Priest Shortage
There is a reduced number of priests in the Roman Catholic Church.
In 2008, 49,631 parishes in the world had no resident priest pastor. While the number of Catholics in the world nearly doubled between 1970 and 2008, growing from 653 Million to 1.166 Billion, the total number of priests declined from 419,728 to 409,166. A problem exists because there is no agreed definition of a Catholic.
Read more about Priest Shortage: Possibility That Roman Catholics Are Increasing, Consequences, Further Literature
Famous quotes containing the words priest and/or shortage:
“Because the priest must have like every dog his day
Or keep us all awake with baying at the moon,
We and our dolls being but the world were best away.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“In the event of an oxygen shortage on airplanes, mothers of young children are always reminded to put on their own oxygen mask first, to better assist the children with theirs. The same tactic is necessary on terra firma. There’s no way of sustaining our children if we don’t first rescue ourselves. I don’t call that selfish behavior. I call it love.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)