Cheers, Tears As People Learn Fate Of Parishes In Archdiocese's Reorganization

By Jordan Otero Sisson And Ken Byron
Hartford Courant
May 7, 2017

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-archdiocese-pastoral-plan-reax-20170506-story.html

Cheers erupted through Holy Trinity Church in Hartford Saturday night at the moment worshippers learned that their beloved and historic building would not be closing, something parishioners feared for months would happen under a church reorganization plan.

But in Cheshire, the mood at the 4 p.m. Saturday Mass was much different: Parishioners at the Church of the Epiphany heard that theirs would be among the 59 parishes slated to merge with other parishes under the Archdiocese of Hartford's reorganization plan, released Saturday. Their church will close.

"I'm going to minister to you as best as I can," the Rev. John L. Williams Jr. said in his homily to Cheshire parishioners. "The nearest thing I can compare this to would be ministering to people who have suffered a death in their family. There's going to be pain."

The emotions inside the churches in Hartford and Cheshire Saturday will likely mirror what parishioners will experience Sunday morning at Masses celebrated across the archdiocese. The areas hardest hit by the changes were parts of New Haven County, including Waterbury where four church buildings are slated to close.

Parishioners at Holy Trinity first believed their small church on Capitol Avenue in Hartford would make the cut under the plan, which will merge dozen of parishes this summer. But as planning entered its final weeks, they worried their church was doomed.

The parish responded with an enthusiastic lobbying campaign to save the church, focusing on the community's unique character — including its Lithuanian heritage and policy of allowing members to bring their dogs to Mass — along with outreach to the city's poor and homeless.

As an announcement drew closer, they had no idea what would happen.

On Saturday, the tension was relieved when parishioners' prayers were answered: In a nearly 20-minute address to the congregation during Saturday afternoon Mass, the Rev. Charles Jacobs announced that Holy Trinity, a city staple for more than a century, would remain open, and that he would remain its pastor.

About 100 overjoyed parishioners greeted the news with thunderous cheers and a standing ovation.

"He said we had to be hopeful and told us to pray," said John Kodis, a lifelong member of Holy Trinity who was baptized there.

As of June 29, the Church of the Epiphany, established in 1967, will merge with St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Thomas Becket to form a new pastorate in Cheshire, to be called St. Bridget of Sweden Parish. The empty St. Thomas Becket and Epiphany church buildings will remain as worship sites, but regularly scheduled Masses will not be celebrated there.

A pastorate is a single parish with a church and one or more worship sites, campus and ministries, according to the archdiocese website.

Audible gasps and murmurs rippled among the pews as Williams delivered the news to about 100 members of the congregation gathered there Saturday evening.

As the people trickled out of the church following Mass, they paused at the door to greet Williams. Many offered him lengthy embraces, their eyes watery with tears. Some congregated in small groups on the sidewalk outside, quietly discussing their frustration and sorrow over the decision.

"I think … we have been good stewards, and have tried to make the gospel message known to those in our parish and others," Williams wrote in the parish's weekly bulletin. "Whatever this weekend brings, we have done our best, and I believe Our Lord Jesus would be pleased. At the end, really, that is all that is important, is Jesus pleased."

"Our Lord has promised to be with us to the end of the age. May he lead us — and he will — to wherever we may need to go," he wrote.

A formal announcement about the reorganization of parishes will come at a press conference scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, according to Maria Zone, spokeswoman for the archdiocese. The announcement is not open to the public, Zone said.

The archdiocese, which now oversees 212 parishes in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties, spent the last year developing a reorganization plan, which they say is designed to launch a new era of Catholicism in Connecticut.

Under the new structure, there will be 127 pastorates in the initial phase, from 2017 to 2019. Sixty-eight parishes will remain as-is in the first phase.

Additionally, 186 church buildings will remain open. Twenty-six buildings will close, meaning that regularly scheduled Masses will not be held in them. Not all mergers will result in a building closure.

Major forces behind the changes include a decline in the number of priests, fewer Catholic households and financial struggles that come with maintaining aging infrastructure.

Recommendations were expected early this year, but an announcement was delayed to accommodate further meetings with deaneries and local parish representatives.

Priest and deacon assignments will be announced after pastorates have been revealed, according to the archdiocese's pastoral planning website.

Priests gathered at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington this week to hear details of the plan, but they, along with archdiocesan officials, were tight-lipped about what was discussed.

Pastorates will be led by a pastor, but each may have several associate priests and deacons assigned to it, each of whom will have designated responsibilities. A maximum of four Masses per weekend will be celebrated by each priest in each pastorate.

Once the new pastorates are established, they will create their own strategic pastoral plans based on the needs of the communities they serve. These localized plans will include a statement of mission, a three-year vision, guiding principles, strategic pastoral objectives, strategic goals and action plans, and a timeline of incremental milestones, according to the website.

Over the past five months, some parishes and parochial schools announced their own reorganizational plans ahead of the archdiocese's decision.