Catholic Church in Venezuela Suffers With Her People

Many of the struggles the Church in Venezuela is facing are the product of simple math: As the Venezuelan economy has been decimated over the past five years, Venezuelans have less and less purchasing power. And with less money left over, there is less and less to put in the collection plate on Sunday. This negatively affects not only ministry efforts, like outreach and food programs, but the ministers themselves. In many places, if a priest doesn’t receive enough assistance from his parish, he can end up without food or needed medical assistance. In Ciudad Guyana, Father Schaffer says six priests need diocesan subsidies just to eat, and even then, the diocese isn’t able to offer much. “Many of the priests are going hungry,” he said, adding that a number of pastors have taken jobs on the side, from construction to civil law, in order to make ends meet. More…