Great story in today's Irish Times about a German theologian taking his tax case to the Vatican.
He refuses to pay church tax but argues he is still a believer. He argues by refusing to pay the German church tax he has not exited from the church as a community of believers, but from the church as a public corporation.
This story is sure to run and prove most interesting.
When a person signs the dotted line to leave, it is called a Kirchenausstritt or church exit. the person's name is struck from the church register and they are excluded from the sacraments. Of course it is fraught with profound problems. Today's Irish Times says that such 'Kirchenqustritters' are also excluded from church services. This reporting error highlights the silliness of the current dispensation.
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1 comment:
Seen from the other side, Michael, the situation is just as weird. According to canon law, I was formally excommunicated on the day I, as a Catholic priest without any dispensation from Church authorities, married in a registry office in Germany. The RC Church here, however, had no problem with continuing to pocket my church tax. Enquiring about this strange situation where the church was formally excluding me in canon law, while continuing to claim me as a member according to civil law, I was told that the only course open to me was for me to formally leave the church (Kirchenaustritt) if I no longer wanted to pay church tax. Something I eventually did.
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