Church begs for cash to clear €4m Pope visit debt
Parishioners left footing bill for papal Mass flop
THE public is being urged to hand over more cash to clear a €4million debt run up by the Catholic Church during the Pope’s visit.
This is the fifth time parishioners have been asked to make a donation towards the costly hangover from the World Meeting of Families in August.
Hosting the religious event cost the Church just under €20million.
Around €15million of this was raised through parish collections and other donations from home and abroad.
But a current deficit of €4million remains which senior clerics hope will be partially paid off by its fifth national collection for the WMOF over the weekend of November 10 to 11. Notices about the collection have been appearing in parish newsletters nationwide.
The Diocese of Ossory – in an appeal to its 85,000 parishioners in Kilkenny, Laois and Offaly – stated: “The overall cost to the Church in Ireland for hosting WMOF comes to €19.4million.
“To date €15.4million has been raised by way of local church collections and by other donations. This leaves us with a deficit of €4million.
“In order to help defray this debt we are asking you, once again, for your support in promoting our fifth national collection which will take place in churches, North and South, over the weekend of 10th and 11th November.
“While we are acutely conscious of the many financial demands facing families and parishes at this time, all support offered would be greatly appreciated.”
The appeal is likely to anger some churchgoers as just under 152,000 of the expected 485,000 attended the Papal Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
The turnout paled in comparison with the numbers at the Mass held by Pope John Paul II in 1979 when an estimated one million people turned up.