<\/p>\n
Nope. It’s not manipulation. It’s not humiliation either. They really care for you.<\/p>\n
A Roman Catholic priest in the Netherlands is to put on display the names and photographs of parish members trying to leave the Church in a bid to get them to stay.<\/p>\n
“This is a large parish, and I don’t know everyone: by putting up the photos I thought someone might recognise someone they know who they could try to make stay in the Church,” priest Harm Schilder told AFP on Tuesday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Seems the church has experienced an exodus since Benedict’s call to “fight gay marriage.” But hey, a person is free to leave a church, right?<\/p>\n
“This isn’t about pointing a finger, naming and shaming,” said Schilder, insisting that the plan would help the community pray for these people not to leave the Church and perhaps “persuade them to stay”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Turns out it’s a bit tricky to leave the Catholic church, and those wishing to do so unwittingly gave the priest their pic.<\/p>\n
Those wishing to leave must send a letter to the priest along with a photocopy of identity papers. This is where Schilder gets the photos that will be displayed in the entrance hallway of the church in Tilburg in the south of the country.<\/p>\n
The priest made headlines in 2010 when the municipality banned him from ringing church bells at 7:15 am on weekdays.<\/p>\n
Around 28 percent of people in the Netherlands say they are Roman Catholic, 18 percent Protestant and 44 percent say they have no religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n