TORONTO (CANADA)
The Catholic Register
By Francis Campbell
October 25, 2018
Nobody goes there anymore … it’s too crowded.
So said Yogi Berra, the late New York Yankees hall of famer. The first part of his comment seems painfully pertinent for the Catholic Church, the second part not so much.
Confronted by a dilemma of dwindling attendance, the archbishop of Halifax-Yarmouth, one of only two dioceses in the province of Nova Scotia, assembled his priests and deacons nearly three weeks ago to discuss parish reorganization. They reviewed declining attendance, fewer priests and a changing culture. The outcome will be a consolidation of the archdiocese’s 65 parishes into 19, with parish administration becoming a shared responsibility. In the past, a single priest handled ministerial duties. Now responsibility will be shared by a team that could include a second priest, a part-time retired priest, a deacon and full-time lay leaders.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to go from 65 buildings down to 19 buildings,” archdiocesan spokesman Fr. James Mallon told the Chronicle Herald newspaper.
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