Church Crisis Shakes Faith of German Town

Today the villagers’ mixture of disappointment and dedication shows how the roots of the church crisis go back further than the German church’s sexual-abuse scandal, which began in Berlin in January, but also why the stream of people leaving the church has not yet turned into a flood of departures. The villagers harbor a combination of tradition and faith, but also a belief that the crisis is an opportunity to strengthen the hand of reformers.

“I can’t just change my faith like I’m changing a pair of underwear,” Mr. Stückl said in an interview on Thursday, in his rapid-fire, irreverent manner as his cellphone rang constantly, an unavoidable consequence of trying to organize the 2,100 villagers performing in the dress rehearsal, not to

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/world/europe/15germany.html