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Last Catholic Church Closes in Antarctica [by order of the US Government]
Church Militant ^ | 7/29/15

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.


TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS:
The takeaway: The NSF has asked the diocese to sever ties with the program.

(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.

1 posted on 07/30/2015 3:00:13 AM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

Ah, but is there a Muslim Imam on the way?


2 posted on 07/30/2015 3:07:27 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: markomalley

A continent without a Catholic church.

Obama’s dream for North America, for starters.


3 posted on 07/30/2015 3:20:05 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: Arthur McGowan

This is surprising, given the Pontiff’s politics.


4 posted on 07/30/2015 3:35:27 AM PDT by Loud Mime (Honor the Commandments because they're not suggestions; stop gambling on forgiveness.)
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To: markomalley

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.”


5 posted on 07/30/2015 3:59:50 AM PDT by mlizzy ("Tell your troubles to Jesus," my wisecracking father used to say, and now I do.......at adoration.)
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To: Loud Mime

One Pope can’t make a Marxist Muslim terrorist love the Catholic Church.


6 posted on 07/30/2015 5:34:29 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: Loud Mime

“This is surprising, given the Pontiff’s politics.”

The pope is pro-life. Is Obama? The pope opposes same-sex marriage. Does Obama?


7 posted on 07/30/2015 5:40:25 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: markomalley

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?


8 posted on 07/30/2015 6:13:45 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: markomalley

**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.


9 posted on 07/30/2015 7:10:22 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: markomalley

Proof that barky will go to the ends of the earth to destroy Christianity.


10 posted on 07/30/2015 7:57:54 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: markomalley
Well there is an Orthodox Church there. Catholics won't be able to commune the Holy Mysteries but they can attend the liturgy. And there is a priest in case of a life threatening emergency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Church_%28Antarctica%29

http://i.imgur.com/UmDGCZS.png

http://www.shsu.edu/~chm_tgc/Blogs/Church.in.jpg
11 posted on 07/30/2015 9:42:12 AM PDT by NRx (An unrepentant champion of the old order and determined foe of damnable Whiggery in all its forms.)
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To: NRx

There is something so comforting to know that.


12 posted on 07/30/2015 9:53:46 AM PDT by Chickensoup (We lose our freedoms one surrender at a time)
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To: NRx

What a charming little church!


13 posted on 07/30/2015 9:56:49 AM PDT by Ditter ( God Bless Texas!)
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