I wonder how many baptisms this parish has per year? I wonder how many priestly vocations came from this parish? The number of sacramental marriages? Might there have been good reasons for its closure? Mere financial stability is not a complete reason to keep a parish open.
I wonder how many baptisms this parish has per year? I wonder how many priestly vocations came from this parish? The number of sacramental marriages? Might there have been good reasons for its closure? Mere financial stability is not a complete reason to keep a parish open.
iirc, yep, this parish is unsustainably small in people given the vocations crisis (and the closeness of the next nearest parish). But it's a mess because the bishop didn't have that conversation transparently - he implied it was only closing because of the financial issues. The people came up with a plan to both buy the parish building and sustain it financially - and I think are rightfully frustrated to have found out only afterwards that the bishop had already decided it needed to close anyway. And they don't have a financially viable way to keep it open just for prayer, they were counting in typical Sunday Mass donations.
It reminds me a lot of the Steubenville diocese question - sometimes a closure is necessary, but how you communicate throughout that process matters
This is my parish. The church was sold BEFORE the parish was suppressed and church relegated solely to pay off abuse claims. The Dicastery clearly states that the archdiocese had no right to sell the church out from underneath our feet. With regard to vocations, this is diocesan problem. We presently have one seminarian with a Catholic population of approximately 100,000. There has been maybe two in the last 5-10 years. We need a revival .
Well, and financial stability seems to be a stretch.
Sure, they raised money to buy the property, but what condition is it in "under the hood"? They want a full-time priest, how will he be paid? Where will he live now that the rectory is sold off? Some office space is necessary to store records and keep the books, where will that happen? Sure, maybe we can grant that there are enough priests right now, but what about in five years? Even less? Can fifty people (and likely that's broken down even further into families/couples) even maintain the building, let alone the other costs?
I often get frustrated by these "save our parish" campaigns and, by extension, some of the canon lawyers that drum up all kinds of false hope for people. The bishop didn't do this right, that's for sure, and sticking up for people's rights is important. But the people cannot possibly expect that the bishop is just going to cut his losses and kick the can down the road for the next guy to deal with? Slim chance, I think.
Don't get me wrong, I am not passing blame from the bishop to anyone else. If he had followed the process appropriately, been forthright and clear, the pain of these people losing their parish wouldn't be so prolonged. But lose their parish they will, I think.
My brother is a priest in Kentucky with three parishes, none of which is being closed. The smallest has about 15 parishioners for whom he says Mass twice a week.
I wonder how many baptisms this parish has per year? I wonder how many priestly vocations came from this parish? The number of sacramental marriages? Might there have been good reasons for its closure? Mere financial stability is not a complete reason to keep a parish open.
iirc, yep, this parish is unsustainably small in people given the vocations crisis (and the closeness of the next nearest parish). But it's a mess because the bishop didn't have that conversation transparently - he implied it was only closing because of the financial issues. The people came up with a plan to both buy the parish building and sustain it financially - and I think are rightfully frustrated to have found out only afterwards that the bishop had already decided it needed to close anyway. And they don't have a financially viable way to keep it open just for prayer, they were counting in typical Sunday Mass donations.
It reminds me a lot of the Steubenville diocese question - sometimes a closure is necessary, but how you communicate throughout that process matters
This is my parish. The church was sold BEFORE the parish was suppressed and church relegated solely to pay off abuse claims. The Dicastery clearly states that the archdiocese had no right to sell the church out from underneath our feet. With regard to vocations, this is diocesan problem. We presently have one seminarian with a Catholic population of approximately 100,000. There has been maybe two in the last 5-10 years. We need a revival .
Proper canonical procedures were not followed, that is reason enough not to close the parish.
Of course, if the bishop will not allow Mass because he will not send a priest that is a problem.
Well, and financial stability seems to be a stretch.
Sure, they raised money to buy the property, but what condition is it in "under the hood"? They want a full-time priest, how will he be paid? Where will he live now that the rectory is sold off? Some office space is necessary to store records and keep the books, where will that happen? Sure, maybe we can grant that there are enough priests right now, but what about in five years? Even less? Can fifty people (and likely that's broken down even further into families/couples) even maintain the building, let alone the other costs?
I often get frustrated by these "save our parish" campaigns and, by extension, some of the canon lawyers that drum up all kinds of false hope for people. The bishop didn't do this right, that's for sure, and sticking up for people's rights is important. But the people cannot possibly expect that the bishop is just going to cut his losses and kick the can down the road for the next guy to deal with? Slim chance, I think.
Don't get me wrong, I am not passing blame from the bishop to anyone else. If he had followed the process appropriately, been forthright and clear, the pain of these people losing their parish wouldn't be so prolonged. But lose their parish they will, I think.
My brother is a priest in Kentucky with three parishes, none of which is being closed. The smallest has about 15 parishioners for whom he says Mass twice a week.
Consolidation or multiple assignments is a possible solution, but not for every diocese or in every parish and certainly not for every priest.
True. And it helps to have a permanent deacon in that situation.