Catholic Church is ‘robbing’ Africa to fill British dioceses

♦the Catholic Church has been accused of “robbing” Africa of its priests to tackle a shortage in the UK, leaving worshippers struggling to understand services in “poor English”.

The claims were made by the Rev Deacon Michael Phelan, a retired permanent deacon in the diocese of Northampton, who raised concerns amid what some people deem an international shortage of priests.

In a letter to The Tablet, the Rev Deacon Phelan said:

“At a time when this country is extremely short of priests it is disconcerting that our cardinal and bishops see it as a solution to rob dioceses in Africa and elsewhere of their equally scarce resources of priests.

“This leads to our laity having many foreign priests with poor English or accents that cannot be understood, coupled with very different cultural backgrounds.”

His comments come amid what some fear is a relaxation of Catholic rules to keep the faith alive.