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Freiburg (dpa / lsw) - Because of the increasing shortage of priests, the Archdiocese of Freiburg is amalgamating its parishes in large parishes.
"The previous 224 pastoral care units between Odenwald and Lake Constance will become 36 new, canonically independent parishes," the Archdiocese announced on Thursday.
The largest parish - in the area of the Bruchsal deanery - will comprise 114,000 Catholics.
On average, a parish headed by a priest will have around 50,000 Catholics.
Given these dimensions, it is obvious that a new parish is not the same as before.
"Rather, the parish is to be understood in the future as a geographical area in whose area ecclesiastical life and action takes place in many places," said Archbishop Stephan Burger.
The realignment of the parish structures is not an end in itself, "but the necessary prerequisite for the church to be experienced as a community in the future too".
The establishment of the new parishes is planned for the years 2025/2026.
The planning for the new structures had already started in 2019.
The archbishopric is also reacting to the decline in membership and the resulting decline in tax revenues.
The number of pastoral care units had already been reduced: in 2015 it fell by around a third to the current number of 224.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210304-99-690016 / 2
Communication archdiocese