Priests and clergy from the Pacific Islands are keeping churches alive in north Queensland, on Australia's eastern side, according to Australia's national broadcaster, ABC and in other parts of Austrlia the Philippines are boosting Christian numbers..

An Anglican Church bishop in Queensland's north has said that his 11 Pacific Islander ministers, serving the region's parishes, are saving those parishes from collapse, ABC reported on Nov. 23.

"Together they make up half of my full-time workforce in the diocese," Bishop Keith Joseph said.

The report cites census data showing that the number of Australians among the nearly 27 million who identify as Christian has halved from 86 per cent in 1971 to 44 per cent in 2021, and that, among them, about half are Catholics and almost half Protestants.

Still, Christian migrants from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific have tempered the decline in the faith's followers.

Bishop Joseph explained that priests and brothers have been recruited from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu to fill service gaps in regional towns, Aboriginal communities and the Torres Strait.

"All that would go if we didn't have them," he said.

Adding to the church's woes in the Queensland diocese are financial difficulties due to the compensation owed to victims of abuse in the past.

Bishop Joseph said priests and brothers have been recruited from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu to fill service gaps in regional towns, Aboriginal communities and the Torres Strait.

"All that would go if we didn't have them," he said.

The north Queensland diocese is also in financial trouble because of the compensation owed to victims of historic abuse.

The parishes are kept going through vital volunteer work, including running community shops, providing chaplaincy in aged care homes and hospitals, and providing pastoral care to seasonal workers.

"You're looking at each parish providing between $200,000 to a million dollars of volunteer labour into their communities each year," Bishop Joseph said.

The Pasifika priests are so highly regarded by the community that a migration pathway was launched between the diocese, the Church of Melanesia and Australia's Department of Home Affairs, the bishop said.

One priest recruited from the Solomon Islands under the agreement is Rev. Jeffrey Akoai who serves St. Paul's Anglican Church at Proserpine in the Whitsundays after being recruited three years ago to sustain parishes in north Queensland.

He leads regular masses and also a monthly Melanesian service for the region's many seasonal workers, helping maintain social cohesion.

On Saturdays, they also run a bible study for the workers, which can keep them away from bars and rather save money for their families back home according to the ABC.

"It's like we're creating a home, a safe space away from home, that they are free to come and share whatever challenges they are going through," Akoai said.

"As Melanesians, wherever we go we bring faith, community and culture with us."

Joseph says priests and brothers from the Pacific Islands make up half his full-time workforce.

         - SIMILAR PERSONNEL PROBLEMS FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Catholic Church also has similar personnel problems according to the report.

It mentions Monsignor Glynn Murphy saying when he was ordained in 1983 he remembered there being about 100 active priests across 52 parishes in the Ballarat Catholic Diocese in western Victoria State.

Since then, the diocese has merged parishes, leaving just 23, with about 30 priests from countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam and India.

Murphy leads the Wimmera-Mallee parish and has observed congregations of migrant groups change.

He grew up in Swan Hill and saw Australians and then Italian, Dutch and Chinese families flock to mass on Sunday mornings.

Nowadays, he said migrants were mostly young families from the Philippines and India who came to regional Victoria to fulfil labour shortages in education, aged care and healthcare.

The congregation at St Michael and John's Catholic church is made up of many young families from the Philippines and India.

"They tend to have their faith and spiritual life very much to the fore ... and you see that reflected in their parish attendance and presence," Monsignor Murphy said.