THE finances of most dioceses around the country are
flagging as collections and Mass attendance figures plummet, it has been
claimed.
Well-known media commentator Fr Brian D’Arcy said
generally speaking, the church was being hit due to a culmination of
factors from dwindling investment returns to falling revenue from Church
collections.
He noted the abuse scandals had done "very serious damage" to the Church.
Fr D’Arcy said urban parishes were particularly badly hit. "It has been a very difficult time for the Church’s finances. Collections are, generally speaking, falling all over the country and people are asking where is the this money going? And ‘why should we pay for the sins of the father’?"
The priest said it wasdifficult to know where to make cutbacks.
"Within dioceses there are very few areas where you could cut costs greatly. It is very hard to cut charitable work, so there is very little to cut. As well as this, falling priest numbers means lay people have to be employed to help out."
Fr D’Arcy said it was a difficult time to ask people to make more contributions. He said parishes need young people who are committed to the Church and who can come up with ideas as to how the Church can be shaped into the future.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Bishop Colm O’Reilly, of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise diocese, said "without a shadow of a doubt" his diocese was facing similar problems.
Last year the diocese paid more than €600,000 for abuse cases and more than €200,000 in legal costs.
"Income from investments which we were able to rely on are gone way down so we have to find other ways of closing the gap.
"We have support from money left by priests or voluntary contributions but a diocese is about the people, it is not a self-financing thing. We rely on people." The bishop said while his diocese is "not broke", they have to more careful into the future.
"It is hard to extract more money from people when they are finding it hard anyway. I have noticed Sundays are down, not due to less people on seats but that people don’t have much to give. It’s not down to generosity because a recent Trócaire collection was very generous from a relatively small town."
He noted the abuse scandals had done "very serious damage" to the Church.
Fr D’Arcy said urban parishes were particularly badly hit. "It has been a very difficult time for the Church’s finances. Collections are, generally speaking, falling all over the country and people are asking where is the this money going? And ‘why should we pay for the sins of the father’?"
The priest said it wasdifficult to know where to make cutbacks.
"Within dioceses there are very few areas where you could cut costs greatly. It is very hard to cut charitable work, so there is very little to cut. As well as this, falling priest numbers means lay people have to be employed to help out."
Fr D’Arcy said it was a difficult time to ask people to make more contributions. He said parishes need young people who are committed to the Church and who can come up with ideas as to how the Church can be shaped into the future.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Bishop Colm O’Reilly, of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise diocese, said "without a shadow of a doubt" his diocese was facing similar problems.
Last year the diocese paid more than €600,000 for abuse cases and more than €200,000 in legal costs.
"Income from investments which we were able to rely on are gone way down so we have to find other ways of closing the gap.
"We have support from money left by priests or voluntary contributions but a diocese is about the people, it is not a self-financing thing. We rely on people." The bishop said while his diocese is "not broke", they have to more careful into the future.
"It is hard to extract more money from people when they are finding it hard anyway. I have noticed Sundays are down, not due to less people on seats but that people don’t have much to give. It’s not down to generosity because a recent Trócaire collection was very generous from a relatively small town."