Decline of religion

[Ahriman]

Tattoos and piercings

Perfect...got lots of tattoos but don't really wear jewelry anymore.

Of what?

[Silver]

Perfect...got lots of tattoos but don't really wear jewelry anymore.

Of what?

She posted pictures somewhere.

Oh, here they are

[Fake Messiah]

Catholic criminal coverups are no longer working.

Baltimore archdiocese’s "final plan" will cut parishes from 61 to 23.

The first US Catholic diocese since 1789 is disappearing.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has released its final plan for reconfiguring operations of the Catholic church in the Baltimore area, a blueprint for change that will slash by about two-thirds the number of parishes in the city and several nearby suburbs.

The leadership team of “Seek the City to Come,” the multiyear realignment campaign, shared the earlier proposal with the Baltimore faithful during Masses in mid-April. At that stage, the draft suggested reducing the number of parishes from 61 to 21 and the number of worship sites from 59 to 26.

Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, co-leader of the campaign, had told parishioners that radical change was necessary because attendance at city churches has cratered, and because of the widespread disrepair of aging buildings. The archdiocese lacks the resources, he says, to offer robust services under the geographically focused parish system that prevailed in the city for centuries.

The goal, he has said, is to grow through reduction and direct more energy to what remains.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/05/22/...baltimore/

[Fake Messiah]

Buffalo Diocese recommends merges, closures of 15 churches

They are facing bankruptcy as they have to pay at least $100 million for raping priests, but also less people are going to church, less kids baptized, less people marry in church, and on top of that there are less priests. Already in 2011 they had to close over 70 churches.

[Fake Messiah]

Hundred Scottish churches up for sale as UK turns away from Christianity

Churches, plots of land and former council houses, some dating back to the 1700s, have been listed for sale at prices ranging from £35,000 in what the Church has described as a “painful” move.

The institution said financial pressures have forced it to make “difficult” decisions on its future, adding it now owns “far more [churches] than is required”.

The Church of Scotland has lost a million members since 2001 and the majority of Scots now say they have no religion, according to the latest census data.

It is also grappling with a fall in clergy numbers. In 2022, the Church revealed it had lost 40pc of its ministers since 2000.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper...rket-sale/

[Fake Messiah]

Another 400,000 people left Germany's Catholic Church last year, but the pace slowed from 2022

The German Bishops' Conference said that 402,694 people left the church in 2023. That was down from 522,821 the previous year, but still the second-highest figure so far. At the same time, 1,559 people joined the church and another 4,127 rejoined.

In Germany, people who are formally members of a church pay a so-called church tax that helps finance it in addition to the regular taxes the rest of the population pays. If they register their departure with local authorities, they no longer have to pay that. There are some exemptions for low earners, jobless, retirees, students and others.

The country's Catholic Church had around 20.35 million members at the end of last year. In an annual summary of statistics, the bishops’ conference didn’t detail reasons for the departures.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-400-0...21587.html

---

Also, it seems that the German Catholics are turning on Bergoglio

Pope Francis has lost control of his liberal revolution

During a rowdy assembly lasting several hours, with the wind whipping outside, the delegates complained that Pope Francis had let the German Church down on key issues such as clerical sex abuse, gay marriage and trans rights, on which the German faithful desperately sought progress.

“They found out, using human science, that there are more than two genders — and yet the pope rejects this!” the theologian Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl fumed from beneath a mushroom cloud of fuzzy red hair. “Nobody knows where he goes, he’s always changing his mind. There’s no throughline in his doings, no logic.’”

Since the beginning of his papacy, Francis has faced attacks from conservatives worried he’s gone too far on issues like homosexuality, abortion and capitalism. But those gathered in Berlin were complaining of precisely the opposite: that he isn’t liberal enough.

“Francis was elected to renew the Catholic Church,” said Thomas Söding, the vice president of the Central Committee for German Catholics, the group that descended on the German capital in November. But the pope’s failure to bring about any meaningful change has left the Church archaic and unfixed, he said, forcing the Germans to try and beat their own path.

Last year, for example, a landmark declaration allowing clerical blessings for same-sex couples was diluted after a fiasco involving religious musings on the nature of orgasms. In late May, moreover, Francis’s own liberal bona fides were questioned after multiple reports that he had used a homophobic slur behind closed doors.

For much of the past year, the German challenge has rippled through the Catholic Church, prompting dire warnings of a schism and calls for a conservative crackdown. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that the threat to clerical authority has erupted in the very regions that cradled the 16th-century Lutheran upheavals. Last year, one prominent archbishop described the events in the German Church as “the greatest crisis since the Reformation.” And though the uprising has recently been subdued, it shows no signs of ending.

https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-fra...evolution/

[MR. Macabre 666]

As an ex Catholic, this is fine with me. The fewer the churches, the better.

[The Grand Nudger]

Not so much here in the us, at least not in the short term. The church is one of the larger welfare queens in the us system. The troubles that theyre having now would be worse without the 60 or so billion we give them out of the taxpayers pocket every year because they say....they provide....childcare......

[Fake Messiah]

Are you telling me the number of priests in the US is so low that the Church is suffering from the immigration policies?

Catholic churches losing priests to deportation nationwide and here in the Ozarks

Catholic churches across the United States and even right here in the Ozarks are struggling to keep their foreign-born priests due to a nationwide Visa backlog.

It’s an immigration issue impacting everyone, according to the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Roman Catholic Diocese Bishop Edward Rice.

“Ninety percent of our dioceses in the United States are dealing with this because we have priests from either Africa, India, or South America, so we’re all going through this,” Bishop Rice said.

Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church in Ava, Mo., lost its priest in April. The priest was in charge of five parishes in the Ozarks.

Bishop Rice said the dioceses have been working hard to fix this problem, but there’s not much that can be done right now.

“I’ve been told by political offices like Senator Hawley’s office. He was very kind to reach out to me when we requested some help. They said they’re still working on (Visa) applications from 2022,” Bishop Rice said.

Saint Leo Church eventually got a full-time priest back in July. However, since he’s the only priest in five parishes, masses have been consolidated.

https://www.ky3.com/2024/07/23/catholic-...re-ozarks/

[Fake Messiah]

Austrian Church shrinks by almost 2% in a year

The Austrian bishops’ conference said Sept. 18 that the number of Catholics fell from 4,733,085 in 2022 to 4,638,842 in 2023, a decline of 94,243, or 1.99%.

In 2023, 85,163 people formally left the Church in Austria, down from 90,975 the year before, but more than in 2021 and 2020, when there 72,222 and 58,727 people left respectively.

“The Church will look different in 20 years’ time than it did 20 years ago. We will also no longer have the same resources,” he commented.

“Our income has long been increasing only nominally, but is falling in value — for example, our total income will have risen by only 3.9% in 2023, which is just half the inflation rate. So there are many things we can no longer afford, or will soon no longer be able to afford.”

As in neighboring Germany, Catholics in Austria must pay a church tax, known locally as the Kirchenbeitrag (church contribution). It amounts to about 1.1% of annual taxable income.

The dioceses had a total income of around 696 million euros in 2023, but total expenses of 730 million euros.

To formally leave the Church in Austria, a Catholic must submit a withdrawal declaration to a competent authority in person or in writing, along with official documents such as a baptismal certificate, and pay an administrative fee.

They no longer pay the church contribution, and are also considered to have lost access to the sacraments, the right to a church burial, the ability to serve as a baptismal or confirmation sponsor, and will pretty much burn in Hell.

https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/austria...-by-almost