Short on Priests and Faithful, Boston Archdiocese Considers Parish Mergers

[Catholic_Press]

On Feb. 2, the Archdiocese of Boston announced plans for a reorganization that could change how many parishes operate. The changes are aimed at allowing the Church to cope with declining Mass attendance and a shortage of priests, without forcing parishes to close

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[Dale_M]

The archdiocese isn’t planning a new round of church closings.
the article in the first post:

Instead, the planning commission will consider how to combine a number of church communities – which currently function as independent parishes – into single parishes that would continue to worship in separate spaces.

The combined communities would keep their buildings, while merging into one single parish for administrative, financial, and pastoral purposes. This plan could eliminate inefficient aspects of the current system, in which one priest often already serves as the pastor of multiple parishes simultaneously, due to the priest shortage.

I hope that works for them. In the area in which I grew up, the diocese merged all five parishes in the county into one parish. So far, four of the five churches have been able to stay open. However, there is pressure from the diocese to close those sites and move into a brand new church, which has yet to be built. This is supposed to result in savings of long term maintenance, although I think the availability of priests is the main driver.