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	Number of Austrian Catholics Leaving Church Increase to a Record High since 1945 By Rafael Gurbisz The Canadian Press January 14, 2011 http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iWzRQtSWJGT3NIJdJ3MzfrzymuLg?docId=5619420 More Roman Catholics left the church in Austria last year than at any time since 1945, church officials announced Tuesday, linking the trend to disgust over recent cases of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy. Figures published by the Austrian Bishop's Conference said 87,000 Austrian Catholics left in 2010. That's a 64 per cent increase over the 53,000 who formally had their names struck from church registries in 2009. The group — which speaks for all of Austria's bishops — said the largest exodus came in the aftermath of recent sex abuse scandals in Austria, and Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn also suggested this was the case. "Undoubtedly, the exit numbers of the year 2010 were affected by the revelations of the abuse scandal," said Schoenborn, while arguing that less loyalty to the church also contributed to the exodus. "It is becoming clear that the affiliation to the church is becoming a matter of choice rather than a matter of tradition," Schoenborn said in a statement, adding that the time when "church, state and society were one, is over". The dramatic decline came as Austria was hit by a wave of abuse claims against clergy and employees of church-affiliated institutions such as schools. Schoenborn tried to stem the exodus by publicly acknowledging church guilt in covering up the abuse and reaching out to victims in a special service in St. Stephen's Cathedral, in Vienna. But critics contend there's still much to be done. The Vienna-based lay organization "We Are Church" says church leaders are blocking reforms and avoiding dialogue over issues the church considers controversial. The bishops also said the total number of Roman-Catholics in Austria dropped from around 5.53 million in 2009 to an estimated 5.45 million in 2010. Vienna's Archdiocese had the largest number of people, about 25,000, leaving the church last year. Austrian law requires residents registered as followers of most recognized religions to pay a small percentage of their earnings toward support of their churches or temples.
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