More and More European Catholics Leave the Church in Switzerland, Austria and Germany
For a person to be considered as “having left the Church” he or she must be “stricken from the registers of the institution” after having formally requested it in writing.
According to a study by the Swiss Institute of Pastoral Sociology, the number of people leaving the Church increased in 2015 in most Swiss cantons.
According to a study by the Swiss Institute of Pastoral Sociology, reported by the news agency cath.ch on February 8, 2017, the number of people leaving the Church increased in 2015 in most Swiss cantons.
The cantons of Bâle-Ville, Soleure, and Argovie, in the northern part of the country, are particularly affected. The first canton reports that in 2015, over 30,000 persons left the Roman Catholic Church, whereas the number was approximately 20,500 in the years 2011-2012. The statistics are practically the same for the Protestants, which is grim consolation for the Catholic Church.
The Romansh cantons (Valais, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva) were not considered due to a lack of sufficient data, since they have no church tax.
The SPI emphasizes that the increase in the number of those leaving the Church can be observed in Germany and Austria also. It gives no explanations about the factors driving this trend, but merely mentions that in Germany new ways of perceiving the church tax have accelerated the trend.
Cath.ch explains that in order for a person to be considered as “having left the Church” he or she must be “stricken from the registers of the institution” after having formally requested it in writing. In some cantons, for example Fribourg, a “partial” loss of membership is possible. In this option, the person quits the ecclesiastical bodies at the canton and parish levels without leaving the Roman Catholic Church in general, that is, without ceasing to profess the Catholic Faith.
Sources: cath.ch / afp – DICI no. 351, March 17, 2017
