I saw a news article a year or so back about a Catholic church in Manchester that simply could not get a new priest.
Young seminary graduates would not do there, nor old lags waiting out their time to their retirement, it was simply too dangerous and with failing congregations to pointless and unprofitable.
Finally they recruited a young priest from Nigeria and moved him in.
At the time of the interview the poor chap was distraught, his faith shaken and his mind and nerves in tatters.
He had come from a congregation of a hundred plus, singing happy families who believed utterly to find himself in a huge church with a congregation of 14 people all over sixty who wanted dirges and Latin masses, and buildings that had boarded up windows and bars on those not broken.
Mother Church deserted him and refused to move him out, he had been mugged and subjected to racial hate crime and 'surprisingly' found his prayers going unanswered.
I will admit to feeling sorry for the man, or rather boy because even at nearly thirty his maturity was no where near up to coping with the task with which he had been lumbered, he had two options, stick it out and hope things got better, or resign from the priest hood, get a job until he could save enough money to go home.

In the town where I was born stood a huge catholic church known as St. Hilda's, the size of a cathedral, it stood empty for years, was a listed building of historical significance so could not be altered, modernised or demolished but had no congregation as the entire area it once served had undergone urban renewal.
Yet still it incurred ground rent and maintenance costs to keep it safe. The Diocese tried to sell it to the local council and local business but to no avail, the preservation order and listing made it inviable for anyone to take it on.
Then one night their prayers were answered and the whole building burned to the ground, no one called the fire brigade for an hour after the blaze started and the fire engines could not get to the church because of an INconvenient road traffic collision on the only road in and out.
So sad, but fortunately the building was insured as it was still being used as a repository of church records.

This the state of the RC in the inner cities and industrial towns of the UK now.

Not a big surprise actually. The internet is going to be the biggest force in reducing the amout of religion throughout he world.

About time.

A portion of athiests on here are former Catholics. I hope more Catholics leave the dogma and become atheists. Before I left the dark side, I was considering becoming an Catholic. Im glad I avoid that train wreck.