JD and Ed consider ongoing chatter about a merger of the Diocese of Steubenville.
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We would need something besides the vanilla bishops we currently have for dioceses to be the impetus for growth. Growth currently depends on pastors with vision at the moment unfortunately many of the current stock of bishops are about as engaging as a brick wall. With some exceptions.
I don't know why redrawing dioceses and suppressing parishes are necessary for the rest of what you're saying- sounds like a lot of counterproductive pain, cost, and disruption for the faithful to no evangelical purpose (at least none that's evident to me).
Yes, the ideal seems to me to be to have smaller local dioceses sharing administrative staff whenever economy of scale is important.
During the pandemic, Chuck E Cheese created a fake restaurant name to sell their pizza on the delivery apps. Pasqually's Pizza and Wings, after one of their characters. They never admitted it, but there's probably a good chance they were trying to trick people, since Chuck E Cheese is not exactly known as great pizza.
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/local-restaurant-on-delivery-app-actually-chuck-e-cheese-pasquallys
I'm in the fun position where I lived in the Diocese of Steubenville when the merger was announced (and actually interviewed the bishop when it happened) and then moved to the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau shortly after. After I moved, I could see how a merger worked firsthand. The short answer is that it doesn't. The former Diocese of Juneau is certainly a separated and junior partner in the arrangement and often feels like a little brother. Anchorage feels like Juneau is a financial drain on the situation, and Juneau (and Ketchikan, and Sitka, and...) feels as though Anchorage receives the bulk of the attention and assistance. It would be better if the Diocese of Juneau had remained independent, though it was demographically failing, rather than be forced into a marriage that is doomed to culturally fail.
Funny enough, the Boy Scouts experienced the same thing in 2005 when the Western Alaska Council (Archdiocese of Anchorage) absorbed the Southeast Alaska Council (Diocese of Juneau) and the resulting Great Alaska Council experience the same administrative and governance problems as the new Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. The BSA is undergoing a massive merger plan right now, and I think that the Church could learn a great deal from how this ends up.
(Also if you all are truly in need of an admin assistant, I can offer my talents for cheap)
For anyone else looking for the referenced essay about Chuck E Cheese: https://theweek.com/articles/707007/chuck-e-cheeses-best-bars-america
Thanks for the laugh guys.
Regarding small dioceses... you mention insurance policies. Take a look at Michigan Catholic Conference. I think they provide a pretty high level of teamwork among the Michigan dioceses which can be a huge advantage for a financially small diocese like where I serve, the Diocese of Marquette. I don't know how widespread such state conferences are, I have the impression that the level of collaboration varies a lot. You mention combining tribunals... but I've always had the impression that the presence of diocesan tribunals is one of the reasons it isn't a 7 year wait for an annulment case decision like in Argentina. I think the issue around hiring competent lay leaders is very real. Doing that better is a really serious area for discussion and discernment. My basic impression is that the larger the diocese, the crazier the politics and the higher the level of cynicism and skepticism of the chancery from both laypeople and clergy. I really believe small is beautiful!
Would it be possible to have several smaller dioceses that share some (if not all) of the “administrative” burdens- instead of making a bunch of super dioceses all over, have more smaller ones where a couple can share some of the administrative functions?
This might be a terrible idea- I know nothing about governance or how dioceses run at all.
I'm thinking JD would like to be appointed to a Catholic version of DOGE? Department Of Parish Efficiency perhaps?
I just want Ed to know he can drive to Aldi and get some pretty solid cookie knockoffs. I’m going to refrain from commenting on the appropriate cookie names lest I start a territorial flame war in the comments section.
Milan Lach, SJ: from Bishop of Parma for the Ruthenians to Auxiliary Bishop of Bratislava, announced January 2023. Monforton had his change of office in September 2023. Now, I’m not sure if the sui iuris nature of the Ruthenian church affects the mechanics of how bishop appointments are made in re the nunciature and the Dicastery of Bishops (or Dicastery for Eastern Churches), but there is at least another proximate example of going from being an ordinary to an auxiliary.
I would suggest that rather than merging small dioceses the Church should break up the big ones while leaving some of the administrative work at the provincial rather than diocesan level.
Just consolidate some administrative functions into the archdiocese. Make archdioceses arch again.
The great supermarket chain Winco basically carries all the Girl Scout cookies in a generic store brand version for super cheap! Like nickels on the dollar! And in some unusual way, the price just makes them taste that much better.
WinCo is a magical place
Wow, Ed's basically calling for a diocesan sort of Auftragstaktik for leadership empowerment.
A few late points:
Firsts, there is that old saying that for Americans "100 years is a long time" I think that is certainly true with respect to these diocesan moves. Diocese (the plural of diocese) have been created and suppressed, renamed, and their borders realigned consistently since the first Catholics set foot on this continent. Just across the river, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston (recently renamed) had its border realigned: "West" Virginia was added to the diocese of Richmond; while the "Eastern" panhandle was added to the Diocese of Wheeling so its borders matched those of the state. (According to legend, when this request was made c. 1970, the Vatican replied with "Oh, yeah. About that. It seems you made the request shortly after WV became a state. It was granted and the decree signed. We just forgot to mail it to you.") This was when I was a toddler, but I have never heard a whisper of complaint from any of my relatives in the diocese. Very few people have ever said, "I really wish I was still in the diocese of Richmond."
Second, the Diocese of Wichita was mentioned. That diocese has twice as many people, and roughly four times as many Catholics as Steubenville. So not exactly, "Apples to Apples." I think a "strawman" argument was wafting through a lot of the podcast: "Either Steubenville survives, or we have to have states like Ohio or Indiana or Michigan with just one diocese." There is some middle ground. Steubenville has the fourth lowest total number of Catholics of Latin Rite diocese in the United States. (According to the Catholic Hierarchy website. Good enough for comment purposes.)
However, Shreveport or Baker are at least holding steady, with slightly more Catholics than in 1980. Steubenville is in free-fall. Crookston is unique, but that is due to its geography. It may make sense to have a sparsely populated diocese if it is an 8 hour drive to get from one end to the other.
Third, I also have questions about the idea "small diocese are better at vocations." You have to be very careful with statistics that are based on "very small" or "very large." I just saw a video that had as an aside that the Vatican has the highest crime rate in the world: Measured as crimes per citizen. When you have roughly 500 citizens that distorts the statistics. I remember an article in a Catholic magazine 30 or so years ago saying that if you want vocations in your children, have a small family. A family with just one kid is far more likely have 100% of their kids be ordained or enter religious life than a family with 12 kids. Of course. 1 of 1 is always easier than 12 of 12. Be incredibly wary of "statistics per X" where X is a population that is either very large of very small.
Fourth, this is not to say that I think the merger with Columbus is the best move. I think a great deal of the opposition is far less to do with the suppression of Steubenville, than it is with a merger with "big, bad, state capitol" Columbus. It would seem to me a merger with Youngstown, or even adding territory FROM Columbus to Steubenville would be better moves.
Fifth, there is also a question of popular Ecclesiology. If we look at things from a high level (say Heaven), the Bishop and the Diocese is the real entity. I am just a helper, and the parish is just there since it is hard to get to the Cathedral. However, in people's "lived experience" (I hate that phrase), the parish and their pastor is the main thing. I am willing to bet that if there was an announcement from the Vatican tomorrow that we were now part of the neighboring Archdiocese, no one would bat an eye: But if our parish was changed, there would be farmers with tractors and pitchforks at the chancery. There is a clear disconnect between orthodox Ecclesiology, and how people at least comprehend how the Church works. I don't know what you do with that statement.
Sixth, and by far the most important, at one point in the last 10 years, either Keebler or Nabisco were selling perfect knockoffs of the "Samoa" and "Tagalong" Girl Scout cookies. My mom as she got older would buy them. I rarely buy cookies (a benefit of a rural priest), but when I checked the cookie aisle yesterday they were not present. Either Girl Scouts sued them, or my rural grocery store just has a poor cookie selection. So there is hope for Ed being able to buy crates of Tagalongs. Check your local grocery store.
This is a great comment. Thanks for chiming in late!