Sweeping changes proposed to Diocese of Saginaw, MI

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The Diocese of Saginaw, MI is in the process of a massive realingment.

An outside consulting firm, after seeking feedback from every parish, has made the preliminary recommendations:

Thirty-five parishes would be closed outright and merged with others.

Another fifteen parishes would be merged into other parishes, but their buildings would remain open as secondary worship sites to be re-evaluated every two years.

The parishes recommended for closing
St. Mary, Albee
St Joseph, Argyle
Our Lady of the Visitation, Bay City
St. Hedwig, Bay City
St. Maria Goretti, Bay City
St. Boniface, Bay City
St. Hyacinth, Bay City
St. Valentine, Beaver
Assumption BVM, Bridgeport
St. John the Baptist, Carrollton
St. Philip Neri, Coleman
St. Patrick, Croswell
St Ignatius, Frieburg
St. Agatha, Gagetown
St. Patrick, Irishtown
Sacred Heart, Kawkawlin
St. Edward, Kinde
St. Norbert, Munger
St. Michael, Oakely
St. Patrick, Palms
St. Mary, Parisville
St. John, Peck
St. Martin de Porres, Perrinton
St. Mary, Pinconning
St. Felix, Pinnebog
St. Patrick, Ryan
St. Andrew, Saginaw
Holy Family, Saginaw
St. Anthony of Padua, Saginaw
SS Casmir & George, Saginaw
SS Simon & Jude, Saginaw
Most Holy Trinity, Smith Corners
St. Michael, Wilmot
St. Leo the Great, Winn
St. Matthew, Zilwaukee

Parish buildings to be utilized as secondary worship sites (with “home” parish)
These parishes would not maintain their own identity
Holy Family, Sebewaing (St. Pancratius, Cass City)
Immaculate Conception, St. Charles (St. Michael, Maple Grove)
SS Peter & Paul, Saginaw (St. Stephen, Saginaw)
St. Anne, Edenville (St. Agnes, Sanford)
St. Columbkille, Sheridan Corners (St. John, Ubly)
St. Cyril, Bannister (Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Chesaning)
St. Elizabeth, Marlette (St. Joseph, Sandusky)
St. Francis Borgia, Pigeon (St. Roch, Caseville)
St. Helen, Saginaw (St. Thomas Aquinas, Saginaw)
St. Henry, Rosebush (St. Cecilia, Clare)
St. Joseph, Rapson (Sacred Heart, Bad Axe)
St. Joseph, Fisherville (St. Anthony, Auburn)
St. Mary, Kinde (St. Michael, Port Austin)
St. Mary, Port Sanilac (St. Denis, Lexington)
St. Mary of the Assumption, Hemlock (Sacred Heart, Merrill)

Now, keep in mind this is only the preliminary recommendation of the consulting firm. It now goes back to the parishes for review and rebuttal, then back to the consulting firm and off to the diocese. Bishop Cistone is expected to make a final ruling in January with the process to be completed next summer/fall.

saginaw.org/parish-planning/cohort-partners.html
 
Wow, that is a change. My extended family is in that Diocese…I always wondered if two churches in the Pinconning area were needed but I know the one that is proposed for closure is in the country while the other is in town. I know some people are not used to traveling even short distances (at least my family members), whereas where I live a day trip three hours to another city is nothing for us. Praying it all works out for the best!
 
Ouch! I guess this just reflects the general state of things in Michigan. 😦
 
So sad to think of all those parishes being impacted. I feel for the bishop, too…can you imagine the stress? Praying for everyone involved.
 
To put the news into perspective, the Diocese of Saginaw currently has 105 parishes, with four additional worship sites. So the preliminary proposal would close about half the parishes in the diocese, with nearly a third of its current churches being permanently closed. Since 1988, the number of Catholics in the diocese has dropped by 32%.

Some more information about the process of selecting the closures.
Over the next three months each cohort — or grouping of three to seven neighboring parishes — will have an opportunity to write a response with rationale to the Diocesan Planning Commission, stating any suggestions or objections to the preliminary recommendation. The planning commission will meet again in October and, following comprehensive analysis of the cohort responses, will present a final recommendation to the Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw. Bishop Cistone will further consult and prayerfully reflect upon the recommendations before announcing final decisions in January 2013.
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“At the outset, I acknowledged that this is an emotional time,” Bishop Cistone said. “Yet, we must keep in mind that, ultimately, the Church exists to evangelize. I remain extremely optimistic that the Diocese of Saginaw has a wonderful future of life, ministry, worship and service. This optimism is based on the conviction that everyone will work together to be good stewards of the resources available to us. I am deeply grateful to all of our people as they continue in this difficult work of planning for the future.”
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saginaw.org/dos-news/preliminary-recommendations-engage-parishioners-in-next-phase.html
 
I live in the Diocese myself. Some people are okay with it, others are not. But the reality is the number of church going Catholics has declined over the years for different reasons, and it is not just because of the economy. Also, we have many older priests (some close to retirement age and others staying on past it), and it will be many years to replace them with younger priests which makes it important to pray for and encourage more vocations to the priesthood.

To me, as long as I can find a church that has a Mass time that fits my work schedule is the important thing. I am lucky enough to live in a locale that I have enough choice even if a few of the churches close or used seldom, I can find another one.
 
This happened in my home town. Half the parishes were closed.

There was little protest and people for the most part went along with it, so it worked out well.

In other cities however, protest caused the process to go poorly.

Jim
 
Not a whole lot of commentary on the Diocese of Saginaw lately, which is sad because there used to be so much – I am thinking of the time when Most Rev. Carlson took over – there were posts galore about our diocese back then. There is still plenty going on today – even more to talk about with the parish reorganizations.

I am thrilled beyond words that Holy Family in Saginaw is not closing down. I think it is a credit to the current parishioners that it is staying open. When the first round of cuts was announced and it included them, they did not complain – they prayed. Change what cannot be accepted, accept what cannot be changed, etc. Their prayers saved that parish.

holyfamilycatholicchurch-saginaw.org/

A little note on myself – my ancestors joined Holy Family when they first moved to the United States. They were the ones along with other people’s ancestors to scrape together whatever they could spare in the 1910s and 1920s in order to give it to the Lord and build that beautiful basilica-style church. I think of them every time I visit Holy Family.
 
gjpayne said:
I am thrilled beyond words that Holy Family in Saginaw is not closing down. I think it is a credit to the current parishioners that it is staying open. When the first round of cuts was announced and it included them, they did not complain – they prayed. Change what cannot be accepted, accept what cannot be changed, etc. Their prayers saved that parish.

Is the inference that those parishes closing are due to some defect in the parishioners or lack of prayer??? That’s sure how your post made it sound.

Unfortunately the diocese is reaping the results of many, many decades of few vocations, and drastic steps have to take place to keep Mass and the sacraments available. But I don’t think it has anything to do with parishioners not caring about or praying for their parishes.
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Pax2u said:
Is the inference that those parishes closing are due to some defect in the parishioners or lack of prayer??? That’s sure how your post made it sound.
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That is not what I said. That is apparently how it sounded to you. My point is that instead of whining or griping about the possibility of the axe falling on their parish when the first round of cuts was announced, they instead decided to turn to prayer and the Lord. The final decision then changed from the first round decision. It is my opinion that this course of action played a large role in saving the parish. I was very impressed with their response.

This is not to say that other parishes who were cut were not prayerful. My own parish, for example, is being merged with two other parishes in a few months. One of the parishes being merged with mine has parishioners who are firing off remonstratios to the nuncio in Washington D.C. as we speak. The process could get messy and there are a lot of people who are fighting the changes. It makes me wonder what sort of outcome there will be from all of this. I hope things will work out for the best but we will see.
Pax2u said:
Unfortunately the diocese is reaping the results of many, many decades of few vocations, and drastic steps have to take place to keep Mass and the sacraments available. But I don’t think it has anything to do with parishioners not caring about or praying for their parishes.
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Me either. However, you are right in that the lack of priests is not helping matters. And rather than point fingers over why this is the case, we must ask ourselves how we plan to change this going forward. Examining the past (i.e. the cause of the shortage) may be helpful in order to formulate a plan of action for the future, but I propose the following course of action.

How many people in this diocese make suggestions to young men whom they feel would make good candidates, that they look into it? How many priests suggest this? When His Excellency goes to his monthly Adoration visits, or says Mass around the diocese, how often does he notice a young man who could be a good candidate? How often should he notice? I think a call which comes from the top could have a real effect on a young man who just might be struggling internally over the question in his own mind.

After all, becoming a priest isn’t simply the result of a man standing up one day and deciding on his own to become one. Priests are called to be priests, and they are called to be priests by the Church. As members of the Church, how often do we call these priests?

If there are going to be 50-60 parishes in this diocese soon, and there are 60 or so priests actively saying mass regularly in each of these parishes (including senior priests who are sacremental ministers), just imagine if each one of them called only one man, and imagine if even 10 to 20 percent responded. We would immediately double the number of seminarians in the diocese.

Rev. Peter MJ Stravinskas wrote in his book “Be to Me a Father and a Priest” that for the most part, dioceses receive the number of priests they “deserve.” In other words, how active is a diocese in calling priests?

Pope Francis just appointed two new bishops in the USA and they were both priests of the Lincoln diocese. That diocese has no problem getting vocations to the priesthood, and it won’t be long before many of the bishops in the USA are coming from places like that, due to the numbers game if for any other reason. Hopefully the one thing they will take with them as they become ordinaries around this country is the ability to call priests. It is apparently a skill that the rest of us need to learn.
 
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