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| Hunter Catholics in Mass Exodus The Herald November 21, 2009 http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/hunter-catholics-in-mass-exodus/1683563.aspx HUNTER-based Catholics are shunning Mass in droves, with irrelevance, abuse at the hands of clergy and disagreement with the Church's teachings on sex among the main reasons. According to research carried out by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, only 10.2 per cent of Catholics in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle attend Mass. The national average for Mass attendance across the Church's 28 Australian diocese was 13.8 per cent. Maitland-Newcastle Diocese vice-chancellor for pastoral ministries Teresa Brierley said the figure was of significant concern. Ms Brierley said the diocese ranked 21 out of 28 for Mass attendance and it was something the church was hopeful of addressing. "One of the areas is around sexual abuse and we are working through how we are going to address this for local people," Ms Brierley said. "There really is not any part of the diocese that has not been affected." The national research was carried out in 2006, with respondents asked to list three reasons why they stopped attending Mass. The most common reason was that people felt it was no longer "required" to be a committed Catholic, followed by disagreement with the Church's teaching on sexual issues and disillusionment due to sexual abuse revelations. The diocese has hosted gatherings over the past few months to assist parishioners in the healing process due to the widespread impact of sexual abuse by clergy in the Hunter. The final gathering will be held on Sunday, November 29, from 11am at the St Josephs High School Library, Aberdeen. Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size |
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