The Swiss Pastoral Sociological Institute (SPI) recently reported that the number of Catholic resignations have risen from 34,461 (2022) to 67,497, which is almost a 3%.

According to the SPI, the cantons of Geneva, Valais, Neuchâtel and Vaud were the least affected. However, this also has to do with the organisational structure there, as there is no formal church membership, informed German news website Pro medien magazin.

For Urs Brosi, general secretary of the umbrella organisation of all Roman catholic regional churches, “the wave of resignations in 2023 is unique in its scale. It is the result of the Roman Catholic Church looking the other way and covering up sexualised violence for decades. It protected perpetrators instead of victims”.

The University of Zurich published a landmark study in September 2023, exposing over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse within the Swiss Catholic Church for several decades.

Even before revelations of church sexual abuse, the shift away from religion was accelerating. By 2022, those belonging to no faith (34%) outnumbered Catholics (32%), protestants (21%) and other faith groups (12%), according to statistics published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Reformed Protestant Church also in decline

The SPI study also showed that the Swiss Reformed Protestant Church has registered almost 40,000 resignations. That was a third more than in the previous year.

“This development is part of a long-term erosion of church membership, which can be attributed to structural factors and individual decisions. Many members are only loosely connected to the church institutionally, which favours this exodus”, say Reformed Protestants in its website.

“The media coverage has reminded some of their church membership and prompted them to realise that they had already resigned”, they add.

However, Rita Famos, President of the Swiss Reformed Protestant Church, pointed out that “the blame should not only be placed on other institutions, we must face up to the challenge even more intensively in order to be relevant and credible for people who are only loosely connected to the church".

She recognised that “the church has become smaller, measured by the number of members, but when we talk about the social value and impact of our church, it is still big”.

"Our task is to continue to offer people spaces for dialogue, spirituality and commitment, because the church is not just an institution, it is a living community that shows through the commitment of its people, meets the challenges of our time, and remains deeply rooted in society”, concludes Famos.