CAMPAIGNING cleric Father Jim McCartney is starring in a video to attract new recruits to the priesthood.

His work with drug addicts, prostitutes and criminals will be a centrepoint of the film, to be distributed in schools and colleges.

Father McCartney runs a drop-in centre at St Anne's Church, France Street, Blackburn, for people who are desperate for help.

The number of people who visit the centre has risen from 25 to 85 in the four years since it opened.

He was one of only 10 priests in the UK to be chosen to take part in the video, which will try and halt the spiralling decline in the number of people joining the priesthood.

"The video aims to present the priesthood as an attractive vocation," he said.

"The work we do here is a bit different and the film crew spent a day filming. It will show that there is a different side to being a priest and that it is more than just sitting in church pews and that it can be a challenging and rewarding job.

"I was honoured to be one of only a handful to be chosen to take part."

The video has been commissioned by bishops across England and Wales.

Father McCartney is director of 'Those on the Margin of Society' and has been outspoken in his views of the role and training of priests.

He has compared the local drug problem with Manchester's notorious Moss Side and has said religious leaders working on housing estates were particularly at risk.

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