All Germans who are officially registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews pay a religious tax, worth an extra 8-9% of their income tax bill. This had been challenged by a retired law professor who said he wanted to remain a Catholic but not pay the tax. Last week, a new bishops' decree warned that anyone not paying the tax would be denied the right to religious rites.Link to BBC...
Sunday, October 27, 2013
German Secular Court Rules That German Catholics Must Pay Church Tax to Remain Members
Edit: this just came out from BBC. They usually don't get the facts straight, but after a year, things have taken place just as Doctor Andreas Janker has predicted, and he and Harmut Zapp's case has been ruled against. While there is general criticism of the Church-tax overall, Network of German Priests, an association of conservative, or say, truly Catholic German priests has been critical of a regime which imposes a Leftist agenda which is not Catholic.
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4 comments:
I would have two words for them AND the German "church". But today is Sunday so I will refrain myself.
Yeh as Benedict tXVI said they have too much money to do with nefariously. I suppose they have regular collection and special collection and auspices and mandatory tax to boot.; as the faithful dwindle away.
Look, lamenting the problem does not solve it. The solution, however, is simple. 2-3 Catholics in Germany need to bring a case before the Apostolic Signatura in Rome: sueing the entire German Episcopate for the crime of simony, in that they require money to administer the Sacraments; because in canon law, no requirement can be made to hand over money in exchange for the sacraments. The civil registration as a Catholic is only a positive law, and no bishop can require it of a Catholic. Not in Germany nor in any other country. Cardinal Burke is an American and would quickly nix the Bishop's simoniacle decree, if a case is brought against it.
In case you haven't noticed, orthodoxy and orthopraxis aren't in high demand amongst the senior clergy.
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