Cologne archdiocese discloses assets of over $3.8 billion

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The Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany, has reported financial assets of €3.5 billion ($3.82 billion) in a first-ever public accounting of its wealth.
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The Cologne archdiocese has long been considered the wealthiest in Germany, where the Catholic Church profits from the “church tax” added to the regular tax bills of all registered believers.
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In 2013, the Cologne archdiocese collected €573 million through the church tax, and operated at a €59 million surplus.
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catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=24075
 
The German “Church tax” system is unfortunate. The very low numbers of Germans who attend Church, in both Catholic and Lutheran areas, is a terrible problem.
 
7_Sorrows said:
Those are terrible numbers!!! We need to evangelize in Germany!

How can they have so many assets with such a low attendance.
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If I break this news in my parish here, there will be a mutiny ! It took looooooong months and family contributions to repair a hole in the roof :hammering: and Mass was celebrated in a nearby school in the meantime.
 
graciew said:
If I break this news in my parish here, there will be a mutiny ! It took looooooong months and family contributions to repair a hole in the roof :hammering: and Mass was celebrated in a nearby school in the meantime.
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That is a shame!!! (I like your little guy with the jack hammer-cute!)
 
PaulfromIowa said:
The German “Church tax” system is unfortunate. The very low numbers of Germans who attend Church, in both Catholic and Lutheran areas, is a terrible problem.
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Money != Evangelization. It can certainly help if used right though.
 
SWolf said:
Money != Evangelization. It can certainly help if used right though.
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I figure the money is why they don’t evangelize. They don’t need to. They’re rich as all get out even with terrible numbers. The Bishops and Priests are living large, the money is coming in, so to them everything is fine.
In most places empty churches = empty wallets. The tax takes that away.

Hence why the Germans are pushing for all these doctrinal changes. They don’t care about evangelizing, or church truths, or bringing the authentic word to the people. They don’t care that their churches are empty. They need to appeal just enough to the masses to keep them from changing their tax documents. Getting them in the pews and getting them to believe doesn’t matter because the German church is getting paid either way.

Honestly, it’s disgusting.
 
ARSpade said:
I figure the money is why they don’t evangelize. They don’t need to. They’re rich as all get out even with terrible numbers. The Bishops and Priests are living large, the money is coming in, so to them everything is fine.
In most places empty churches = empty wallets. The tax takes that away.

Hence why the Germans are pushing for all these doctrinal changes. They don’t care about evangelizing, or church truths, or bringing the authentic word to the people. They don’t care that their churches are empty. They need to appeal just enough to the masses to keep them from changing their tax documents. Getting them in the pews and getting them to believe doesn’t matter because the German church is getting paid either way.

Honestly, it’s disgusting.
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Its also troubling how disproportionately influential it makes them in the church as a whole.
 
boar2roar said:
Its also troubling how disproportionately influential it makes them in the church as a whole.
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During Vatican II they were even more powerful than they are now. They have a long history in driving the Church.

now though, German Catholicism is in flames. Hopefully from the ashes we get a Church that sustains itself on voluntary donations and not a government tithe.
 
7_Sorrows said:
Those are terrible numbers!!! We need to evangelize in Germany!

How can they have so many assets with such a low attendance.
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Taxes.

Germans tithe to the church via a tax collected by the Government. If you don’t pay this tax, the German Chuch will straight up deny you the sacraments. Actually going to church and actually giving money there does not count.

So a lot of people give money to the church via the tax, but never bother to go. The Church doesn’t care if you’re there or not, they’re getting paid anyway. And it’s a llooootttt of money. The Catholic Church in Germany is like the 1st or 2nd largest employer in the country. The “Bishop of Bling” was not an outlier, he just got noticed. The salaries that Bishops and Priests got there are nuts. We’re talking about $10k to 16k USD for bishops. A month.

This is also why the German church is the driving force between all these, shall we say, populist initatives on divorce and gay stuff. Because if people don’t care about the church, they keep paying the tax. If they get actively annoyed, they quit doing so.

The German Church frames their arguments about welcoming people back to the Church. But we’ve seen mainline Protestants do these things and their attendence fell. But, of course, the German Church doesn’t care about attendence. Their attendence is terrible anyway and they still get paid. They just want to ensure more people don’t stop paying the tax.

I find it quite telling that the German Church wants to give you Communion if you’re in a second marriage, but will deny you all the Sacraments if you just want to give money in church and not via the government.
 
ARSpade said:
The German Church frames their arguments about welcoming people back to the Church. But we’ve seen mainline Protestants do these things and their attendence fell. But, of course, the German Church doesn’t care about attendence. Their attendence is terrible anyway and they still get paid. They just want to ensure more people don’t stop paying the tax.

I find it quite telling that the German Church wants to give you Communion if you’re in a second marriage, but will deny you all the Sacraments if you just want to give money in church and not via the government.
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Mercy as long as you fill our coffers. We used to call that Simony.
 
7_Sorrows said:
That is a shame!!! (I like your little guy with the jack hammer-cute!)
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I know,it s cute! We can t deny we both worked with children,7 Sorrows 🙂
I prefer it this way,there is something very real about making an effort to reach an objective to repair our own " house". .
 
I have never been to Germany, and I know nothing of the German Church save for these articles, and of course the articles on Cardinal Kasper, Cardinal Marx, and the German theologians who were instrumental before and during Vatican Council II. But from what I am seeing and reading, our Holy Lord’s admonisions to the Pharasees would fit them like a glove. The book " The Rhine Flows into the Tiber" is quite imformative in this regard. Sad.
 
Pulvis said:
I have never been to Germany, and I know nothing of the German Church save for these articles, and of course the articles on Cardinal Kasper, Cardinal Marx, and the German theologians who were instrumental before and during Vatican Council II. But from what I am seeing and reading, our Holy Lord’s admonisions to the Pharasees would fit them like a glove. The book " The Rhine Flows into the Tiber" is quite imformative in this regard. Sad.
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👍

“The Rhine Flows into the Tiber” should be required reading for every Catholic.
 
I am an RCIA catechumen, so I’m still very new to all of this. May I ask how or why this type if thing us allowed within the Church? Close family members are upset about my upcoming conversion, and one of their arguments is that the Catholic Church is corrupt. I can see their point if there is a branch/arm/division of the Church that behaves this way.

There is a lot of stuff I still don’t understand about the workings of the Church, so please forgive my ignorance on this topic. It seems like there are so many orders, sects, groups, etc., that I have a difficult time sorting them all out.
 
ForeverJoy said:
I am an RCIA catechumen, so I’m still very new to all of this. May I ask how or why this type if thing us allowed within the Church? Close family members are upset about my upcoming conversion, and one of their arguments is that the Catholic Church is corrupt. I can see their point if there is a branch/arm/division of the Church that behaves this way.

There is a lot of stuff I still don’t understand about the workings of the Church, so please forgive my ignorance on this topic. It seems like there are so many orders, sects, groups, etc., that I have a difficult time sorting them all out.
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The Catholic Church is no more, nor any less, corrupt than any of the other denominations. Christ Jesus established the Church, but men run it. Throughout the history of the Church their have been good, and bad, Priests, Bishops Cardinals, and yes, Popes. It happens when we weak humans allow our own desires to rule our lives. But the Church as the body of Christ survives. Do not be discouraged! The situation within the Church currently will pass.
As to your families assertions of the Church being corrupt, ask them to show you any denomination within the protestants that has not had similar issues. People sin. But the Church, established by Christ Jesus will survive to the end of days. He said so.
 
How many of those assets are in the form of real estate? How much in cash? That huge cathedral in Cologne has got to be worth a mint, but it probably costs a fortune in upkeep, too.
 
whatsmyname said:
How many of those assets are in the form of real estate? How much in cash? That huge cathedral in Cologne has got to be worth a mint, but it probably costs a fortune in upkeep, too.
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Perhaps that’s why the need to tax Catholics, especially the 90% who don’t go to Mass?
 
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