https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Church_%28Antarctica%29
Posted on 07/30/2015 3:00:13 AM PDT by markomalley
MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica, July 29, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - After nearly 60 years, the Catholic Church is gone from Antarctica. The numbers of Mass attendees at the Chapel of the Snows at McMurdo Station have so dwindled that the presence of a Catholic priest is no longer needed.
The parish church belongs to the New Zealand diocese, and is located on the grounds of the U.S. Antarctic Program, run by the National Science Foundation. The NSF has asked the diocese to sever ties with the program. A military chaplaincy will offer interdenominational services and pastoral care, but it's unclear whether these services include Catholic Masses or other sacraments.
According to Fr. Dan Doyle, who has visited the continent each summer for more than a decade, the numbers used to be as high as 2000 Catholics. But those figures have decreased to such an extent that the base believes only one chaplain is necessary.
(For those who may not know, the NSF is an independent agency created by Congress in 1950)
So it's not a matter of there not being an available priest nor is it necessarily a matter of there not being an adequate number of Catholics, the real deal is that the US Government made the declaration because the US Government determined that one is no longer necessary.
Ah, but is there a Muslim Imam on the way?
A continent without a Catholic church.
Obama’s dream for North America, for starters.
This is surprising, given the Pontiff’s politics.
This is not good!
My brother-in-law, a priest in the Gary, IN, diocese, during the dreadful cold (and plentiful snow) of last winter, told us one daily Mass he conducted was attended by only one person.
I asked him if she did not come would Mass have still gone on? And he said, “Of course!”
Mass is not just held for the people who come; it is held for the parish, town, state, and country, etc., as well, which brings to mind what Padre Pio stated:
“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass.”
One Pope can’t make a Marxist Muslim terrorist love the Catholic Church.
“This is surprising, given the Pontiff’s politics.”
The pope is pro-life. Is Obama? The pope opposes same-sex marriage. Does Obama?
McMurdo Station is populated almost entirely by scientists. Perhaps years of Liberals running the universities and biased NSF selection practices have managed to weed out any practicing Catholics from the pool?
**The numbers of Mass attendees at the Chapel of the Snows at McMurdo Station have so dwindled that the presence of a Catholic priest is no longer needed.**
My opinion.
A priest is always needed.
Proof that barky will go to the ends of the earth to destroy Christianity.
There is something so comforting to know that.
What a charming little church!
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