A Roman Catholic priest in the Netherlands is to put on display the names and photographs of parish members trying to leave the church in a bid to get them to stay.

"This is a large parish, and I don't known everyone: by putting up the photos I thought someone might recognise someone they know who they could try to make stay in the church," priest Harm Schilder told AFP on Tuesday.

No room for non-believers ... Dutch priest adopts "photo" plan to keep Catholics in the faith. Credit:Angela Wylie

Many Catholics in the liberal Netherlands were shocked by Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas call to "fight" gay marriage, which the Netherlands was the first country to legalise in 2001.

Schilder said that he had received four requests to leave the Church around Christmas.