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.
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...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have two words for them AND the German "church". But today is Sunday so I will refrain myself.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Tancred said...

In case you haven't noticed, orthodoxy and orthopraxis aren't in high demand amongst the senior clergy.