Vocations campaign to use beermats, posters
Sunday, 29 May 2005 15:46The Westminster diocese of the Catholic church in England is launching a recruitment campaign using beermats and posters.
The church is responding to the decline in the number of priests.
Beermats promoting the priesthood will be distributed in pubs and posters will be displayed on London's underground.
It is expected other dioceses will follow suit.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor says the sharp decline in the number of priests means church-goers must play a bigger part in running their parishes.
He also says many parishes may have to cope without a resident priest.
The church is also proposing a number of changes to cope with the sharp decline in vocations: lay ministers may be allowed to live in clergy houses in areas where priests are not present, and be allowed to run weekday services.
The number of priests working at Westminster dicosese alone has fallen from 850 in 1990 to 600 this year with the number expected to decline to 470 over the next decade.
