Canada: Churches Closed
The Catholic diocese of Antigonish, in southeast Canada, is going to close two of its churches. According to an article published by Radio Ville-Marie’s website on June 20, “these closings are part of a restructuring process laid out in 2007 by the diocese, and accelerated by the huge sums to be paid to the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of members of the clergy, as decided in the agreement reached in 2009.”
Obliged to pay 15 million Canadian dollars (10 million euros) to the victims, the diocese had first promised not to touch the churches and to concentrate on other buildings. But “the demographic reality has caught up with the Catholic diocese, that now has to deal with an important decrease in the number of its faithful and of its priests.”
At the end of May, the bishop in question, Bishop Brian J. Dunn, recalled that the diocese still had 82 diocesan priests in 2007, but only 41 are left today. The diocesan authorities estimate that in 2021 there will only be 30 left.
In Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia), four churches have had to close their doors in the last two years, and more are expected to close next year.
(sources: apic/radiovm.com – DICI no.299 dated August 1, 2014)
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