Catholic Chapel in Antarctica Closed

The Catholic chapel in Antarctica is closed.

The National Science Foundation, the group behind the US Antarctic Programme, has asked the New Zealand diocese to cut a decades-old link to the ice.

A Protestant chaplain from the US Military and a Catholic priest from Christchurch had been posted at Antarctica for 57 consecutive summers, staying from October until February.

One of the reasons for the withdrawal was a decline in church-going, the diocese said.

Father Dan Doyle, who first went to Antarctica 40 years ago, said attendance at the Chapel of the Snows at McMurdo had been in steady decline, as had the number of residents using the chaplaincy. This is because the number of Americans has shrunk owing to budgetary cuts.

The Church had once offered religious services, personal counselling and support for as many as 2000 men and women stationed at McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott Stations and Scott Base.

The peak population was now about 1200 – a sharp fall from even 10 years ago.

Doyle said the call for religious services at the bases had also changed. When he first went to the ice in the mid 1970s, a ham radio was a vital link to the outside world, whereas now the staff could easily keep in touch by internet and email.


http://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/70494649/catholic-priests-to-leave-antarctica-because-of-decline-in-churchgoing