Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin: priests in the Archdiocese have been asked to consider proposals including a household levy in a bid to stave off the Archdiocese's financial ruin. Niall Carson/PA Archive
Catholic Church
Dublin Catholics could face church levy as Archdiocese faces 'financial collapse'
Documents leaked to the Irish Catholic newspaper claim that the Church in the capital is in a precarious financial state.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH in Dublin is on the brink of ‘financial collapse’ – and may be forced to place a parish-based levy on Catholic families in order to stay alive, according to leaked internal documents published today.
A consultation document from the Archdiocese of Dublin’s Council of Priests, given to the Irish Catholic newspaper and published today, says that many of the Archdiocese’s parishes are close to collapse.
The substantial cash reserves built up by the parishes over the last number of decades have all been diminished by declining Massgoing attendances, and other factors relating to the economic downturn.
RTÉ News, reporting the Irish Catholic’s story, said that compensation settlements reached by by the church had also caused a significant worsening in its financial standing.
Priests have been asked to consider the document and to respond to it at a meeting next month.
The Irish Catholic’s website was offline at the time of publication.
have your say