Catholic Church in Germany seeks to attract those who despise it, warns German author

A German author, who gives lectures on marketing, warned that the Catholic Church in the European country seeks to attract those who “feel nothing but contempt” for it and for religion; and that in this way “alienates regular customers.”

This was indicated by Veit Etzold, author of 12 books and business consultant, in an article titled Believers flee churches en masse because they are too contemporarypublished in Focus a few days ago, in which he comments on the official departure of more than half a million people from the Catholic Church in Germany.

“Jesus would be turning in his grave (if he had not been resurrected). Reason: The church pleases those who don’t go to church anyway,” says Etzold, who is also coach of entrepreneurs.

“You don’t lose half a million customers a year. Any sales director responsible for such disastrous figures would have been fired three times in the corporate world,” the author continues.

“Although the bishops have been repeating it like parrots for 20 years: the departures (of faithful) are not due to the Church not being sufficiently updated. On the contrary: the Church is trying to ingratiate itself with the mainstream of the green left to the point of abandoning itself,” she warns.

In this way, he continues, “the Church is trying to be attractive to people who feel nothing but contempt for it and for religion; and they never go to church. “Therefore, the Church addresses a target group that does not exist and at the same time alienates regular customers.”

“The church has completely lost sight of its original mission and the essence of its brand. “She makes every marketing mistake you can make, instead of attracting new members.”

In the documents of the Church in Germany, Etzold laments, almost “no trace of pastoral or spirituality” can be seen.

The debacle of the Catholic Church in Germany

The Catholic Church in Germany is facing an unprecedented crisis, with more than half a million baptized Catholics leaving by 2022, according to published figures by the German Episcopal Conference (CEA) on June 28, 2023 and reported by CNA GermanGerman agency of the ACI Group.

For some years now, more and more faithful are leaving the Catholic Church in Germany, which has caused the president of the DBK to affirm that this nation is now “a country of mission”.

A 2021 report CNA Deutsch warned that 1 in 3 German Catholics were considering leaving the Catholic Church.

Another report from 2020 He stated that the reasons for leaving vary: older people point to the Church’s management of the abuse crisis, while younger people point to the obligation to pay the Church tax.

The massive departure of faithful also coincides with the completion of the controversial German Synodal Path, a process that cost several million dollars that not only aims to establish a permanent synodal council to supervise its conclusions, but also approved various resolutions based on gender ideology.

The German Synodal Path has also supported the priestly ordination of women, the blessing of same-sex couples, as well as changes in the Church’s teaching on the morality of sexual acts.

On more than one occasion, Pope Francis has addressed the bishops of Germany to clarify their procedure; while various bishops and cardinals have warned of the danger of schism.