Both sociology of religion and statistical bodies within the Roman Catholic Church seem to approach the question of church membership in a similar way – they differentiate between those formally belonging to the Church (passive members) and those that actively take part in certain kinds of religious rituals (active members). For decades now, the Catholic Church has collected data not only on the numbers of baptized, but also dominicantes (those that regularly participate in Sunday mass) and communicantes (those that regularly receive Eucharist). As the discussions around notions such as vicarious representation, synodality, polarization in the Church, as well as belonging without believing and vice versa increase in significance, the thinking about active membership in purely liturgical categories might require revisiting. During this panel, we would like to take a closer look at what it means to belong to the Church. Among the questions we would like to address are: What kind of rights and responsibilities come with such a membership? Who has the right to participate in the active shaping of the Church? How do power relations influence the ideas of membership? Are there different levels of being a member? If so, how can we account theologically for these different “levels”? Is it possible to remain a member of the Church despite significant contestation or dissent? Chair: Ryszard Bobrowicz (KU Leuven)Speakers:Taylor Ott (KU Leuven), Debaptism and Defection: What formal disaffiliation can tell us about belonging Travis La Couter (KU Leuven), Dissent, and Ecclesial Belonging: A Theological Account of Voice and Exit Judith Gruber (KU Leuven), Remembering the No-bodies. Ecclesiological Configurations at the Boundaries of BelongingDiscussant: Massimo Faggioli (Villanova University)