Dublin Mass attendances drop to an all-time low as just 14 percent go to Church

This is old news. People have opened their eyes and minds and have started questioning the whole fairy tale that is religion. Its a complex misogynistic lie that was created to control people!

Ah but he didn't solicit donations in order to 'pay sexual abuse claims' did he? Thats your spin and your words added to the soliciting bit isn't it IrelandNorth? It is confession for you again tomorrow and don't conveniently forget to tell the priest that that you were deliberately dishonest on Friday. The solicited donations were for the parishes and because the church has had to quietly pay out so much money in order to stop some truly horrendous cases entering the public record via the court room. Thats what I like about fervent church defenders- always just living the ethical catholic dream and not a problem about lying to forward that dream.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Diarmuid Martin, (a generally perceived good guy) recently solicited donations from wealthy Catholics to fund sexual abuse claims. Would this not implicate such contributors as accessories after the fact in such crimes of clerical child sexual abuse.

'Less that one in five Dublin Catholics now go to Mass every Sunday – and the real figure is perilously close to one in ten.' Who taught you how to write. It should be 'Fewer than one in five...' So which is it one in five or one in ten. Why quote one number when the 'real figure' is something else. Shoddy writing.

Interesting that only 14% of Boston Catholics also attend Mass weekly. I wonder how many are elderly? 40% of Boston parishes say they cannot pay their bills.

Either the Roman Catholic church is the sole depository of complete truth, or it isn't. That's it. We no longer look to the church for truth or insight or guidance on how to live because its arrogant claims to be the source of truth are false.

I should have added it must be disappointing for the majority of innocent priests who have been let down.(my Catholic concience working).

We often hear the case that clerical abusers are only a small pecentage of the total number of Catholic clerics, and say it happens in similar numbers in the general population. The general population do not spend up to 7 years training to teach morals. No consolation to the abused. You would have to scour the world to find similar cases of 2 people being responsible for 26 suicides as i previously posted from a police report regarding 2 Catholic clerics.

Good call.

Yes helmet365, and with a little research, by following links, you will find a group fighting for justice which inclued in their members a law enforcement officer, a politician and a lawyer, the latter two of the three, having Irish contacts. See how far we have gone, to be used as a benchmark. Diarmud Martin wouldn't be too pleased about that.

Easy solution. Allow priests to marry and have families -- and tell Rome to f-off once and for all.

Read (google) "Abuse by two Catholic members of the clergy are responsible for 26 suicides" police say. Extract from a newspaper, Melbourne, Australia. Multiply this by the thousands of clergy abusers around the world and you get some idea how mmany victims have lost their lives while others have had their lives ruined. The flow on effect to other family members is enormous. Why don't we go to Church?

Just noticed your post Intercessor- best of luck to you as you may have a difficult job on your hands. What is the teaching of history but an attempt at truth? The church speaks of Truth as if they owned it and it would be interesting to see whether they'd allow truth to appear in history books in catholic ethos schools about the events of the last twenty years. I have a feeling they'd be less than gracious on the subject.

Congratulations to the four in five catholics who have chosen to stay away. This is heartening in that they have realised that giving money in the collection box to that organisation and being counted in the numbers on Sunday is a way the catholic church has of brushing off valid criticism. The silence of almost empty churches is by far the most eloquent comment on the state of that organisation.

Really? Some people are still going?