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CajunRick
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Posted: Fri Jan 19th, 2007 05:55 pm |
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced today that it is closing 21 parishes as part of a far-reaching reorganization plan, bringing to an end a decision-making process that has dragged on for more than five years and trapped many parishioners in uncertainty.
Ten of the parishes will be closed completely and parishioners obliged to go elsewhere. Of the other 11, some will establish new chapels to serve the community, and others will become missions attached to other parishes. But that would mean they would lose many services, like having a priest on site.Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan and St. Mary in the Bronx are among those that will be closed, according to the list issued today. Nine parishes and six missions originally recommended to be closed or to be merged with other parishes will retain their current status. These include St. Rita of Cascia parish in the Bronx, Guardian Angel parish in Manhattan, Saint Benedict the Moor mission in Manhattan and Blessed Sacrament mission in Orange County.
“The process was complicated,” Cardinal Edward M. Egan said at a news conference to announce the changes. “It could have been simplified. We could simply have gotten the numbers — how many people are in the parish, how many come to Mass on Sunday, how many baptisms there are, how many weddings, how many funerals and all of that — sat down and, studying the calculations, drawn conclusions.
“But we didn’t do it that way,” he said. “We sought an in-depth understanding of what our people needed and we achieved that understanding by visits, by consultations with experts and above all by conversations with everyone concerned.”
Bishop Dennis Sullivan, the co-vicar general of the archdiocese, said no church properties would be sold off.
“There will be no massive closings, no abandoning nor selling of properties,” he said. “Yes, there will be changes and these changes will be felt in the parishes that are affected. But the new parishes that emerge will quickly be organized so that our people will experience Christ in their new spiritual home.”
One priest who spoke of the changes on Thursday characterized the final list as much less draconian than had been feared by many across the archdiocese, which stretches from Staten Island to the Catskills. He said that Cardinal Egan appeared to have backed away from taking drastic steps to address the problems that spurred the reorganization, including a shrinking corps of priests and demographic changes that had left many parishes struggling to fill pews while others overflowed.
The other parishes to be closed completely are Our Lady Queen of Angels in Manhattan; St. John the Baptist de LaSalle in Staten Island; Our Lady of the Rosary and St. Margaret of Hungary, both in Yonkers; St. Stanislaus in Hastings; Holy Cross in Sleepy Hollow; Most Sacred Heart in Port Jervis; and St. John the Baptist in Poughkeepsie.
The complete list of parishes to be closed or merged are on the archdiocese’s website at ny-archdiocese.org.
The entire article is available from The New York Times.
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Darlene
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania USA |
| Posts: | 868 |
| First Name: | Darlene | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Christian, trusting His love and forgiveness |
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Posted: Fri Jan 19th, 2007 06:59 pm |
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Rick,
If they diocese is not going to sell any of the properties, then what will happen to those churches that close down. Will they just sit there without being used for anything?
Darlene
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. II Corinthians 13:14
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CajunRick
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Posted: Fri Jan 19th, 2007 07:11 pm |
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Darlene wrote: If they diocese is not going to sell any of the properties, then what will happen to those churches that close down. Will they just sit there without being used for anything?
If you read the entire article, it covers the use of some of the properties.
Sometimes abandoned churches are used as chapels, meeting halls, mission churches, etc. In our diocese, Catholic Social Services uses an old church as their office building.
There is never enough space for ministry offices, St. Vincent de Paul stores, volunteer coordination, religious education, etc., so no doubt the properties will be put to good use.
Of course, a church that is no longer going to be used for liturgy has to be de-dedicated, and a procedure exists to do that. Some of the furniture, statues, vessels, etc., will most likely be used in the merged parish churches.
The actual press release announcing the decisions is available here. I tried to post it earlier, but I couldn't get through to the web site, probably because of the weather. The complete list of parishes affected and what their new status will be is available here.
Last edited on Fri Jan 19th, 2007 07:23 pm by
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