Anger is increasing in the Cologne archdiocese over Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki’s refusal to publish the results of the investigation into the handling of abuse cases, as record numbers of Catholics opt to quit the Church. The number of Catholics officially leaving the Church has increased at an unprecedented rate, by 70%, and is now a record 1000 a month.
In order to leave the Church in Germany and stop having to pay 8-9% of net income in compulsory church tax which is collected at source, Catholics have to make an appointment with their municipal office and state that they intend to leave in writing.
The number wanting to leave in the Cologne archdiocese has risen so sharply in recent weeks that hundreds of extra appoint-ments have had to be squeezed in. The archdiocesan council, an elected body of representatives of the parishes and Catholic associations in the archdiocese which advises the archdiocesan leadership, has taken the unprecedented step of terminating its cooperation with the archdiocese.
According to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, the council decided at a plenary meeting on 28 January to suspend active cooperation with the archdiocese. The decision was unanimous.
More than 50 priests, including the secretary of the priests’ council, have, moreover, sent highly critical, urgent letters to Cardinal Woelki accusing him of forcing them to distance them-selves from the archdiocese and pointing out that he is responsible for their conflict of loyalties.