NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    DUBLIN (CWNews.com) - Church attendance in Ireland has dropped to its lowest level ever, according to a new survey.

    The poll by Irish Marketing Surveys found that only half the population of the Irish Republic attended church weekly, a drop of 13 percent in the past year. Ten percent of those questioned said they went to church once a month, five percent went on holydays and 13 percent never went to church at all.

    A spokesman for the Archbishop of Dublin said the findings were disappointing. He blamed the fall in religious practice on the recent spate of sex scandals which have rocked the Church in Ireland.

    Spokesman Ronan Mullen also said Ireland's new-found economic prosperity was leading to a loss of faith. But Mullen added: "We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the majority of Irish Catholics still practice their faith."

    The survey found that 94 percent of the population of the Irish Republic describe themselves as Catholic, two percent as Protestant and 3 percent as members of other faiths, atheists or agnostics.

    Church attendance in Ireland has been falling steadily since the 1960s, when more than 90 percent of the population attended weekly Mass.

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