Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Catholic priest drops plan to pin up photos of church leavers

Not blackmailing: Harm Schilder says he is trying to 'persuade' leaving parishioners to stayA Dutch Catholic priest who planned to 'name and shame' people leaving the church by pinning their photos up in public has decided not to go ahead.

Harm Schilder had claimed the move would enable other parishioners to pray for people who want to deregister as Catholics but now says he 'sees the risky side' of his much-criticised plan.

'There is now no point in putting the plan into action,' Schilder says on his weblog

Instead, he and volunteers will look at other ways to 'keep them with the church'.

According to the Daily Mail, four people in Schilder's parish in the southern city of Tilburg have taken steps to officially leave the church following the pope's statement on gay marriage.