By Nick Carrabine
News-Herald
May 28, 2008
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Six Catholic churches in Euclid might downsize to three
If approved by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland in February, Euclid will have gone from six Catholic churches to three by July 2010.
The city has six parishes that are members of the Cuyahoga County Suburban East cluster: Holy Cross, St. Christine, St. Felicitas, St. Paul, St. Robert and St. William.
Because of a decline in Mass attendance, a change in demographics, fewer priests, decreasing revenue and increasing costs, each parish formed a five-member team in July to find a solution and submit a recommendation to Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon.
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| Dorothy Sochor, a founding member of St. Robert Church in Euclid, looks at a graph showing the diminishing number of registered Catholics in Euclid from 1996 to 2006. Photo by Jeff Forman |
The cluster planning teams met for the past year, and each parish held a two-hour meeting Tuesday night to go over the results of their meetings.
To the surprise of almost no one, they announced that their
recommendation to Lennon, which must be submitted by Sept. 15, is to merge the six churches into three.
St. Christine and Holy Cross will merge into one parish at the Holy Cross site at 175 E. 200th St.; St. Robert and St. William will merge into one parish at the St. William site at 351 E. 260th St.; and St. Paul and St. Felicitas will merge into one parish at the St. Felicitas site at 140 Richmond Road.
Cluster team member and St. Paul's Deacon Lou Pecek said the cluster team reached a consensus on what to recommend, but that didn't mean there was 100 percent agreement.
"We found our problems didn't just belong to one of us, but to all six of us," he said. "We aren't dealing with the same numbers we were five or 10 years ago."
The change in the number of households in Euclid has had its effect on church attendance, Pecek said.
Households have decreased by 28 percent in the past 10 years in the city, and Mass attendance has decreased by 31 percent in the same time period, he said.
"It is discouraging to preach when there is no one here," he said.
The cluster teams discussed whether to close the parishes or merge together before making a recommendation.
If a church were to close, all of the assets and liabilities go to the Diocese of Cleveland, a cluster team representative said.
A merger, on the other hand, is like "getting married," the representative said, where two or more existing parishes come together to form a completely new parish.
The group settled on merging.
They reported the pros of merging, which include more than 2,000 families at each parish, a greater opportunity to retain parishioners, consolidation of functions and an increased revenue stream.
One of the biggest pros is all of the proposed parishes still have schools on site, which was a main factor when considering a solution.
The cluster teams will continue to monitor enrollment trends and collaborate to ensure the long-term presence of strong, stable Catholic schools in the Euclid area.
The three churches also will be evenly spread throughout the city.
The cluster teams have made recommendations to include staggered Mass times so people can choose to attend Mass in the morning, at noon or in the evening, as well as staggered confession times throughout the week.
The cons, the teams reported, include more financial decisions to make, a potential loss of parishioners because people would be upset with change, possible loss of jobs and experiencing significant change overall.
"Nobody is really happy about doing this, but we do what we need to do," Pecek said.
The proposal calls for four priests to be assigned to the cluster - a pastor for each proposed new parish and a fourth who would serve as a vacation and off-day fill-in, as well as helping handle the extra responsibilities of daily ministerial life.
Because the proposed newly created churches will serve only an estimated 2,300 to 2,350 families apiece, none qualify for a second priest to be assigned by the diocese. According to the diocese, a parish must have 2,800 families registered to qualify for two priests.
Several Catholic parishes in Lake County have more than one priest assigned.
Parish names will be changed, and pastors will be appointed by the Diocese once a final decision is made.
This had parishioners at Holy Cross Church more concerned than those at St. Christine, St. Paul and St. Robert.
For them, it's the loss of the church's identity that hurts most.
"As the name of the parish changes, so does the pastor," said the Rev. John McNulty, pastor at Holy Cross.
McNulty said the church building, which was built in 1924, will forever be called Holy Cross, but the proposed merger would necessitate a new name for the merged parish.
"So, think of it as St. John McNulty at Holy Cross," he joked in explaining the difference in the names.
McNulty said he wasn't sure how the proposed new parish's name will be decided.
The properties at the proposed former churches will be sold, but as soon as they cease to perform as places of worship they're considered taxable by Cuyahoga County. Functioning churches are tax exempt, McNulty said.
One member of St. Robert asked if they could sell the land and put the money toward the cost of education.
St. Robert Pastor Rev. Dennis McNeil said the Bishop has to sign for any sale because the land is in his name and already has been contacted by interested buyers.
Another concern brought up was limited parking at Holy Cross and St. William. Also, many senior citizens who walk to Mass were concerned with getting themselves to church if the proposal is accepted.
Parishioners also were concerned about where church records will end up. The cluster team reported that records will either go to the merging parish or end up in archives.
All parishioners are encouraged to fill out a consultation form, which asks parishioners if they will support the proposal or not, and to include any additional questions, concerns or issues with the proposal.
All forms must be completed by June 8 and will be submitted with the recommendation to the Bishop by Sept. 15.
Contact: NCarrabine@News-Herald.com
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