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Germany’s Catholic Church In Desperate Straits As Priest Applications Fall Dramatically

08/01/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany is, apparently, in its deepest crisis since the end of World War II.  The string of sexual abuse scandals that has hit the Church in Germany has lead to a dramatic fall in the number of young men who want to become priests, and it would not be surprising if this were not on the way to becoming a world wide crisis for the Church.  According to Freiburg Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, there have been a total of one hundred fifty applications to join the priesthood this year.

“We are living through a great trauma, indeed, the deepest crisis of the Catholic church in Germany since 1945,” Zollitsch has stated.  This is leading to a serious lack of manpower as many older priests retire or pass on.

Vermont has been in a similar situation where towns and cities that once had two or three Catholic Churches are now down to one or two, and many smaller towns have seen their Churches shutter completely.  Several local Catholic schools are also heading towards the point where they are being shuttered because there is a lack of students.

The main cause has been the sexual molestation of minors by priests and clergy over the last fifty years at both churches and schools run by the Catholic Church.  The problem has gone right up to German born Pope Benedict, who as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, appears to have done little to stem the tide of abuse, and even Archbishop Zollitsch is under investigation over claims that he failed to remove a priest accuse of abuse.

“The whole profession has been damaged by these scandals.  The sinful and abhorrent behaviour of a few priests has come to represent the whole profession in the eyes of the public,” Zollitsch has said.  The Church has also had to be a lot pickier about the men it lets in to be priests, and this has meant that the numbers chosen has also fallen badly.  Zollitsch stated “In these discussions it is tested if the interested party has the right motivation, the communication skills, and the maturity to take this path.”

Of course, part of the problem that the Church is facing includes the fact that, not long ago, the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina moved to defrock a priest who supported same-sex marriage in that country, and did so in such a quick manner that less than a week had passed between his comments and the Church’s proceedings against him.  Most of the defrocked priests did not get defrocked for decades after they were first accused, and even after they were convicted of abusing children.

Currently, the Church’s tactic has been to blame gay men for the abuse, and to deny that the oath of celibacy has anything to do with the abuse.  They have even elevated to the same rank of severity as child molestation the ordination of women at a time when the Church is failing badly.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1574742.php/Scandals-have-scared-off-new-recruits-Germany-s-top-Catholic-says