Has anyone experienced parish clustering/closures/consolidations?

[lak611]

In my diocese, we are entering the first stage of the parish clustering/closures/consolidations. dioceseofcleveland.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=128&Itemid=240

Has anybody here on the fora already gone through this process? What can I expect? I know my parish is safe from closure because there are 2100 families and over 400 children in the school. There are a couple other parishes that seem in trouble. One has already closed the school and only has 300 families. Another has less than 200 children in the school. I have a copy of the letter that the bishop sent to my pastor. He gave it to all of the parishoners in the bulletin. Apparently the changes will happen within 3 years. I’m just interested in some feedback from Forum members who have already experienced this process as to what will likely happen. Thanks!

 

[dessert]

This happened to ours this year so we are in the beginning stages.
What to expect I can’t say for you may be different.

4 parishes from our city and 1 from a smaller town and one priest who does the nursing home so 6 priests.

All different ages.

As far as I know don’t quote me they are stuck with us till they retire or die or one parish closes.

The priest from the NH subs for us but he is old but I think we are rejuvenating him he’s a joy but from India about somewhere so has an accent. Could be a new life for him.

The parish with the least kids in school may close school? not sure

Me thinks it would be nice if the two rich parishes would share but they have BIG mortgage because they expanded the schools.

Problem; everybody Tom **** and Harry are related so we jump aaround to each other parishes because all the churches go back 2 or 3 or 4 or more generations.

My advice;

1. Get a spirit club going to combine a group from all parishes this has helped us.
2. We women started it and it is sort of a coffee lunch things with speakers nun’s priests trips music things just a two hour once a month
3. Pick a central church that has the most parking have each person wear a name tag showing which church they go to
4. Now we have a board of directors, as we need a nun or a priest to come as we are suppose to at meeting but we also have deacons at each church
5. Get deacons at your church one deacon goes to church churches. share
   6.Share;
6. Did I happen to mention Share
   8.They had all the confirmation ceremony for all the churches at one church
7. Oh and you will have to get along and did I mention you will have to Share your priest and get used to confessing to another.

God Bless You and it won’t be so bad

On the fun side of it our priest said well now who amongst your kids is going to take over when I reitire? He is the youngest!

Dessert

 

[lak611]

1. Get deacons at your church one deacon goes to church churches. share

As far as I know, only one of the 5 parishes in the cluster has a deacon. My parish used to, but he moved out of state.

8.They had all the confirmation ceremony for all the churches at one church

My pastor mentioned that they will probably have all the marriage preparation at one parish and all of the baptism preparation at another.

1. Oh and you will have to get along and did I mention you will have to Share your priest and get used to confessing to another.

I would not mind this. The priest I usually confessed to got transferred. Today was his last day. We’re getting a new priest next week that nobody knows, so I’ll probably have a new priest when I go to confession next time.

God Bless You and it won’t be so bad

Thanks! God bless you, too.

 

[WanderAimlessly]

When I moved to Detroit, the parish I joined plus 4 others was in the middle of determining the future of the parishes. They decided last year to combine all 4 at the parish I was at.

I was going to stick it out there, but the “Music Minister” made that impossible by the use of certain “Mass Settings” that were way out of line with the GIRM. The first time it happened, I complained and the pastor did make changes. At Advent of this year, the “Music Minister” did it again and I immediately left the parish citing that and other reason as why.

The 4 parishes are to be combined July 1 of this year.

 

[lak611]

When I moved to Detroit, the parish I joined plus 4 others was in the middle of determining the future of the parishes. They decided last year to combine all 4 at the parish I was at.

I was going to stick it out there, but the “Music Minister” made that impossible by the use of certain “Mass Settings” that were way out of line with the GIRM. The first time it happened, I complained and the pastor did make changes. At Advent of this year, the “Music Minister” did it again and I immediately left the parish citing that and other reason as why.

The 4 parishes are to be combined July 1 of this year.

Is the diocese selling the property of the 4 parishes that are closing? Are the 4 closing all at once this July? Are all the priests from the 4 parishes that are closing going to be at the one that is staying open?

 

[Magnum_V8]

Hi, lak611,

I’m in Cleveland also. We received the same letter from the bishop. I really do understand the need for clustering, but its an omen. I see it as nothing more than a stepping stone for weeding out the lesser parishes and closing them.

We need to work on getting new catholics, not consolidating the ones we already have. I’m just glad the Apostles didn’t give up so easily when they went through rough times. The only saving grace is that “the gates of hell shall never prevail against (us).”

 

[dessert]

When I moved to Detroit, the parish I joined plus 4 others was in the middle of determining the future of the parishes. They decided last year to combine all 4 at the parish I was at.

I was going to stick it out there, but the “Music Minister” made that impossible by the use of certain “Mass Settings” that were way out of line with the GIRM. The first time it happened, I complained and the pastor did make changes. At Advent of this year, the “Music Minister” did it again and I immediately left the parish citing that and other reason as why.

The 4 parishes are to be combined July 1 of this year.

We do have a slight minority of people about 200 out of 3000 that prefer the traditional and my first priest is all for this and he seems to want to work with them and more than likely they will end uup at this church as there may not be anymore boundaries any more such as if you live on this side you go here etc.
So if you want tradional music you may have to get together with otheres and may end up in a chapel type thing.

Somethings that the ones that like tradion are and the reason to state them is you may be more traditional than you think.
1.all the pics of all the priest are on the church walls in the back, except the one that was not an only associate priest:shrug:
2.Missals are a demand by the people that heve been there forever
3.Cantoring some, always a mass even if word and communion even during a tornado no fooling
4.No missing mass on sunday ever well I’m getting too dramatic so I won’t go on

Good luck with your cluster, I agree with the poster that it will more than likely filter out some parishes unless we all go and have about a dozen kids Help I’m all done, but have the grand kids but they aren’t in the catholic school.
I wish they were I regret, that would be good for a thread too:thumbsup:
Or a poll on how many of kids or grandkids went to RCC but I don’t know how to do a poll. Dessert

 

[the_phoenix]

I would not mind this. The priest I usually confessed to got transferred. Today was his last day. We’re getting a new priest next week that nobody knows, so I’ll probably have a new priest when I go to confession next time.

Wow. This exact same thing happened today at my parish. A priest is transferring, today was his last day. I wonder if we attend Mass at the same place? I live in Northeast Ohio too, after all.

Curiouser and curiouser,

~~ the phoenix

 

[thann]

…The 4 parishes are to be combined July 1 of this year.

Oh, thanks for reminding me. I received an invitation to the final Mass at St. Ives on June 24, the parish where I grew up, married, and where our son was baptized. I was also in music ministry there for nearly 30 years (and, yes, we did all the “wrong” music – but that was before I knew better ).

Regarding clustering: The parish where I live now (also in the Archdiocese of Detroit) has clustered with two others, sharing some services, but maintaining separate churches and pastors. Our academy closed, but one of the other parishes still has its school. Other than more announcements in the bulletin regarding various services at the other two parishes, I haven’t seen much of a change. I think a lot of it is behind the scenes. So far. I know that attendance at one of our three clustered parishes is dwindling, and the pastor is quite aged.

'thann

 

[thann]

Wow. This exact same thing happened today at my parish. A priest is transferring, today was his last day. I wonder if we attend Mass at the same place? I live in Northeast Ohio too, after all.

Curiouser and curiouser,

~~ the phoenix

I am fairly sure that early June is when parish assignments are generally done throughout the country. That’s when ordinations take place and new priests receive their assignments.

'thann

 

[WanderAimlessly]

Oh, thanks for reminding me. I received an invitation to the final Mass at St. Ives on June 24, the parish where I grew up, married, and where our son was baptized. I was also in music ministry there for nearly 30 years (and, yes, we did all the “wrong” music – but that was before I knew better ).

Regarding clustering: The parish where I live now (also in the Archdiocese of Detroit) has clustered with two others, sharing some services, but maintaining separate churches and pastors. Our academy closed, but one of the other parishes still has its school. Other than more announcements in the bulletin regarding various services at the other two parishes, I haven’t seen much of a change. I think a lot of it is behind the scenes. So far. I know that attendance at one of our three clustered parishes is dwindling, and the pastor is quite aged.

'thann

The Vicariate I am in puts out a monthly newsletter. It had all the assignment changes beginning July 1. 2 of the 4 parishes are being taken over by other Catholic Parishes. One is Albanian (they are moving to larger facilities at St. Ives) and the other is an Eastern Rite Catholic Church (moving into St. Helena’s)

 

[the_phoenix]

I am fairly sure that early June is when parish assignments are generally done throughout the country. That’s when ordinations take place and new priests receive their assignments.

'thann

Dear thann,

Thanks for your reply. Seeing lak611’s post was just eerie, but after I posted a response to it, I got curious and read my church bulletin. Turns out in my case, we are actually getting two new associate priests and there are nice little biographies written about them. One priest will replace the one being transferred, the other priest is most likely replacing one who suffered a stroke and has only been able to return twice in his wheelchair to concelebrate Mass.

Your post also helps makes things more understandable and not so much like a Twilight Zone coincidence.

As for the parish consolidation, I don’t think my parish will really be affected all that much, as we didn’t hear a peep about it today, nor did I see anything in the bulletin. Large parish, generous donations … now I just hope and pray the two new priests will carry on the tradition of reverence towards Christ in the Eucharist and outspoken loving loyalty to the Pope that I’ve always loved and come to depend on at my parish.

~~ the phoenix

 

[KCT]

We’re in the process of clustering. There are 5 parishes that will be in the cluster. Now there are 5 priests, but we’ll be down to 3 priests for the 5 parishes before too long.

I’m sure the parishes of the priests who will be moving will get vocal when decisions are made.

One parish is rather liberal, so it will be interesting! --KCT

 

[LindaS]

Our diocese, Camden, NJ, is looking at clustering or merging parishes due to the shortage of priests. I think we are going to lose a piece of our parish and pick up a piece of another parish, then cluster or merge with yet another parish. We are a large parish, probably 3000 families with close to 1000 kids in CCD, but our church building only holds about 375 people, so building is really necessary. But all plans are on hold due to this new arrangement coming, probably early next year. We have 2 wonderfully orthodox priests and 2 deacons, one is Hispanic because there is a large Hispanic population here. One of our priests is from Africa.

Peace,
Linda

 

[TraderTif]

My diocese is in the midst of clustering and combining as our priests get older.

Almost every priest here has 2 parishes, with some priests having 3 or 4. And these parishes are quite spread out geographically.

Our priest serves 2 parishes, and sometime in the future we will be combining with 4 other parishes, to form a cluster of 6 which will be served by 2 priests.

Deacons? Since I moved to this state, I don’t think I’ve seen any. And our parishes are so small…we don’t really have a lot of activities.

I’ve been reading in the diocese newspaper about how we’re starting to import priests from Africa, and a few from some religious orders.

Most of the priests here are over 50, and many are past retirement age, but they can’t retire! I don’t know what will happen!! We need more men to enter the seminary!!
Tif =8-)

 

[pprimeau1976]

At the parish I belong to, we tried to cluster our school with another parish and were told flatly by the pastor of the other Church that he did not need our help. There is more to the story, but rather than insult the parish and the priest, I will not get into it. As a result, we had to close the school, as we could not provide affordable Catholic education and provide comparible wages to our teachers.

Our parish though is strong, and the church is packed. It’s too bad that Catholic education is so much $$$.

 

[lak611]

Our parish though is strong, and the church is packed. It’s too bad that Catholic education is so much $$$.

That is because of the lack of vocations to the religious life. Teachers need to be paid a “living wage.” Back in the day, the nuns were not paid much to teach. They took a vow of poverty anyway. Without vocations to the religious life, Catholic school will be a luxury that many people cannot afford. We need to pray for more vocations to the religious life.

 

[pprimeau1976]

That is because of the lack of vocations to the religious life. Teachers need to be paid a “living wage.” Back in the day, the nuns were not paid much to teach. They took a vow of poverty anyway. Without vocations to the religious life, Catholic school will be a luxury that many people cannot afford. We need to pray for more vocations to the religious life.

I TOTALLY agree with you.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

My parish was merged with a smaller parish in the same town. It wasn’t too difficult because the town is small, everyone knows each other, and people went to both Mass at both parishes according to their own schedule. Its been more difficult for the two pastors we’ve had since. they have to say one Mass, then drive across town to say another.
Majority opinion in the parish is that it doesn’t make sense why the smaller parish is kept open. Last year, they had one first communion participant and two years in a row, no people for Confirmation. Most of the volunteer work, people doing music or readings, are from the people of my parish, the larger parish.
The smaller parish, the building is an old wooden structure, which could be turned into other uses, even a multi-family home.

That all being said, just last year, both of our parishes are now clustered with the parish in the next town, which is a larger parish than both of ours combined. My guess is, we will eventually merge into that parish, being my parish from a real estate point of view, has a high market value and the private school which surrounds our parish property, would love to buy it.

Things are a changin that fir sure!

Jim

 

[lak611]

Thank you for all of your replies. I have one other question. In the Diocese of Cleveland, in the clusters that need to close parishes, the bishop is letting the pastors of the parishes in the cluster determine the plan for which ones to close. In other dioceses, have the pastors been given that responsibility, or has the bishop decided on his own which parishes to close?