NEW ORLEANS Calling it a pivotal moment in the 215-year history of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archbishop Alfred Hughes said Wednesday that 25 church parishes 19 of them shuttered since Hurricane Katrina will close and merge with neighboring congregations by years end.

The majority of those Catholic parishes are in New Orleans, while a handful are in St. Bernard Parish and one each are in Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes.

Hughes also announced that two other church parishes, both in the Jefferson suburb of Kenner, will close and merge by the middle of next year. Four other church parishes in Jefferson will close and become missions by the end of this year, he said.

In addition, two parishes currently operating on local college campuses St. Thomas the Apostle at the University of New Orleans and St. Thomas More at Tulane University will close and become campus ministry centers, Hughes said.

Finally, three church parishes that were closed temporarily in 2006 Our Lady of Lourdes in the St. Bernard Parish community of Violet, St. Bernard in the town of St. Bernard and St. Thomas in the Plaquemines community of Pointe a la Hache will reopen, he said.

No more Catholic schools will reopen at this time, Hughes said.

There are currently 122 Sunday worship sites in the archdiocese 117 church parishes and five missions.

The pastoral plan Hughes unveiled Wednesday reduces the number of worship locations to 119 108 parishes, nine missions and the two campus ministry centers.

My heart reaches out to all people who are hurt, wounded, fearful of the future, perhaps even angry, Hughes said during a news conference at the archdiocese chancery behind Notre Dame Seminary. He added, though, that the plan made responsible pastoral sense.

In a letter read over the weekend to congregations in the archdiocese, Hughes said 20 percent of the regions 491,000 Catholics have not returned since Katrina left the archdiocese with $120 million in uninsured losses to church-owned property.

He also said the archdiocese projects a net loss of 18 priests through retirement or death in the next five years.

Hughes said the decisions detailed Wednesday were not made lightly, and he promised that the archdiocese will walk the journey with parishioners.

Still, some parishioners are vowing to fight the closure plan, including those at St. Henry and Our Lady of Good Counsel in New Orleans.

Hughes, a former bishop of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, said closing and merging 25 church parishes in the New Orleans area by Dec. 31 will allow parishioners time to grieve and voice concerns, fears, anxieties, hopes.

We do want the people to be involved in the implementation of the plan, he said.

Hughes quoted St. Paul in acknowledging that the reconfiguration will cause pain among Catholics in the archdiocese, saying, When one member suffers, the whole body suffers.

Hughes pointed out, however, that Paul said the body is resilient, and the archbishop said the archdiocese will display its resiliency in the challenging post-Katrina era.

Hughes said the archdiocese which includes the civil parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany and Washington submitted a balanced budget this year for the first time since the hurricane in August 2005.

Were going to have a struggle to make sure we adhere to that budget, he conceded.

Archdiocesan officials stressed that a cost-benefit analysis did not factor into the decisions to close and merge church parishes.

Hughes said archdiocesan officials will look at the adaptive use of closed or soon-to-be-closed church buildings before trying to lease or sell the properties.

To deal with the shortage of priests, Hughes said the archdiocese will launch a full-court press in an effort to encourage more vocations to the priesthood.

We do not have a history of cultivating vocations, he said, noting that more than 30 of the priests in the archdiocese were born in Vietnam.

Even though the Vatican discourages the raiding of other dioceses for priests, Hughes said he is not closing the door to the possibility of doing that on a temporary basis.

Parishes closing and merging by Dec. 31

• Blessed Sacrament, New Orleans (merging with St. Joan of Arc, New Orleans)
• Epiphany, New Orleans (merging with Corpus Christi, New Orleans)
• Immaculate Heart of Mary, New Orleans (merging with St. Maria Goretti, New Orleans)
• Incarnate Word, New Orleans (merging with Mater Dolorosa, New Orleans)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel, New Orleans (merging with St. Stephen, New Orleans)
• Our Lady of Good Harbor, Buras (merging with St. Patrick, Port Sulphur)
• Our Lady of Lourdes, New Orleans (merging with St. Matthias, New Orleans)
• Prince of Peace, Chalmette (merging with Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Chalmette)
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, New Orleans (merging with St. Anthony of Padua, New Orleans)
• San Pedro Pescador, Florissant (merging with St. Bernard, St. Bernard)
• St. Brigid, New Orleans (merging with Mary Queen of Vietnam, New Orleans)
• St. Frances Cabrini, New Orleans (merging with St. Raphael the Archangel, New Orleans)
• St. Francis de Sales, New Orleans (merging with Holy Ghost, New Orleans)
• St. Henry, New Orleans (merging with St. Stephen, New Orleans)
• St. Julian Eymard, New Orleans (merging with Holy Name of Mary, New Orleans)
• St. Lawrence the Martyr, Metairie (merging with Our Lady of Divine Providence, Metairie)
• St. Louise de Marillac, Arabi (merging with Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Chalmette)
• St. Mark, Chalmette (merging with Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Chalmette)
• St. Mary, New Orleans (merging with St. Louis Cathedral)
• St. Maurice, New Orleans (merging with St. David, New Orleans)
• St. Monica, New Orleans (merging with St. Matthias, New Orleans)
• St. Raphael the Archangel, New Orleans (merging with St. Frances Cabrini, New Orleans)
• St. Raymond, New Orleans (merging with St. Leo the Great, New Orleans)
• St. Robert Bellarmine, Arabi (merging with Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Chalmette)
• St. Simon Peter, New Orleans (merging with St. Maria Goretti, New Orleans)

• Nativity of Our Lord, Kenner, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Kenner

• Holy Guardian Angels, Bridge City, will become a mission of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Westwego
• Infant Jesus of Prague, Harvey, will become a mission of St. Martha, Harvey
• St. Anthony, Gretna, will become a mission of Holy Name of Mary, Algiers
• St. Pius X, Crown Point, will become a mission of St. Anthony, Lafitte

• St. Thomas the Apostle, University of New Orleans
• St. Thomas More, Tulane University

• Our Lady of Lourdes, Violet
• St. Bernard, St. Bernard
• St. Thomas, Pointe a la Hache

• Our Lady of Lourdes, Violet, St. Bernard, St. Bernard
• St. Anthony, Luling, and St. Mark, Ama
• St. Bonaventure, Avondale, and Our Lady of the Angels, Waggaman
• St. Gertrude, Des Allemands, and St. John the Baptist, Paradis