This content was published on September 1, 2022 – 11:34
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…
