Posted on 09/03/2022 7:06:41 PM PDT by marshmallow
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Rocketing energy bills and a shortage of priests have driven a Dutch Roman Catholic Diocese to cut down on religious services in some churches.
The southern Diocese of Roermond, which oversee roughly 290 churches in the province of Limburg, wrote to its parishes last week to encourage some to periodically skip Mass, spokesman Matheu Bemelmans said on Thursday.
"Finances cannot be a dominant factor, but we cannot ignore them either. If you only have a handful of people each donating a euro ($1), that's not enough to cover the heating bill," Bemelmans said.
Numbers of churchgoers and priests are on the decline in the Netherlands.
"Sometimes it's simply not possible to find a priest to give a service at every church, every weekend," Bemelmans said. "If there are churches with only a few visitors, we are saying: be practical and skip a week and ensure those people can follow Mass at another church."
The measure was expected to initially affect 10-15 churches, he said.
Most Dutch households and companies rely on gas for heating or business operations.
(Excerpt) Read more at swissinfo.ch ...
A priest could even do it in someone's living room if that were the only place available.
Any mosques in the area having the same problem? Of course not. The Dutch are not having children, but the Muzzies are. The churches in Europe are like museums these days, but the mosques are packed.
Eurasia is only a decade or so away.
Use a tablet and turn all the lights off in the church, if that’s the issue.
I wouldn’t mind if churches made more use of natural light and insulation.
No shortages of muzzies though
Good thing we discovered electricity. Imagine the poor parishioners in Medieval Europe who were unable to celebrate Mass because electricity was unknown.
They’ll come up with another title like “Eucharistic Minister” and have them say the Mass.
Use candles and advise people to dress warm.
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