deborah potter reports. >> reporter: the bells of st. mary's set the rhythm of life at the abby at glencairn. sounding the call to worship. >> on this day, sister michelle rings double bells for the feast of ascencion. >> it has the knack to do it, and one or two of us have the knack, so that's why i was ringing the double bells. >> from the young age, i had a yearning to be a none, in my teens, so it was part of my journey in seeking a life where i felt i could be as close or seek god as much as possible. >> life here is all about seeking god. this is ireland's only cistercian monastery for women, founded in 1932. >> it's a place where god is loved and worshipped, and it's a place where we pray for humanity. we're conscious of interceding before god for people. and it's a place of conversatic where we constantly try to become who we are meant to be as fully human persons and overcome to demons and the less positive aspects of our life. >> in some ways life here is the same as it's always been, governed by the rule of st. benedict. seven

deborah potter reports. >>> it is often called the emerald isle, and with good reason, because ireland is as green as ever. but the country that once was a bastion of roman catholicism has changed. the vast majority of people here still call themselves catholic-87% on the most recent census. butany ofhe most fahf church-goers ireland today aren't even irish. this sunday mass in limerick is said in polish for some of the thousands of immigrants who poured in during the economic boom of the past decade. but it's hard to find an irish congregation this packed, and especially this young, in bigger cities. >> people still identify themselves as culturally caolic even though they no longer go to mass or go to confession. you'll see them at first communions, you'll see them at confirmations, you'll see them at funerals. they're taking a very much an a la carte view to the practice of their religion. >> reporter: as recently as the 1970s, almost 90% of the irish catholics went to mass at least once a week. today, the number is closer to 25%. and in some parts of dublin, just two or three perce

deborah potter reports. >> let us stand and continue our morning worship. >> reporter: serving god and ministering to people is deeply fulfilling, pastors say. yet studies have found that protestant clergy also suffer from depression and obesity at higher rates than the population as a whole. >> researchers like to joke that what we know about clergy is they're satisfied, stressed out, and fat. >> reporter: joe stewart-sicking is an episcopal priest who teaches pastoral counseling and studies why clergy are more stressed than most of us. >> what makes the clergy vocation and occupation really different is that you work for god ultimately. if that work environment isn't meaningful to you, you're doing a lot of things like, you know, doing budgets or checking spelling on a bulletin, or office management, that's going to really hit home, because you think your job should be about god. >> reporter: add to that a new source of stress for many pastors in mainline protestant denominations -- as church membership dwindles, they feel pressured to reverse the trend. >> and a lot of pastors think