The Wagner-effect? Austria’s exodus

Last week, upper Austria’s main newspaper Die Oberoesterreichischen Nachrichten ran an article saying that 2009 marked the upper Austrian church’s largest exodus. Ever. (Or at least since such numbers have been kept).

The paper speculates that the reason for the decline lies predominantly with last year’s disastrous Wagner Affair (Causa Wagner–background here) but that secondary reasons include the storm following the lifting of the excommunications from the four Lefebvrist Bishops last January.