the Concordat. The dissolution of Catholic youth organizations and the persecution of unpopular clergy on the basis of the so-called Heimtückegesetzes (December 1934), especially after the publication and reading of the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge (March 1937), made this clear. Numerous Catholic Christians were persecuted by the Nazi regime . Most of the imprisoned clergy were deported to the Dachau concentration camp , where there was a separate “ priest block ”.
However, after the war, the church was also accused of an uncritical attitude towards National Socialism, a circumstance which the German bishops admitted as early as August 1945 when they recognized their complicity in the National Socialist crimes committed during the Third Reich. But especially after the publication of the work The Deputy of Rolf Hochhuth were, initially to Pope Pius XII. , but also accused the German episcopate of silence and failed diplomatic restraint. At the same time, however, reference is made to the fact that behind the diplomatic facade the church was working against National Socialism. The American historian, political scientist and Rabbi David G. Dalin wrote in an essay in February 2001 that Pope Pius XII. saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from death in the concentration camp and should therefore receive the Jewish honorary title of “ Righteous Among the Nations ”.
The situation in divided Germany
| year | Share of the population in% |
Number in 1000 |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 46.1 | 23,195 |
| 1960 | 46.3 | 25,804 |
| 1965 | 43.8 | 25,998 |
| 1966 | 43.9 | 26,277 |
| 1967 | 44.0 | 26,352 |
| 1968 | 44.1 | 26,634 |
| 1969 | 44.1 | 26,977 |
| 1970 | 44.6 | 27,195 |
| 1975 | 43.8 | 27,011 |
| 1980 | 43.3 | 26,720 |
| 1985 | 43.3 | 26,713 |
| 1989 | 42.7 | 26,764 |
| 1990 | 42.2 | 26,901 |
The division of Germany also posed difficulties for the Catholic Church, especially since the Church and its believers in the GDR suffered from reprisals there. In terms of organization, temporary arrangements were mainly used; one was careful not to align the diocese borders with the new state borders. This can be seen as an indication that the Catholic Church in Germany - sometimes in opposition to the Holy See - favored reunification . The Archdiocese of Paderborn had an episcopal commissioner in its eastern part in Magdeburg, the dioceses of Fulda and Würzburg a common vicar general in Erfurt, the formal administrative seat for the Würzburg people was Meiningen . In 1972/73 the areas were given the status of an (arch) episcopal office and the prelates were appointed apostolic administrators ; However, apart from the previous Archbishopric of Görlitz, which concerned the German-Polish border, not the inner-German border - even the elevation to the apostolic administration .
In 1957 a new diocese was established, the diocese of Essen ("Ruhrbistum") as a suffragan of Cologne.
From 1971 to 1975 a "Joint Synod of the Dioceses in the Federal Republic of Germany" ( Würzburg Synod ) with Cardinal Julius Döpfner as President took place in Würzburg . The task of the Synod was to promote the implementation of the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council .
After reunification
| year | Share of the population in% |
Number in 1000 |
priest | Members per priest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 35.1 | 28.198 | 19,438 | 1451 |
| 1995 | 33.9 | 27,215 | 18,663 | 1458 |
| 1997 | 33.4 | 27,383 | 17,931 | 1529 |
| 2000 | 32.6 | 26,817 | 17.129 | 1566 |
| 2005 | 31.4 | 25,905 | 16,190 | 1600 |
| 2006 | 31.2 | 25,685 | 15,935 | 1612 |
| 2007 | 31.0 | 25,461 | 15,759 | 1615 |
| 2008 | 30.7 | 25,177 | 15,527 | 1621 |
| 2009 | 30.5 | 24,909 | 15,367 | 1621 |
| 2010 | 30.2 | 24,651 | 15,136 | 1628 |
| 2011 | 29.9 | 24,476 | 14,847 | 1660 |
| 2012 | 30.3 | 24,320 | 14,636 | 1662 |
| 2013 | 29.9 | 24,170 | 14,490 | 1668 |
| 2014 | 29.5 | 23,939 | 14,404 | 1662 |
| 2015 | 28.9 | 23,762 | 14,087 | 1687 |
| 2016 | 28.5 | 23,582 | 13,856 | 1702 |
| 2017 | 28.2 | 23,311 | 13,560 | 1719 |
| 2018 | 27.7 | 23.002 | 13,285 | 1731 |
| 2019 | 27.2 | 22,600 | 12,983 | 1741 |
After the reunification in 1994 the temporary arrangements were lifted. In detail, the episcopal offices of Erfurt-Meiningen (now Erfurt ) and Magdeburg were elevated to dioceses and placed under Paderborn, Berlin - whose bishops had long since been personally awarded the title of archbishop - became an archbishopric with the formerly exemte diocese of Meißen (since 1980 Dresden- Meißen ) and the Apostolic Administration (now diocese) Görlitz as suffragans, and finally the Archdiocese of Hamburg was established from predominantly Osnabrück areas and the dioceses of Osnabrück (formerly Cologne) and Hildesheim (formerly Paderborn) were subordinate to it.
The dispute with the Pope over the church pregnancy conflict counseling in Germany represented a conflict situation. Here, after the legally prescribed counseling of the pregnant woman, a certificate was issued, which the state requires as a prerequisite for an abortion free of punishment. If the German bishops emphasized the lives saved through counseling, the Pope pointed out that the bill meant formal participation in the abortion. After a final express prohibition, the bishops stopped participating in pregnancy conflict counseling, with the temporary exception of Limburg Bishop Franz Kamphaus . Catholic lay people founded the donum vitae association . The then Nuncio Archbishop Lajolo then stated that Donum Vitae was acting in open contradiction to the Pope's instructions and obscuring the testimony of the Catholic Church.
In 2001 an organization of priests was founded, the Network of Catholic Priests .
The Regensburg Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller caused a sensation with his reorganization of the lay councils, which he justified with the requirements of current church law . The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) criticized this as a “violation of the law”. Archbishop Müller then stopped making payments to the ZdK.
Pope Benedict XVI visited the Free State of Bavaria in 2006 . This visit turned into a major Catholic event and received a lot of media coverage. One of the Pope's statements can be seen as a fitting description of the situation; he said in a general way: The German Catholics are eager donors to support social projects of the Church in third world countries ; But it is difficult to get money from them for the actually primary church task of evangelization . In 2007 the number of admissions and returnees increased. The number of people leaving the Roman Catholic Church fell from around 130,000 to 84,000 between 2003 and 2006 and then rose again to 181,000 by 2010.
From 1990 to 2015 the number of priests decreased from 20,000 to 14,000; In 1990, 295 priests were ordained, compared to 58 in 2015. To make up for this, the Church employs more than 2,300 foreign priests, mainly from Poland and India .
Sexual abuse detection from 2010
At the beginning of 2010 the head of the Canisius-Kolleg Berlin , Fr Klaus Mertes SJ, wrote to graduates of several years of the 1970s and 1980s who were affected by child abuse ; this letter became public in late January 2010. In February 2010, Der Spiegel reported that 24 of the 27 dioceses surveyed stated that since 1995 a total of at least 94 suspected cases of sexual abuse had become known in the Roman Catholic Church . A number of other cases, mostly from the previous decades, became known to the public in a short time. This sparked a public debate about child abuse.
As a result, the German Bishops' Conference took a decision in June 2011 to systematically process the abuse cases together with the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony , headed by Christian Pfeiffer, in a criminological study on abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany . At the beginning of 2013, the Bishops' Conference terminated this contract after differences with Pfeiffer.
Also in January 2013, the results of the evaluation of the hotline, which was set up by the church for victims of abuse at the end of March 2010 and could be reached until the end of 2012, were published. Accordingly, a total of 8,465 people reported by phone, and 465 Internet consultations took place. Over 60% stated that they had been the victim of sexual violence themselves, although people also reported whose cases were not related to church institutions. In the final report, a total of 1,824 cases were analyzed, the majority of which were cases that were not known to the police . The majority of those affected were male, and most of the cases were decades ago. What all the cases had in common was the deliberate action taken by the perpetrators using their powers; According to the final report, however, there are no indications of random acts. Often children and adolescents were victims looking for support with problems, support or pastoral care , whereby the perpetrators abused the moral authority of the office or pretended to their victims that their actions were "an expression of loving union in Christ or election before God" .
2013, wrote Association of German Dioceses (VDD), an interdisciplinary research group project on the subject sexual abuse of minors by Catholic Priest, deacons and male Order members in the area of the German Bishops out, because of the initials of the Institute locations of the consortium members ( M annheim, H Eidelberg and G ow ) Called " MHG Study ". The results were presented in 2018. 38,156 personnel files from the years 1946 to 2014 were examined, resulting in 3677 victims of sexual abuse of children and adolescents in the “bright field”; because of an assumed "dark field", the total number is probably significantly higher. The researchers found evidence of allegations of sexual abuse of minors in 1,670 clergy (4.4 percent of the examined files), including 1,429 diocesan priests (5.1 percent of the examined files of diocesan priests), 159 religious priests (2.1 percent of the examined files of Religious priests) and 24 full-time deacons (1.0 percent of the files examined by full-time deacons).
2019: The Synodal Way
Under the impression of the MHG study , the German Bishops' Conference decided at its spring general assembly in March 2019 in the Ludwig-Windthorst-Haus in Lingen / Ems a binding "synodal path", on which the bishops in a structured debate together with the Central Committee of the German Catholics and counselors outside the church want to advise several critical aspects, which the chairman of the Bishops' Conference, Reinhard Marx, named:
- clerical abuse of power betrays the trust of people in search of support and religious orientation;
- The way of life of the bishops and priests demands changes in order to show the inner freedom from faith and the orientation towards the example of Jesus Christ;
- The sexual morality of the church has not yet received decisive insights from theology and human sciences, representatives of the church are often unable to speak about questions about today's sexual behavior; the personal significance of sexuality is not given sufficient attention, so that the moral proclamation does not give the majority of the baptized any orientation.
Pope Francis praised the Synodal Way in a letter to the “pilgrim people of God in Germany”, which was published on June 29, 2019, and offered his support. He emphasizes the “double perspective” of a synodality first “from bottom to top”, only then does the “synodality come from top to bottom”; Everyday life and life on site would therefore have priority. In the German Church, he sees positively “the fine network of parishes and communities, parishes and subsidiary communities, schools and universities, hospitals and other social institutions that have emerged in the course of history and bear witness to living faith”; He appreciates the shared responsibility and generosity of German Catholics towards regions in disadvantaged areas of the world in the form of economic and material aid, but also solidarity in personnel deployment in the world church, and he particularly emphasizes the ecumenical path that has been taken to overcome the prejudices and wounds of the past to overcome between the Christian denominations. However, he also states “the increasing erosion and decline of faith”, which manifests itself through a “drastic decrease in the number of visitors to Sunday mass and when receiving the sacraments”. He warns against “subtle temptations” that “stick to preconceived schemes and mechanisms”, first and foremost against the assumption that “the solutions to current and future problems can only be achieved by reforming structures, organizations and administration” . The Pope writes: “A true process of change answers, but at the same time it also makes demands that arise from our Christianity and the very dynamic of the evangelization of the Church; such a process requires pastoral conversion. ”The guiding criterion for the steps required is evangelization , not as an“ act of conquest, dominance or territorial expansion ”; it is not a “retouching” that the church adapts to the zeitgeist, but that makes it lose its originality and its prophetic mission. Nor does evangelization mean trying to regain habits and practices that make sense in other cultural contexts. Evangelization leads to "regaining the joy of the gospel, the joy of being a Christian". This brings the church to “be close to the life of the people”, especially the people in need, and to stand up against sin and inequality. Pope Francis, who refers several times to his apostolic letter Evangelii gaudium , specifically mentions "xenophobic speeches that promote a culture based on indifference, withdrawnness, individualism and expulsion".
Cardinal Woelki is skeptical of the Synodal Way because he sees it as a risk of division.
Church tax and other income
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany has the legal status of a corporation under public law (see also Parafiskus ). It is thus entitled to collect church tax. According to the German Bishops' Conference, the income from church tax accounts for the majority of diocesan financial budgets in Germany.
Further income is generated from donations, from investment income and from government grants and other grants. When Der Spiegel asked all 27 German dioceses for information about their budget in 2010, 25 refused to provide information.
Church buildings
In 2006 there were 24,500 Catholic churches in Germany.
See also
- List of Roman Catholic Dioceses
- Particular church
- Religions in Germany
- Membership development in the religious communities in Germany
literature
- Matthias Drobinski : Oh God, the church. Attempt across Catholic Germany. Updated new edition. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2008, ISBN 3-491-72532-1 .
- History of church life in German-speaking countries since the end of the 18th century , ed. by Erwin Gatz , 8 volumes, Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau [u. a.] 1991-2008.
- Joseph Höffner : German Catholicism in the pluralistic society of the present. In: Yearbook for Christian Social Sciences 1 (1960), pp. 31–50. Digitized
- Ehrenfried Schulz : To be a missionary church in today's world. In: Ulrich Babinsky (Hrsg.): A lively parish. Herbert Utz, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8316-0839-3 , pp. 79-121.
- Forced labor and the Catholic Church 1939–1945. History and memory, compensation and reconciliation. A documentation. Edited on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference by Karl-Joseph Hummel and Christoph Kösters, Schöningh, Paderborn [u. a.] 2008.
- Carsten Frerk : Violet Book Church Finances , 2010, Alibri, ISBN 978-3-86569-039-5 .
Web links
- The "German Bishops' Conference" on the Internet
- News from Catholic Germany
- Portal of the Catholic Church in Germany kathisch.de
- Link catalog on the topic of the Catholic Church in Germany at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Church statistics 2018. In: German Bishops' Conference. July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d Key data on church life 2017 (PDF; 226.92 KB) Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on July 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Flyer key data church statistics 2016. (PDF; 113 KB) In: dbk.de. Retrieved April 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Catholic Church in Germany Statistical Data 2019. German Bishops' Conference, accessed on July 28, 2020 .
- ^ The Association of Dioceses of Germany (VDD). In: dbk.de. Retrieved May 18, 2019 .
- ^ Chairman of the DBK. In: dbk.de. Association of the Dioceses of Germany, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ General Assembly. In: dbk.de. Association of the Dioceses of Germany, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Statistical data of the male order. In: orden.de. Retrieved July 25, 2018 (The numbers on the original page are updated regularly.).
- ↑ Statistical data of women's orders. In: orden.de. December 31, 2018, accessed on September 17, 2018 (The numbers on the original page are updated regularly.).
- ↑ a b Statistical data of women's orders. In: orden.de. DOK Deutsche Ordensobernkonferenz eV, December 31, 2018, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Catholic Church in Germany - Facts and Figures 2017/18. (PDF; 6.5 MB) In: dbk.de. 2018, accessed December 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Brief description of the beginnings of Opus Dei in Germany. In: opusdei.org. March 21, 2006, accessed December 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Angela Reddemann: Vocation Barometer: New Trend towards Succession and Consecration also as "Virgo Consecrata". In: zenit.org. April 11, 2008, accessed August 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Hermits in Germany. In: “World and Environment of the Bible”, 2/2011, p. 62, Katholisches Bibelwerk eV Stuttgart.
- ↑ a b c Community in Faith. Orders and Spiritual Communities. (PDF; 6,525.51 kB) In: Catholic Church in Germany Figures and Facts 2018/19. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, p. 61 , accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Statistical data of the male order. In: orden.de. DOK Deutsche Ordensobernkonferenz eV, December 31, 2018, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Catholic Church in Germany Statistical Data 2019. German Bishops' Conference, accessed on July 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Data, figures and facts. In: erzbistum-koeln.de. Retrieved on July 21, 2018 (the Archdiocese of Cologne alone puts the number of volunteers at 200,000.).
- ↑ FOWID Religious Affiliations 2019 - Figure: Distribution of religious affiliations among the federal states , accessed on August 21, 2020
- ^ Church statistics. Population and Catholics. 2018 ecclesiastical provinces. (PDF; 72.26 kB) In: dbk.de. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, 2019, accessed on September 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Church members 2018 - short tables -. (PDF; 1,520.83 kB) In: ekd.de :. June 2019, accessed September 25, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Catholic Church in Germany Statistical Data 2019. German Bishops' Conference, accessed on July 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Catholics and church service participants 1950–2008 ( Memento from December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ EKD: Church service statistics ( Memento from May 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ a b Facts and Figures 2014/15 Website of the German Bishops' Conference ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), accessed on July 20, 2015.
- ↑ Church statistics of the (arch) dioceses in Germany. Annual survey 2010. (PDF; 4,081.18 kB) In: Catholic Church in Germany. Figures and facts 2010/11. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, p. 20 , accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ After cases of abuse - Catholics leave the church en masse. In: spiegel.de. July 29, 2011, accessed September 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Counted 2019 - Numbers and facts on church life. (PDF; 10,641.06 kB) In: ekd.de. Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), p. 4 , accessed on August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Catholic Church in Germany: Resumptions, Entries, Exits 1950-2018. (PDF: 61.23 kB) Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Believers distance themselves from the church ( Memento from June 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Frankfurter Rundschau from June 17, 2010.
- ↑ domradio.de: Catholic Church benefits from immigration , August 2, 2017 (according to KNA).
- ↑ Churches will lose almost half of their members by 2060. In: time online. February 27, 2019, accessed September 27, 2019 .
- ↑ projection 2060. Long-term projection of the church members and the church tax revenue in Germany. In: dbk.de. Association of the Dioceses of Germany, accessed on September 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Lea Raith: “The Glorification of Cologne. Constructions of the urban past from 10. – 12. Century". Working title. In: University of Cologne. Philosophical FacultyGraduiertenkolleg - Dynamics of Conventionality (400–1550). June 11, 2019, accessed September 10, 2019 . . Website German commission for the processing of the Regesta Imperii eV at the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz. Retrieved August 11, 2011;
- ^ Fritz Schramma: Greetings from Mayor Schramma: Fixed place in the "hillije Kölle". In: ksta.de. June 4, 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Hehl in: HMKG Vol. 1/1, p. 198
- ^ German Bishops' Conference: Chairman. Retrieved April 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Justus Perthes 'Citizens' Atlas: 24 map sheets with over 60 depictions of the constitution and administration of the German Empire and the federal states ( 1 1896), Paul Langhans (comment.), Perthes, Gotha 2 1896, plate no.4 .
- ↑ a b Churches in the Nazi regime. In: Website of the German Historical Museum . Retrieved September 14, 2019 .
- ^ Pius XII and the Jews (pdf, The Weekly Standard February 26, 2001). Dalin later expanded the essay into a book that appeared in 2005 (Title: The Myth of Hitler's Pope ; ISBN 0895260344 )
- ↑ Source: PDF ( Memento from June 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Catholic Church in Germany - Population and Catholics 1950–2013. (PDF; 21.5 KB) In: dbk.de. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015 ; accessed on July 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Source: PDF ( Memento from June 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Catholic Church in Germany. Statistical data 2008/09. (PDF; 4,206.34 kB) Working Aids No. 247.Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, August 11, 2011, pp. 33-37 , accessed on September 10, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Catholic Church in Germany. Statistical data 2009. (PDF; 1,377.87 kB) Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Church statistics 2016. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 15, 2018 .
- ↑ Church statistics 2017. Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 15, 2018 .
- ↑ World and religious priests, permanent deacons and pastoral workers from 1996 to 2011. (PDF; 12.67 kB) Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 10, 2019 .
- ^ Catholic Church in Germany. Statistical data 2011. (PDF; 71 kB) Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Miriam Hollstein: The Germans are rediscovering their faith. In: welt.de . April 8, 2008, accessed September 28, 2019 .
- ^ Catholic Church in Germany. Statistical data 2010. (PDF; 65 kB) Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
- ^ Matthias Drobinski: The German Catholics are running out of priests. Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 17, 2016, p. 1
- ^ Bishops' conference stops scientific study. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 9, 2013, accessed January 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Daniel Deckers: "Staggering Results". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. January 17, 2013, accessed September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Sexual abuse: Catholic Church takes stock for victim hotline. In: Spiegel Online . January 17, 2013, accessed September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ End of the hotline for victims of sexual violence. Parts of Andreas Zimmer's statement on the occasion of the press conference on January 17, 2013 in Trier. In: imprimatur-trier.de. Retrieved February 6, 2019 .
- ↑ FAQ on the MHG study. In: dbk.de. Association of the Dioceses of Germany, accessed on September 26, 2019 .
- ↑ The Synodal Way. In: dbk.de. Association of the Dioceses of Germany, accessed on September 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Text of the papal letter: To the pilgrim people of God. In: vaticannews.va. June 2019, accessed September 19, 2019 . ; see. Father Bernd Hagenkord: Letter from the Pope: Encouragement and warning for the synodal path. In: vaticannews.va. June 2019, accessed September 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Cardinal Woelki sees a risk of division in the “synodal way” - warning against a German special way. In: domradio.de. September 4, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019 .
- ^ Church funding ( Memento from April 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Website of the German Bishops' Conference. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ↑ Felicitas Kock: This is how the Catholic Church finances itself. In: Süddeutsche.de. October 14, 2013, accessed September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ New calculations: State supports churches with billions. In: Spiegel online. November 6, 2010, accessed September 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Politicians call for radical reform of the church's financial system. In: Spiegel online. October 14, 2016, accessed September 17, 2019 .
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