Word: priestless
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Scenes like the one at Rodlinghem are becoming more and more common in rural France these days, as parish after parish takes its turn at a "priestless Sunday." The country that anticlericals once thought priest-ridden is now facing a severe shortage of Roman Catholic priests (as are most European nations). In 1965 there were 40,000 French priests; by 1975 there may be as few as 30,000. As one result of the shortage, French bishops, meeting last year in Lourdes, tacitly authorized laymen to hold "prayer assemblies" in churches that cannot offer Sunday Mass...
...town's young people, distressed at seeing the parishioners splinter off to other towns for church, asked to hold the new prayer assembly in place of Mass. Soon the district's other three towns-Licques, Rodlinghem and Ecottes-were offering to share their priest by taking one priestless Sunday each month...