Sex
abuse and other corruption scandals have caused the exodus of tens of
thousands of Germans to leave the Catholic church in 2010 taking with
them automatic church tax donations. German news agencies, Frankfurter Rundschau and DPA agree that in recent studies German Catholics have left the church in great numbers, most citing sex abuse scandals as the main reason for leaving.
According to DW-World the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart saw a total of 17,169 Catholics leave the church as of November, almost seven thousand more than the year previous and in Augsburg, almost 12,000 had left by December.
According to Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann of Wurzburg in an interview with The Telegraph, this mass exodus is something new.
He says, "I have never experienced anything like this since my ordination in 1969. Every single departure is one too many".
These departures may pose financial problems for the Catholic Church.
Under German tax laws, becoming a member of an officially recognized church requires a financial commitment in the form of payroll deductions.
The payroll deductions are referred to as a church tax and are calculated as up to 8 percent of income tax and account for approximately 5 billion euros annually going to Catholic Church coffers.
According to CathNews, German Catholics may stop the deductions by filling out a form at a local town hall that is passed on to church authorities who consider the action as a "church exit".
Those who take this step then have there names stricken from the church record and are no longer allowed to attend church services and sacraments.
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