An international assembly of English-speaking priests in Dublin has been told that one in 20 Swiss Catholic priests is in, or has been, in a sexual relationship.
Father Jean-Pierre Brunner said a group is campaigning in Switzerland to allow such women to live openly with their clerical partners. Last May, the group published figures showing that 310 women, with 149 children, had such a relationship. Since then the figure has risen to over 400, following publicity, he said.
Father Brunner also said bishops were meeting resistance from some parishes when they removed non-celibate priests. The parishes, which pay the priests, have been refusing to pay those appointed to replace popular non-celibate predecessors.
Priests from Australia, Austria, Canada, England and Wales, France, Gambia, India, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, the US and Ireland, gave brief reports on their churches.
Father Hal Ranger said in Australia, where the average age of priests is 60 plus, local lay leadership "bury, baptise and exercise the whole ministry", as clergy numbers fall. Father Martin Onukwuba said in Nigeria there are vocations but not enough seminaries. In Austria, weekly Mass attendance can be as low as 30 per cent in rural areas and 10 per cent in cities such as Vienna, Father Hans Bensdorp said.
