PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O’Reilly
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput will merge a dozen parishes into five by July 1, resulting in seven closures in neighborhoods dense with Roman Catholic churches.
The targeted congregations, whose pastors announced their fates during Sunday’s Masses, are in Manayunk and Germantown in the city and Coatesville in Chester County.
The moves constitute only the first round in a process that Chaput had earlier warned the area’s 1.5 million Catholics would be “painful.” Additional mergers are expected to be announced by summer and through 2014, as all 267 parishes in the five-county archdiocese are reviewed with an eye toward long-term restructuring.
The parishes marked for closing have seen sharp declines in membership, Mass attendance and baptisms, among other signs of diminished vitality, according to the archdiocese.
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