Not only the Catholic Church is dealing with a mass exodus, but also the Catholic clubs. The largest Catholic women’s community has lost a lot of members.
Inhalt / Content
Over 90,000 resignations
The members of a women’s association with a Catholic overtone are running away. The registered association “Catholic Women’s Community of Germany (kfd)” has suffered a massive decline in participants in recent years. Between 2020 and 2023, around 94,500 members left the Catholic association. With a membership of around 350,000 in 2020, the number of refugees is definitely a number. Despite the official announcement by the kfd of the decline in membership to only around 265,000 club members, no correction has yet been made on their website to indicate the number of members (Source).
kfd issues a statement
In view of the numerous press reports about the flood of resignations, the kfd has published a statement. Accordingly, many of the figures mentioned in the media are incorrect. The dominant topic of discussion is the contribution increase implemented by the kfd. This contribution adjustment is often presented in isolation as the reason for the former members to leave. The kfd wants to provide clarification on this “so that false statements in the media do not continue to unsettle our members, but also the public.”
Not quite right, but completely wrong?
The supposed correction on the part of the Catholic association reads like the usual approach of the so-called “fact-checkers”. The assertion taken up is broken down into its individual parts, a deviation is taken up, and an untruth is constructed from it as a whole. The general increase in the membership fee from 12 to 22 euros claimed by the media is not correct, according to the kfd.
There is a distinction between the individual contributions from different groups and the individual contributions for the federal association. Only the individual contribution for the federal association was increased by 10 euros, but the different groups are set individually. Overall, the membership fee in Berlin could therefore be different from in Cologne. For this reason, it is wrong if only one number is given as the membership fee for the entire kfd.
However, the association itself admits that many members are not prepared to pay a higher contribution and are therefore leaving the kfd. Numerous women have also turned their backs on the association because of the cases of abuse in the church.
Impatience or ignorance?
On the other hand, the reasoning that numerous members have fled due to the “still non-existent equality for women in the Catholic Church” seems somewhat strange. The self-described goals of the kfd also include the commitment to the interests of women in the church.
The Catholic women’s association’s other goals include supporting the achievement of the “climate protection goal” and the “preservation of creation” through “fair, creation-friendly and sustainable action”.
Bible verses from King James Version
