PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times
After enduring many years of parish grade school closures being an annual event, Roman Catholics in Delaware County now must face the annual prospect of seeing entire parishes closed.
Archdiocesan officials prefer to euphemistically refer to them as “mergers” since the disenfranchised parishioners are advised to attend the nearest surviving parish. But the reality is, their parishes no longer exist in name or in their neighborhoods. Their churches are merely “worship sites.”
It is part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Parish Planning Initiative proposed in 2010 by former Philadelphia archbishop, Cardinal Justin Rigali, to determine parish sustainability in the five-county region. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput started implementing the initiative in 2011, but Delaware County’s then-46 parishes did not starting coming under the microscope until fall of 2012. Last year five Delaware County parishes were closed. Three more are targeted this year, bringing the number of parishes for Delaware County’s more than 200,000 Roman Catholics down to 38.
Parishioners and their pastors are expected to engage in “self-studies” and assess their parishes’ fitness for survival as part of the initiative. The regional bishop and the dean usually meet with the pastors as well as their pastoral and finance councils to hear their recommendations. The Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee shares all final proposals with the Council of Priests and the College of Consultors for their review before final approval by the archbishop.
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