I don't see how the Church can deny the sacraments to people who don't pay the church tax. Isn't that a bit close to Martin Luther protesting paying for indulgence's? It seems to call for another German reformation. Follow the money and perhaps find out why no one is in boldly voicing a correction of the German Synod.
On my visits to Germany no one has ever queried my presence at Communion. And I do not look unGerman. How could a priest tell if the stranger at the Communion rail or the woman in the confessional has paid the tax?
Give under Caesar, that he may give unto God? This whole situation strikes me as extremely dubious, a means for the government to control the Church. "Judas was the first Catholic to receive a government grant."
And excommunicating people for not paying is the cherry on top. Yes, supporting the Church financially is a duty and a precept. I don't see how doing it *through one's taxes* is required. Is there anything else, anything at all, that will get you denied the sacraments in Germany?
As an American, the whole concept of a church tax is, both literally and figuratively, foreign to me. It just seems so odd.
At Mass, do they still pass a collection basket every week? Is there an annual Diocesan appeal? Haha Friday Night Fish Fry’s to raise money?
Or all the operating expenses for a parish covered by this tax? To be honest, it would feel a little weird feeling obligated to donate extra money if they were already dipping into my pocket every payday. But, as I said, I’m American and today is our Independence Day... so maybe that’s my just ingrained anti-taxation mentality haha.
Not related to Germany, per se, but the article mentioned an expected decline in Peter's Pence. And I was wondering what people think of refusing to give to Peter's Pence as a form of protest against what we see in Rome these days. (not to mention you have no idea how much is being lost on London real estate deals!)
I haven't given to it since November 2018, but I'm a survivor of abuse from a women's religious order (which has a large fund for victims from one of the institutions they ran), and if you support abuse I won't be supporting you.
I don't see how the Church can deny the sacraments to people who don't pay the church tax. Isn't that a bit close to Martin Luther protesting paying for indulgence's? It seems to call for another German reformation. Follow the money and perhaps find out why no one is in boldly voicing a correction of the German Synod.
On my visits to Germany no one has ever queried my presence at Communion. And I do not look unGerman. How could a priest tell if the stranger at the Communion rail or the woman in the confessional has paid the tax?
Give under Caesar, that he may give unto God? This whole situation strikes me as extremely dubious, a means for the government to control the Church. "Judas was the first Catholic to receive a government grant."
And excommunicating people for not paying is the cherry on top. Yes, supporting the Church financially is a duty and a precept. I don't see how doing it *through one's taxes* is required. Is there anything else, anything at all, that will get you denied the sacraments in Germany?
As an American, the whole concept of a church tax is, both literally and figuratively, foreign to me. It just seems so odd.
At Mass, do they still pass a collection basket every week? Is there an annual Diocesan appeal? Haha Friday Night Fish Fry’s to raise money?
Or all the operating expenses for a parish covered by this tax? To be honest, it would feel a little weird feeling obligated to donate extra money if they were already dipping into my pocket every payday. But, as I said, I’m American and today is our Independence Day... so maybe that’s my just ingrained anti-taxation mentality haha.
Not related to Germany, per se, but the article mentioned an expected decline in Peter's Pence. And I was wondering what people think of refusing to give to Peter's Pence as a form of protest against what we see in Rome these days. (not to mention you have no idea how much is being lost on London real estate deals!)
I haven't given to it since November 2018, but I'm a survivor of abuse from a women's religious order (which has a large fund for victims from one of the institutions they ran), and if you support abuse I won't be supporting you.