General "Parish" Question

[The_Wizard]

How does a diocese determine how many and where parishes are to formed? In 1965 I was baptieed at St. Patrick because we lived in that parish. But when I started grammer school I went to St John Vianney because that was the parish we were now in. NO WE DID NOT MOVE! Midway through grammer school the Archdiocese of San Francisco split St John Vianney parish in two and created St Victor, which because of where we lived became our parish. (If there is anyone out there who lived through that split send me a meessage. We might know each other.) So, how do they come up with parish?

Along the same lines, why are there so many parishs? Here in Colorado Springs there are at least, I think seven or eight. I would think with the small number of clergy fewer parish would be the way to go.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Its complicated.

Of course one is the number of parishioners. If a parish territory grows, the diocese may break apart a parish and erect new parishes. The other issue is if membership diminishes. There would have been a time the 7-8 parishes had 2 priests each and they are full of parishioners. But for many reasons, membership diminished and so you still have the same number of parishes but fewer people. And priests now have to be reassigned elsewhere. Its hard to close down parishes especially with the people who are part of that parish.

 

[Joe_5859]

Constantine is right. “It’s complicated.”

There is no one answer to your question. Shifting demographics, ethinic areas, number of priests, etc. all play into it. There was a time where every ethnic group seemed to get its own parish, even if they were a short distance from each other. Where I live now, there used to be the Italian parish, the Polish parish, and the Irish parish – all within blocks of each other. Of course, now they’ve all been merged or closed.

We’re in an interesting time in the U.S. We have more Catholics than ever before, yet less priests. So we are seeing many parish closures/mergers and larger parishes. But then there are areas of the country that are growing and building new parishes too.

 

[Crumpy]

In the diocese of Saginaw Michigan, there are (supposedly) 109,000 Catholics. But, there are only 54 priests to cover 103 parishes. Our new bishop is planning to reduce the number of parishes. It’s going to be some process or other, but a lot of parishes are going to close, I think.

It’s going to be tough.

I, on the other hand, think priests ought to be able to handle about 4 or 5 masses on the weekends. But, the priests union does not want that. The current limit is 3 masses per weekend.

An alternative might be to have Mass at a different church each weekend, but I bet that’s not even on their radar screen.

This all is a result that we had a bishop for 25 years who only ordained 2 men to the priesthood. He was in a snit because he wanted female priests. He said publicly that he wasn’t going to ordain any more men to the priesthood until he could ordain women, as well.

There’s a lot of women walking around here who were counting on his “vision” of female priests.

Back to your problem. Canon law does not require that you follow parish boundaries, as in olden days. You can attend the parish of your choice.

 

[Joe_5859]

I, on the other hand, think priests ought to be able to handle about 4 or 5 masses on the weekends. But, the priests union does not want that. The current limit is 3 masses per weekend.

“Priest’s union”? It’s actually Canon Law that stipulates that.

 

[ConstantineTG]

“Priest’s union”? It’s actually Canon Law that stipulates that.

It came from the last CBA the priests have with the Pope

 

[Usige]

As many have said, it’s complicated. Many older parishes in the eastern US seem tiny compared to some of the parishes out west. As you mention Colorado Springs has somewhere around 12 or 14 parishes to cover the roughly 220 sq miles the city and associated towns surrounding it. Go to the northern edge of the diocese and there are perhaps 5 or 6 parishes covering all of Douglas county (~850 sq miles).

For the most part it can come down to geography, population, history, and economics. In the area I live in there is 1 parish for roughly 60,000 people. Of that 60k I’d estimate that there are perhaps 6,000 - 10,000 Catholics in the parish boundaries, but instead of splitting the parish when it started to grow 15 years ago, they just built a new building to seat around 1000 people. Add that to the old building and we can seat 1500 people for Christmas and Easter masses.

In the end it is really up to the local bishop on how their parishes are lain out. Normally new parishes are erected in areas that are growing fast and that have an economic base that can support a new parish. It is based not only on need, but sustainability of the parish. That being said my guess is that you will either see more large parishes or there will be more parishes being staffed by religious. The cost of maintaining parish churches and the lack of priest make it a matter of using your “resources” to best advantage. At least we are lucky in Denver and Colorado Springs that many of the parishes are growing so there are few parishes that are being closed.

 

[puzzleannie]

Along the same lines, why are there so many parishs? Here in Colorado Springs there are at least, I think seven or eight. I would think with the small number of clergy fewer parish would be the way to go.

it is not like this everywhere, in Cleveland, Boston, Detroit and other older dioceses in places where population is declining parishes are closing or merging.

The bishop of each diocese makes these decisions, with (name removed by moderator)ut from all his priests, staff, religious, and lay leadership, which most often includes feedback from all parishioners in the areas involved, based on the needs of the entire diocese. In all 3 cases mentioned above the reasons for the actions taken in each parish have been exhaustively explained in the media and on diocesan outlets.

The most important, but not the only, driving factor is the number of available priests to serve the parishes and missions. Lay Catholics have by and large contracepted the priesthood and religious life out of existence in many places so this and future generations are dealing with the consequences. Finances, condition of physical plant, changes in demographics and all kinds of other factors come into play as well.