Church defections and the CountMeOut campaign

Since June 2009, the CountMeOut campaign has provided a web-based facility for those who  wish formally to leave the Roman Catholic Church, which it states was initiated “largely as a response to the child abuse scandals, enabling those who no longer felt they were members of the church to formally remove themselves”. However, on 8 August 2013 it announced that it would cease operations with immediate effect. In a Press Release it explains

“[t]he campaign was based on a ‘Declaration of Defection’ which could be downloaded from the website and sent to one’s local parish. The result was an annotation in the baptismal register confirming that the person had defected. In late 2010, countmeout.ie became aware of a change to Canon law which effectively removed this option. “ Continue reading