Church closures threat as priest numbers halved

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter

UP TO half the Catholic churches across swathes of Scotland face the prospect of closure as another diocese warns of a crisis of clergy numbers and falling congregations.

The Diocese of Galloway has released figures showing the number of priests has more than halved since 1990, with the fall in churchgoers nearly as steep.

Across the diocese, which covers most of south west Scotland, there is currently one priest for every two churches.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.