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	Archdiocese Orders Sweeping Changes 33 Parishes to Close in Wake of Hurricane Katrina By Bruce Nolan The Times-Picayune April 10, 2008 http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1207805701142670.xml&coll=1 The Archdiocese of New Orleans on Wednesday announced a sweeping post-Hurricane Katrina reorganization of parish life that essentially accepted the storm's permanent destruction of 17 church communities in New Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Beyond that, however, Archbishop Alfred Hughes announced a wide-ranging package of mergers, closures, downsizings and shared-pastor arrangements that reached far beyond the flood zone to touch parishes in relatively undamaged communities such as Algiers and West Jefferson, Metairie, Kenner and Luling. All told, the plan closed 33 parishes, reducing the number of archdiocesan parishes to 108, according to church figures. Some churches in closed parishes would be kept open as missions — essentially second churches in a single parish, where the sacraments would still be celebrated. Hughes called the promulgation of the plan "a pivotal moment in the history of the archdiocese." The reorganization appeared to close permanently at least 20 churches, including some notables such as Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mid-City, where Louis Armstrong was christened in 1901. Churches and parishes in St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany and Washington parishes appeared to be unaffected in the massive restructuring. Hughes also announced that the archdiocese will neither open nor close any parochial schools in the foreseeable future. The Rev. Michael Jacques, one of the architects of the process, said the archdiocese does not yet have a plan for selling any of the churches. Hughes said he prefers to find another ministry-related use for them, followed by some civic use "for the common good," reserving sale for commercial use as a third option. Range of emotions Parishioners' reactions ranged from anger to quiet resignation to resolve. Members of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Uptown New Orleans reacted defiantly to the plan, which included news that they would be closed and, with another nearby parish, St. Henry, merged with a third parish, St. Stephen. Forewarned, they had gathered at the Louisiana Avenue church to announce resistance. Milton and Sandra Blaise LeBlanc said they would do whatever it takes to reverse the archdiocese's decision. They live in Harahan, but they attend Masses at both Our Lady of Good Counsel, her family's church, and St. Henry's, his family's. With both slated for closure, "we got a double whammy," Sandra LeBlanc said. At Epiphany Parish in the 7th Ward, about a dozen parishioners prayed quietly together Wednesday morning awaiting the news. "If (the merger) is what's decided, that's what we'll do," said Calvin Moret, 82. Hughes "has been appointed by Rome, by the pope, to make these decisions. Not all decisions satisfy all people, but I'll abide by what he does . . . I certainly don't envy his position." Norma Pond, the secretary and accountant at St. Anthony's in Gretna for 15 years, said she wept off and on all day after hearing that her parish has been downgraded to a mission in Holy Name of Mary Parish. But in Kenner, Stephanie Bartolo wasn't distressed as she picked up her two children at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, which will combine with nearby Nativity of Our Lord to form a new parish. She said she was excited to help with the change. "It opens doors of possibilities," she said. "I'm sure we'll have pews instead of just chairs. It will be a lot nicer, I really think." Katrina shuffled deck Church planners said the reconfiguration was required in the face of Katrina's massive damage, which left communities thinly populated even three years later. The storm stripped the archdiocese of 20 percent of its Catholics, forced the migration of thousands of families from one part of the archdiocese to another, and left the regional church with $120 million in uninsured flood damage. In addition, Hughes ordered archdiocesan planners to reconfigure the number of pulpits in the regional church of 385,000 Catholics to accommodate a steadily declining corps of priests. The archdiocese released new figures showing that from 1980 to 2008, the number of active and retired diocesan and religious order priests fell from 545 to 334. That imperative drove much of the change far from the flood zone, Jacques said. Asked about the archdiocese's financial condition, Hughes said it was too complicated to characterize accurately in advance of a public financial disclosure he has ordered. He said the archdiocese hopes to end this fiscal year June 30 in the black for the first time since the storm. "We do pledge as an archdiocese to make full disclosure . . . of amounts of damage done to church-owned buildings, insurance coverage, FEMA coverage," gifts and proceeds from real estate sales, he said. Spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey said the report should be ready in about two weeks. In any event, the reorganization was not developed with an eye to cutting archdiocesan operating costs, said Bishop Roger Morin. "A cost-benefit analysis was not a factor in developing the pastoral plan," he said. "Every element of the pastoral plan was about ministry, about parish life, about serving the needs of the people in individual parishes." He said assessing its economic implications was the last step in its development. Hughes promised that after the archdiocese deducts the cost of mothballing and maintaining the properties, any net proceeds of property sales will follow parishioners to their new parishes. Appeals seen as long shot He said some of the simpler changes will take effect June 30. He said parishes being closed, merged or reduced to mission status will be provided facilitators to work with parishioners as they make the emotional transition. He said parishioners would be involved in designing and implementing changes in their parishes. Pastors and parishioners can implement the closures, mergers and other changes at their own pace, but they must be completed by Dec. 31, Comiskey said. She said parishioners objecting to Hughes' decision can appeal through the church's internal judicial process. But a Texas nonprofit group that provides canon law assistance for aggrieved Catholics said the odds of success are almost zero. "I know of no cases, either handled by me or anyone else, where a (parish) closure was overturned by Rome," said Charles Wilson of the St. Joseph Foundation in San Antonio. In 24 years, his own organization has struck out 25 times when asking Rome to reverse a decision, he said. "Most people want to argue the merits," he said. "I'm entirely in sympathy. There would be more justice if Rome really looked at the merits, but they tend not to. They look strictly at the legal points. And if the bishop has followed the law, which is pretty easy, they're not going to substitute their judgment for his." Uptown church to fight back Early on, the changes were greeted with the most resistance at Our Lady of Good Counsel. Parishioners said they were ready to fight the decision, by whatever means, including appeals directly to the Vatican. That 121-year-old parish was nearly closed in a previous post-Katrina reorganization. Parishioners persuaded the archdiocese to keep it open. They said they had more than doubled their membership, paid off $115,000 in debt, expanded their ministries and succeeded in developing a diverse and vibrant community since the storm. "Every question they had, we had an answer for them before they asked it," said David Frere, a member of the parish council. The church even sent one of its own, Patrick Carr, to seminary, which Frere said should have answered the archdiocese's concerns about a priest shortage. "If this were a plant owned by a business, this would never be a candidate for closure," said Ronnie Davis, chairman of the parish's finance committee. Rosary Henry, a longtime parishioner, said the archdiocese's decision would drive families who have been loyal to the church for generations away from Catholicism. "Through all the scandals, what suffers is the donations and attendance," she said. "I feel this is going to put a wedge in the participation of a lot of devout Catholics . . . What's the logic in closing a growing parish, a devoted parish, a parish that's raising money to support the archdiocese? It makes no sense." But Hughes said the priest shortage made it untenable to sustain Our Lady of Good Counsel, nearby St. Henry and St. Stephen as small, autonomous parishes within walking distance of one another. Priests in those Uptown parishes were ministering to hundreds of families, while priests in suburban mega-parishes were ministering alone to thousands of families, Hughes said. "We have to mission the priests where the people need to be served," he said. Hughes said he visited all three of the Uptown parishes since August and advised them that their future would be some sort of collaboration. Hughes minimized the possibility of recruiting priests from elsewhere to ease the New Orleans shortage. He said Rome "has cautioned us from raiding other dioceses to address our own shortage." Moreover, he said, New Orleans has a history of importing priests, a trend he wants to reverse. "I'd like to see us put a full-court press on soliciting and encouraging vocations" locally, he said.
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