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| Okay for me.... |
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| ...but not for thee. |
But I see that I am late to the battle, for my pal Hilary White told the whole story--or the much bigger story anyway--months ago. This is a must read for anyone interested in the Church in Germany, and all Catholics should be, for the Church in Germany is hugely, astonishingly, jaw-droppingly rich and therefore has a huge influence in the Church overall.
This does not mean, however, that Germany is a wonderful oasis of Catholicism. Ah ha ha ha! No. The churches are mostly empty. Some German Catholics pay the Church Tax--among all the other taxes levied on Germans--because they are good Catholics, I am certain, but others just so they can get hatched, matched and dispatched in a Catholic church, for if they don't pay up, they will be excommunicated. Let me repeat that. If you do not pay the Church Tax in Germany, you will be excommunicated.
So where does the money go? We are, after all, talking billions of euros a year. The money goes towards restoring and preserving the historical churches and monasteries of Germany. They are absolutely beautiful, and a very good reason for going to Germany yourself. The money also goes towards good works--charity at home and abroad. Possibly some of it went into housing little me in Tebartz van Elst's own diocese the summer I studied in Germany. When I returned for a visit, I discovered they weren't allowing women to live in the seminary anymore, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with ME.
What I am not sure at all about is how many euros go into spreading the Gospel or, if I may sound a little backward, converting souls to the One True Faith, and among those souls I am primarily thinking of ones belonging to baptised Catholics. Naturally there are seminaries and theology schools and radio stations and magazines, but somehow all of those institutions have not convinced the Catholics of Germany that they should be at Mass on Sundays. (In contrast, billions of American dollars are doing an ace job of converting Catholic Latin America to Protestantism, and thanks to petro-dollars, the Saudis have been successfully spreading Wahaabism throughout the world.)
Nor have the institutions convinced the Catholic boys of Germany to become priests. When one of my German pals was ordained, he was put in charge of--if I have this right--ten (10) parish churches.* Meanwhile his parents did not want him to become a priest and tried to discourage him. They told him quite seriously that they feared priesthood would turn him into a homosexual. These were not mad-trad parents, either, steeped in the fears and beliefs of the 1950s. They were real Sixty-Eighters. So where on EARTH did they get an idea like that?
Of all the accusations levied at Bishop Tebartz van Elst, living with his organist (as in the Church of Our Savior scandal) is not one of them. In fact, to return to Hilary's excellent article, Bishop Tebartz van Elst first attracted the ire of the German press by rebuking one of his priests for blessing a so-called "same sex union." After that, the German media began to follow him about and discovered that he was spending money like, well, a German bishop. However, you would not know that from all the headlines shrieking about "the Bishop of Bling." I don't think the poor man actually does wear bling. The money was all towards building projects, and we are talking German builders here. German builders, German wages. My German ex-boyfriend (bless him) once pantomimed crying at the thought of how much German plumbers charge.
Given the billions of euros being spent in the building projects of the German Church all the time, the ongoing crucifixion of Bishop Tebartz van Elst seems a bit bizarre. I sincerely wonder if Bishop Tebartz van Elst hasn't become a sort of decoy for the German press to shoot at while people like Cardinal Marx are given a pass to overspend with impunity because, like the German media, they are doctrinal liberals.
Oh me, oh my, the Church in Europe. I was talking to another priest-pal who says he thinks the bishops have given up on the faith of Europe. If so, this is perfectly outrageous. Billions and billions and billions of German tax money, and the bishops have given up on Europe? Maybe they should stop building for a decade and pour the money into actual worship and convincing apologetics for the authentic Roman Catholic faith, not the innovations they are trying to foist on us.
*Lest you fear that my pal might have dropped dead of exhaustion, I shall remind you that although ten parishes may comprise a large area in Germany--and necessitate a lot of driving--they do not comprise thousands of active parishioners.
Update: I am starting to think there are powerful people in the Church actively trying to destroy the faith of Catholics, or at least discourage us from coming to Mass. Hilary, reading this, will choke on her tea, and say "Starting?" However, I grew up as a child in the 1970s and 1980s, and the parish priests I knew were such good men, and the archbishops were held in such awe, that such a thing would never have occurred to me. When I began to hear, in high school, about perverted priests attacking boys and young men, I didn't think that was an attack on the faith so much as isolated individuals taking advantage of their position for sexual thrills. And then all that lavender mafia stuff--well, birds of a feather flock together. However, when I consider situations like the Church of Our Savior in New York and in Our Lady of the Rosary in Blackfen, England, when a pastoral approach that was clearly fruitful was abandoned and even attacked outright, I really have to wonder: are there priests and bishops who actually and actively hate us?
I mean, honestly. Our Lady of the Rosary was famous for its reverent liturgies, EF AND OF. Father Finigan gets moved, the new chap says he'll say the EF, the new chap stops saying the EF, the new chap leaves the priesthood and his pals rejoice with him on Facebook. Like, what?
Of course they hate us and the faith, why have you only discovered it. I can give examples in the Canadian dioceses of Toronto and London that would shock you, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteOf course they hate us and the faith, why have you only discovered it. I can give examples in the Canadian dioceses of Toronto and London that would shock you, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteWhy have I only now discovered it? I think, first of all, it took the internet to be able to connect any dots. Second, our faith asks us to close our eyes to the sins of others to more strictly observe our own, to say nothing of always choosing the most charitable interpretation. Thus, if a priest seemed "funny" or was living with another man under some plausible pretext, the truly devout have tended to dismiss their misgivings. Third, if one has been lucky enough to grow up in a great parish, one has not much of an idea how bad things may be in other parishes. Fourth, the idea that bishops, priest and nuns are actively trying to drive people away from the Catholic faith and out of the churches is just so crazy, it couldn't possibly be true--except that decisions made by bishops, priests and nuns have indeed driven people away from the Catholic faith and the churches starting, very unfortunately, with the iconoclausts and confusion during and after the Second Vatican Council, including new catechesis in the schools. However, I am so used to the situation--I was born after the Council--that it takes something really blatant to shock me into wonder--and the Blackfen scandal is it. New priest comes in to replace beloved priest, new priest drives away parishioners, priest makes homoerotic remarks on Facebook, priest leaves priesthood. Fifth columnist? What was he telling penitents in the confessional, one wonders!
ReplyDelete"Second, our faith asks us to close our eyes to the sins of others to more strictly observe our own,"
DeleteI think naivete and willful blindness are going to end up damning more souls than any other vice.
That can't be a legitimate excommunication, can it??? (For not paying the Church tax.) Yikes!
ReplyDeletePope Francis and Cardinal Muller and Benedict XVI say no. But the German bishops say yes, and, paraphrasing the Russian proverb, "Muller is at his office, and Pope Francis is far away."
DeleteOh, interesting! Thanks, Cojuanco! The whole idea of a Church tax just seems very odd to me.
DeleteIf you don't mind a comment from an eavesdropper Aunty, thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteI had heard media reports of the Bishop of Bling, and it does seem from your links that he has been targeted for his orthodox Catholic views. Amazing what the liberal heretics can get away with within the Church.
That said, Bishop Tebartz van Elst does need to be held accountable (as do other Bishops) for fiscal scandals, like keeping 'off the books' funds, and gross over-spending on diocesan palaces. We should all start by asking/demanding our parishes to publish their annual accounts (this caused consternation to my parish priest!). Then scrutiny can be applied to see if Church funds are being used best to further the faith, or ego projects, or the casino...
@booklover - I think the excommunication is for Catholics renouncing the faith to avoid the church tax imposed by the German state. Frankly, good job. The last thing the Church needs is more flaky pseudo-members who are willing to deny the faith to avoid paying upkeep of the Church. Even if that upkeep is misappropriated! The correct response is to demand accountability and faithfulness.
Hmmm, I appear to be less than charitable at 4:30am ;) Sorry! But the scandals do frustrate me, as I see people drifting from the faith while clericalists dither and squander.
Southern Bloke.
Well, to be fair, at least in Germany the media coverage on Bishop Tebartz van Elst really dealt mainly with his financial affairs, not with his Catholic views. It was almost a relief to not have to listen to those everlasting topics (g*y marriage, divorce and remarriage, and so on) for once. That just shows that most of the time the best thing to do is to stuff one’s fingers into one’s ears and scream so as not to hear anything.
ReplyDeleteRegarding excommunication and Church Tax, it seems kind of logic the way it is, as the only way to avoid paying Church Tax is to go to the civil registration office and declare there that you want to leave the Church altogether.
Do you allow me a short rant about the system in Switzerland, where I currently live? We also pay Church Tax here, but this does not even go to the diocese, it goes to the so-called “state church” – there are catholic, protestant and other “state churches” in each Canton, which are government institutions run by “church councils” (which are independent of the dioceses). They hand some of the money on to the bishops, but not all of it. They spend it on whatever end they think worth supporting. And if they don’t like their bishop, they cut down his funds. Apparently, in some dioceses, the bishops have decreed that you can leave the state church without being automatically excommunicated, so that’s a first step… When I once asked why nobody changes this, they said that it is all based on international treaties between Switzerland (or Germany) and the Holy See, and you don’t simply change such treaties because of diplomatic reasons.
What I just wrote is probably not very interesting for the majority of your readers. All I wanted to say is, weep weep what is becoming of the Church in Germany, and could someone please strip them of most of their money and all of their privileges?
DeleteOkay, weeping doesn't help, so I should probably start praying more...
It is certainly interesting to me! This "church tax" thing is a real headscratcher to me, having almost always lived in the British Commonwealth, where such things do not exist!
DeleteThank you, Seraphic! So how does the Church in the rest of the world survive? Does it live just on the money people put into the donation box on Sunday? I am really interested to know!
DeleteHaha, I just read an article online where one of the heads of the Protestant Church in Germany said that it would be impossible for the Churches to survive without church tax, as they would be forced to advertise a lot in order to receive enough voluntary donations, and as huge financial resources are needed to pay the parish priests’ salaries. Oh my goodness. Yes! Start advertising!! What a good idea! He goes on suggesting that the state should stop paying the bishops’ salaries (wait. Why does the state pay the bishops’ salaries????) and instead support the Churches with their conservation projects for old church buildings (which is payed out of church tax funds). It seems the Churches get 460 million Euros each year from the state, I guess in addition to the church tax.
Something is just wrong here.
Partially. We also have extra collections, churches generally have a set stipend for receiving the sacraments and I'm sure people also leave money to the Church in their wills, etc, but there are no specific requirements for giving to the Church. (At least in America. Except for the stipends for the sacraments, although those can generally be negotiated/forgiven if there's a genuine financial need. And not all parishes have them.)
DeleteThe parishes in my diocese generally put a huge effort into fundraising with special fund projects, etc. It gets kind of annoying sometimes. Well, mostly when the funds they're trying to raise are going towards making ugly churches even uglier, paying people to do stupid things, etc. :) Full-time youth ministers generally drive me nuts.
Actually, I'd be really curious to see someone who has experience both ways compare them.
Seen from that angle, having to endure the church advertising fundraising projects does not seem to be so desirable either :-) (What I thought was that good "advertising" in the Church would mean evangelizing, going out and telling people why the Church is actually a good thing. Which would be very much needed in this country.)
DeleteSo on the one hand, you can decide by yourself which fund project you want to support. On the other hand, you get constantly reminded of the silly things the Church likes to spend money on.
Hmm...
It definitely can be undesirable at times.
DeleteI also kind of feel like people might not realize that it's actually an important duty to support your parish (instead of just strictly an act of charity), since it kind of makes it seem like every other organization asking for money.
And that's kind of funny that you mention advertising, because my parish just announced a new evangelization effort; one of those electric signs that flashes messages and stuff that they plan to use to update people driving by on goings-on in the parish, in the hopes that it will lure them in. So tacky!!! Ugh.
But I totally agree with you!! Good 'advertising' is something the Church needs very badly!!
Thanks, Magdalena and Southern Bloke!! I had no idea that you would actually have to declare you were leaving the Catholic Church altogether to avoid paying the tax! Although it still seems odd to me because I'd never even heard of a Church Tax before, it makes more sense now.
ReplyDeleteI think it has something to do with Napoleon...Doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know, but that sounds fascinating!
Deletehard to tell at this stage whether we're worse off as sheep with these shepherds or without shepherds at all.
ReplyDeleteYes, according to Wikipedia (source of all knowledge, but in accordance with what I have heard in other places before), after the first war between Napoleon and the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), France took away the territories left of the Rhine. In order to compensate the non-Church rulers for their loss of land, most of the Churches’ property (land plus funds) was allotted to the worldly rulers in 1803. Only the money needed for pastoral care, charity and education was protected from the secularisation. Nevertheless, the state had to support churches and parishes financially, which worked well for some time, but because of various developments in society (population growth, industrialisation, urbanisation…) keeping up the churches became too expensive for the state. That is when Church Tax was first established; it was more or less forced on the churches then. At first, the churches had to collect the tax itself, and it was meant only to cover special needs of individual parishes, but later on whole regions united to collect the tax, and after the second world war, the state took over collecting the Church Tax.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. And speaking of crises in the Church, the time around 1803 must have been most awful. There are literally hundreds of Cistercian monasteries in Germany that were closed around that time. Thousands of priests, monks and nuns were laicised. And what makes it more awful is that there seems to have been almost no resistance in the Church to this treatment!
Hi Aunty S,
ReplyDeleteSeeing as this is a post on German Catholic faith, thought you may be interested in this article on a young German Catholic woman petitioning Pope Francis to be a priest:
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/jacqueline-straub-the-woman-who-would-be-priest/62271?utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=INTL%20-%20All%20Clicks%20ALL%20Devices
I'm curious as to the mental gymnastics Catholics like Jacqueline must go through to avoid thinking about Saint JP2's ruling precluding women priests, not to mention why she felt her 'call' was to become a priest and not serve God as a nun...
Anyway, thought you may be interested.
Southern Bloke.