THE Irish Mormon Church has blamed increased unemployment and emigration for a drop of almost 30pc in donations by its members last year.
Mormon Church rules state members should donate 10pc of their income to the church through a 'tithe'.
Newly filed accounts for the Irish branch of the church show that tithing income totalled €687,148 last year -- a 28.6pc drop on the €962,863 received in 2010.
The drop in tithing income comes in spite of church numbers in Ireland increasing by 16pc last year from 2,514 to 2,915.
He added that a good portion of new members last year would have included children, who do not pay a tithe.
“We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.” Keith McMullin - Counsellor in Presiding Bishopric
"One, two, three...let's go shopping!" Thomas S Monson - Prophet, Seer, Revelator
1 Dec 2011 – THE AVERAGE household income was €22168 last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.
A full tithe on that income would be €2,217.
Given that total tithing income for 2011 was €690,000 this is the equivalent to just over 300 members out of the 2,915 paying a full tithe.
“We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.” Keith McMullin - Counsellor in Presiding Bishopric
"One, two, three...let's go shopping!" Thomas S Monson - Prophet, Seer, Revelator