A decline in population in the west of Ireland and a fall in the number of Catholics attending church.
In 1991, Catholic bishops launched a campaign to highlight the growing depopulation crisis in the west of Ireland. Now a report has been published examining the pastoral needs and resources of the Archdiocese of Tuam. The report titles titled 'Quo Vadimus, Cá bhFuil Ár dTriall? Where Are We Going?' shows that the trend of depopulation continues to threaten many rural parishes. It also reveals that there has been a 13 per cent drop in the number of mass-goers since 1986.
The author of the report, sociologist Fr Micheál Mac Gréil SJ, says that the real problem is the neglect of development in the west of Ireland. He points out that half the parishes have more deaths than births and calls for a change in government policy for rural development.
I'm unhappy that everybody isn't going to mass but I don't think that 78.3 per cent is an alarming amount of people going to mass.
Archbishop of Tuam Dr Michael Neary says that there are many areas which have not benefited from the current national economic boom. If decisions are not made now to address this, it may be too late.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 10 September 1998. The reporter is Jim Fahy.
