CANADA
Chronicle-Herald
August 12, 2013 BY AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU
The Diocese of Antigonish is beginning a review process to decide which of its 62 churches it can afford to operate in Richmond, Inverness, Antigonish, Guysborough and Pictou counties.
After a similar review in Cape Breton and Victoria counties, the diocese decided it will close 16 of 43 churches there.
“There’s a lot of talk and worry about it,” said Ronald (Buddy) MacEachern, chairman of the finance committee for Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Ballantynes Cove, Antigonish County.
Father Donald MacGillivray, spokesman for the diocese, said the review is the inevitable result of a declining population, fewer priests and declining church involvement among those who stay in rural communities, and a frustration among many Catholics with the church over the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the diocese.
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