Closing Parishes

[Mt19_26]

How many here know of parishes that are closing in there town? I live in San Diego, CA and know of none that are closing here. However, I visited the bay area a week ago and they’ve had several closings over the last 10 years. Also, we all know about all the parishes that closed in the Boston area. I am just wondering how widespread parish closings are right now.

 

[Binney]

clustering is big here and closing minimal (very few) as possible here in Rochester, NY but it is happening.

clustering parishes to compensate for priest shortage

reducing the number of mass times per parish

 

[Mt19_26]

I wonder if this is somewhat more prevalent on the east coast. There were some that I noticed up in the San Francisco area but other than that I haven’t been aware of any others on the west coast.

 

[Kielbasi]

A huge number of churches have closed in Pittsburgh, and many of the remaining have merged with other parishes.

On the Northside, St. Marys, St. Joseph, Regina Coeli, St. Nicholas, Annunciation, St. Leo, St. Gabriel, and St. Wencslaus have all closed.

South of the river, St. Vincent de Paul,. Guardian Angels, St. James, St. Michael, St. Casimir, St. John the Evangelist have all closed in my lifetime.

In the east, St. Mary, St. John the baptist, St. Peter and Paul, St. Elizabeth, Our Lady Help of Christians, St. Philomena, St. Agnes, St. Richard and others have closed.

At least 25 just in the city here.

 

[LarryM]

The Archdiocese of Chicago has been closing parishes for years… About a dozen more will close in the fall.

We closed three of six parishes in one Chicago suburb in 1995.

 

[chicago]

In many historically Catholic areas of the country, parishes have closed due to demographic shifts and overbuilding of ethnic Churches in the past century. when you have two parishes only a couple of blocks apart and few registered parishioners, it is hard to justify pouring money into the building and priests into the ministry.

 

[Deacon_Tony560]

I know what you mean about the Bay area. I was planning a trip up that way and checked for a church. There was only one in the area that I was going to. It had two names with a - . I think it ment that two parishes had joined together. There were only 2 Masses listed. No Mass on Sat. night, which is when I had planned to go to Mass. With the aging clergy, this could get worse.