Catholic priest numbers set to fall in wake of scandal

Link
08-02-10

Freiburg, Germany – A string of sex abuse scandals in the German Catholic church has led to a dramatic fall in the number of young men wanting to become priests, Germany’s top Catholic bishop [Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch] said Sunday.

… ’We are living through a great trauma, indeed the deepest crisis of the Catholic church in Germany since 1945,’ Zollitsch said.

Sexual abuse scandals have rocked the church in Germany since January, when dozens of cases emerged involving sexual molestation of minors by priests and other clergy over a period of 50 years at church-run schools.

Zollitsch said that new applications to join the priesthood across had fallen to 150 this year, a record low.