‘Dying ... and Rising’ (Approximately 50 New York parishes to close, merge)

Let me be candid: there will soon be a real sense of grief at some of our parishes as we get set to announce publicly what we’ve been preparing for the last five years, namely, the merging of some of our beloved parishes. In a few places, there might even be a feeling that something has died.

Perhaps the feast days this Saturday and Sunday can set a spiritual tone for what will be, undeniably, a tough time for us all, especially for the parishioners of the affected parishes.

Saturday, November 1, is the feast of All Saints (or, the old term, “All Hallows,” thus “Halloween,” the eve before), as we gratefully recall the citizens of our eternal home, heaven.

Sunday, November 2, is the feast of All Souls, when we reverently remember those, especially among our family and friends, who have died, the “faithful departed,” asking Jesus to have mercy upon them, especially those in purgatory awaiting heaven.

As we now come to the decision point of our Making All Things New strategic pastoral planning, which began years ago and intensified the last year-and-a-half, about 14% of our parishes will undergo a “purgatory,” with decisions to merge them with their welcoming neighbors.

Some of our people will be sad, upset, critical, and even angry. Very understandable…loyal Catholic people love their parishes, and consider them their spiritual home. To see them changed or merged, even with next door parishes, will be very difficult.

I wish it could be different. I’d rather be adding parishes, or expanding the ones we have—and, by the way, we will be!—instead of consolidating some.

Why do we have to go through this? For one, at 368, we simply have too many parishes, in areas that used to have huge Catholic numbers, where most of the people have since moved away. On Manhattan alone, for instance, we have 88 parishes, some only blocks apart. Do the math: we have about 25% of our parishes in an area where less than 12% of the 2.8 million Catholics of the archdiocese reside.

Two, we must be good stewards of our financial resources. God’s people have told us that they want their offerings spent on our schools, charities, outreach, elders, religious education, the poor, the immigrant, our pastoral services, or expanding parishes that are jammed. By merging parishes, we will make better use of human and financial resources.

Three, we can no longer staff them. While still, thank God, blessed with a good number of priests, aided by deacons, a dwindling number of sisters and brothers, and devoted lay pastoral leaders, their census is shrinking. Rectories built a century ago—now in disrepair—for six priests usually now house one or two. We no longer have the priests to serve 368 parishes.

What we’re talking about is realism. Families do it, our schools have done it, corporations do it—now our parishes must do it: we merge in the areas where the population has shrunk, and build and expand—both plants and ministries—in areas where the Catholic numbers are bustling.

Over these years of preparation for the tough decisions coming this week, everyone has commented: “We need to do something! We can’t go on like we’re still in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, as if we have the numbers, the resources, the priests that we used to. We’ll have to reduce the number of parishes.”

We have to ... a woman reassured me, “As long as I have a place for Mass, I’ll be fine.”

This “process” has been exhaustive. Each parish had two representatives, and the vast archdiocese was divided into “clusters” where the delegates, with their pastors, guided by professionals, studied their parishes and made recommendations. These were refined, discussed, debated, and finally went to the larger umbrella committee, which accepted almost all of them. The deans, priests’ council, pastoral council, and college of consultors were all involved. It all then came to me, and, along with my brother bishops, we’ve made the decisions. I’m happy to say almost all are consonant with what came from the grassroots.

I was with many of my brother bishops from around the country last week, a good number of whom have already gone through a similar process, and I asked them about their experience. One observed, “While there is no painless way to merge parishes, it can be less painful if the people have a big part in the process.” You have. (It’s already clear that some of the early complaints are coming from parishes that did not care to participate in the process.)

Pope St. John Paul II called us to the new evangelization: we cannot, he told us, be so exhausted by the maintenance of our parishes and institutions that we have no energy left for the mission!

Pope Benedict reminded us that “the vine must be pruned if it is to grow and produce fruit.”

Pope Francis exhorts us not to be only about buildings and structures, but about outreach, love, service.

That’s what this week is about: dying, to be sure, and I apologize that these decisions will cause hurt; but rising to a stronger, more vibrant Church! Thanks for your patience, understanding, and support.

As we came up Park Avenue, we passed Our Savior (38th). You could peek in - it was dark, full of candles, just the most beautiful little church. I said, “That is the church I want to attend.”

When I worked in the governor's office in Albany, I was occasionally sent down to the city office for a day. That office was on 3rd Ave, and I had to pass by Our Saviour's Church on the way to Penn Station. The door was always unlocked and I would drop in for a few minutes of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Rutler grew that parish. His choir was videotaped and featured on EWTN during Lent. The, suddenly, Cardinal Dolan pulled him from that church and re-assigned him to St. Michael's on the west side. He was also assigned to Holy Innocents as a visiting pastor. Now, both of those parishes are on the chopping block. Dolan might just as well as ripped the heart out of Fr. Rutler.

If it interests you, you can sign up for Fr. Rutler's weekly, Sunday meditation on the Church of St. Michael home page. On the right side, you will see Subscribe to Fr. Rutler's Weekly Column.

Any town that has turned into liberal USA, like NY City, Buffalo, Pitt, Boston, are closing down Catholic Churches left and right. Liberals by and large don’t go to church.

...According to the USCCB, the five most Catholic states, in population, are: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. According to the American Life League, the states with the most pro-life legislation (i.e., inhibiting abortion in various ways) are: Oklahoma, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Texas. This is a shocker. In short, there is no Catholic political impact in support of life in those states reportedly having the most Catholics.
-- from the thread The Mythical Catholic Vote: The Harmful Consequences of Political Assimilation

Shouldn’t at least some of these parishes have thought about evangelization before they shrunk too much?

Here in the northeast, european immigrants arrived to work in factories. To cite an example, in the City of Watervliet, there were 5 Catholic parishes, each one ethnic in nature. They were constructed by Italians, Irish, Germans, French and others. As I pointed out earlier, their descendants moved away. The factories closed (no longer need to manufacture leather gloves and shirt collars). The population shrank. Each community held onto their "family's" parish even though it was across the street from another parish. Several years ago, the bishop stepped into the fray and closed 5 of the parishes, merging them into one. That resulted in angry and disenfranchised Catholics who decided to attend the flourishing Evangelical Church.

Secularism has gripped the west and today, people spend Sunday watching sports or shopping at the mall. The government supplies their needs, not God ... at least, that is the mindset. Pendulums swing. Pray for them!

If I’m reading this correctly, the archdiocese’s website indicates that Our Savior will merge with 2 other parishes, with Our Savior acting as the main parish church. Neither St. Michael’s nor Holy Innocents appear anywhere on the list, so it looks like both of them survive, too.

Deo Gratias.

http://www.archny.org/decisions-released;jsessionid=0FB80E6BE4A1A511EE5C2D9F34D6DAC9

Regards,

PS: Interesting that no parishes are closing in either Queens or Brooklyn.

“Oklahoma, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Texas”

Protestants dwarf Catholics in these states. Your remark makes no sense. The point I was trying to make is LIBERAL Catholics, i.e., those that do not follow the faith live in the NE. These lib Catholic include most of the politicians in the state.

Do away with the liberal Catholics in this country and the ones that follow the faith still outnumber any protestant faith in the land.

Catholics founded the pro-life movement in this country. After Roe v. Wade almost all the protestant faiths in the country went along with abortion on demand. I am glad some finally came around, but after Roe v. Wade, it was mainly Catholics that fought against abortion. Rep Chris Smith is the most ardent pro-life defender in the US Congress. He has been fighting the good fight for the last 34 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Smith_%28New_Jersey_politician%29

a sign of the times, the white Europeans moved out of the cities and into the suburbs while the new Hispanic immigrants do not regularly attend mass...Yes, some churches do have a large Spanish mass but that’s usually because there may be only one Spanish mass in that church...from my observations here in the urban areas of new jersey, which is full of Hispanics, I see that a small percentage of them regularly attend mass. And many of them are joining fundamentalist, Mormon and

Any idea why he was moved? Tsk tsk, the devil is at work.

No but I will conjecture it is due to his love for the TLM. It is like this in any diocese. When one does not march in lock step with the "shepherd", they are re-assigned to another parish or ministry. Up here in Albany, several devout (read: humble) priests, who drew large attendance for their reverence in worship and solid catechetical homilies, were shipped off to remote parishes. In one instance, the priest was re-assigned to prison ministry. Perhaps you recall the silencing of Fr. Robert Altier by Archbishop Harry Flynn. Archbishop’s Action Against Priest . . . Reverberates Throughout Cyber Universe.

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