“The measure is full”: Leaving the church is increasing rapidly

Created: 01/27/2022 10:33 am

By: Klaus Greif, Thomas Steinhardt, Kathrin Böhmer, Ingrid Zeilinger

Many believers are now turning their backs on their church.

© Sample photo: Ingo Wagner/dpa

The storm of indignation over the results of the report on sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is also sweeping through the district.

The town halls groan under the number of Catholics who want to leave the church as quickly as possible.

Sometimes the numbers really explode.

District – As of Tuesday, 45 people left the Catholic Church in the city of Fürstenfeldbruck in January – twelve of them since the publication of the abuse report for the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising.

You have to appear in person at the relevant registry office.

The dates for this are tight - because of the large rush and because of the Corona measures.

In many municipalities there are waiting times.

The 45 who have already left in Fürstenfeldbruck will soon be joined by more.

"A further 17 appointments have already been arranged for this week and next," reports Petra Oswald.

She runs the city registry office.

Some of the people who want to leave the church quickly now include whole families.

The phones don't stand still

The increase in resignations compared to the previous year is enormous in Bruck.

For the whole of January 2021, there were 27 Catholics.

January is usually a quiet month when it comes to leaving the church, as many tend to take this step towards the end of the year, explains Petra Oswald.

But this year it is different.

The phone keeps ringing because other citizens want to make appointments.

At least four times as many resignations

The number of resignations has more than quadrupled since the presentation of the abuse report in Germering.

By yesterday, Wednesday, there had been 20 resignations – last year there were five in all of January.

This is explained by registry office manager Christine Eschenweck.

And the number will continue to rise.

For the coming week, another 15 Germeringer have been given an appointment to leave.

This is the limit

There is also a large rush in the Mammendorf administrative community. Since January 20 alone, 20 Catholics have turned their backs on the church, said a spokesman for the registry office, which is responsible for all communities in the administrative community and for Moorenweis. And more appointments are coming up. In January 2021 there were 27 resignations, now there are already 34 - and the trend is rising. "That's a drastic increase," said the spokesman, although a few evangelical Christians had also left their church. The clientele of those who turn away from the church have also changed. In the past, young people tended to leave to save on church tax. Now there are many older people. A reason that you often hear at the registry office: "After what has come to light, it's enough. This is the limit."

Monthly average in one week

In Gröbenzell alone, 14 people (twelve Catholic, two Protestant) have resigned in the past six days.

Usually in four weeks it's an average of 19. But the number will continue to rise.

Because even there you have to make representations first.

"The appointments are scheduled by our responsible registrar according to availability," explains Anja Metz, head of the Citizen Service division.

In the neighboring town of Olching, the registry office is also busy.

"The phone is no longer silent today because of church exits," said city hall spokeswoman Martina Sohn.

Since last Thursday, when the media was full of news about the church scandal, there have been ten resignations, and eleven dates have already been reserved for this week and next.

The city hall spokeswoman assumes that there will be more exits this January than in January 2020 (20) and 2021 (23), albeit slightly.

A total of 10,789 Catholics live in Olching.

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