Styrian study

Alarm: Church is losing more and more importance

Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl.

(Bild: Sonntagsblatt/Gerd Neuhold)

A recent study has given church leaders food for thought: church and faith only play a subordinate role in Styria. Catholics would like to see changes.

Half-empty pews, no longer a priest in every parish, fewer and fewer contributors: the golden age when the Catholic Church belonged to Styria like the Amen to prayer is long gone. The spirit of the times has plunged the large religious community into a crisis.

This finding is underpinned by the first "Future Radar", a representative survey of 700 Styrians aged between 16 and 75, which Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl has now presented in Graz. The figures show an increasing loss of importance of the institution in our province: according to the survey, the church is only (very) important for 17.6 percent, but for the vast majority of 81.5 percent it is of little or no importance. Nevertheless, 41.7 percent believe that faith is important.

The current study.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Adobe Stock)

"What is pleasantly surprising is that the under-30s are more religious than the 30 to 50-year-olds," analyzes project manager Manuela Reicht, who also sees this result as an opportunity. Because, to put it bluntly, Catholics are still a long way from losing their faith. The faithful want "their" church to change and have a long wish list for the bishop: three out of four respondents expect more commitment to peace in the world. Two thirds call for more commitment to social justice. And 60 percent demand offers "to keep pace with the changes in society".

Bishop sees a clear mission

"This is a clear mandate," comments Wilhelm Krautwaschl on the study. "We need to become more aware of spirituality in society - beyond church celebrations."