People are calling on the Catholic church to allow women into the priesthood, but the church remains adamant that's not going to happen anytime soon.

This is despite a need for priests, as indicated by a renewed call by the Diocese of Antigonish for more young men to join the clergy.

Attendance at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Sydney River is steady according to the pastor, but there’s no secret, congregations have been declining across the province. 

“I find a lot of families have drifted away from religion,” said churchgoer Melanie Sampson.“It isn’t as strong as it used to be when we had it in the school curriculum when I was growing up.”

The Diocese of Antigonish is also facing a decline in the number of men joining the priesthood.

Father Patrick O’Neil is part of a vocational committee hoping to attract men to the clergy.

“I think what inspires people to be a priest is really the witness of another priest and if they find that inspiration as I did when I was kid, they hear the call and say yes,” says O’Neil.

Many people have said no after a sex-abuse scandal a decade ago that shook this diocese. It’s something that they are still trying to recover from.

“I suspect those reasons would be why some people would not want to join us,” said Donald MacGillivray, a spokesman for the Diocese of Antigonish.“Undoubtedly, I would think this would have a negative impact on recruiting.”

Some parishioners say it’s time the Catholic church changes with the times. Sampson is hopeful Rome may one day consider letting women join the priesthood.

“Our Pope is making a lot of changes for the future and going forward,” Sampson said. “Whether or not it will be essential enough to change in time with the times I’m not sure.”

O’Neil doesn’t expect that to change.

“The church is very clear that the vocation of a priest is to be male,” he said. “The church is very clear that will not change for a lot of theological different reasons.”

Several priests from outside Canada have come to Nova Scotia to try and ease the workload, but the church will now have to dig much deeper to find new candidates.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.