Posted on 05/06/2018 5:11:12 PM PDT by marshmallow
About 80 percent of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh's 200 priests will be assigned to different churches starting in October, part of the six-county diocese's biggest reorganization in nearly three decades.
Bishop David Zubik announced the diocesan-wide clergy reassignments Saturday as he unveiled the next phase of a plan to merge 188 individual parishes into 57 final multi-church groupings — a change from 48 groupings proposed last year.
Each grouping will have two to five years to submit their merger plan to the bishop, some of which eventually will involve church building closures.
No church closures have been determined yet, and Zubik gave no estimate on how many of the diocese's roughly 225 church buildings may have to close. More than half of the parishes have been losing money for years.
The bishop acknowledged the priest transfers are "going to cause some pain with people" and urged them to be open to new priests.
"They may have some priests that they have really come to appreciate," Zubik said. "Any time you're going to have that kind of separation of a relationship that's built them up, there's going to be a certain sense of loss there. But there's going to be sense again with the parishes that are receiving them as well, too."
Under the newly announced plan, every priest has received a new assignment as part of the 57 parish groupings, with most in groupings that do not include their current parish, Zubik said.
(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...
What I have read is simply a replay of what happened in my diocese ladt year.
Correction: last.
Pretty much... To give you an example... there are 3 boroughs/neighborhoods (where I live) that are being consolidated together... total land mass a little under 2 square miles. Previously these 3 boroughs/neighborhoods supported 3 parishes... 2 had their own elementary schools as well. Post consolidation this will be 1 parish. 2 church’s will remain open (for now) and 1 school. The other parish has had its church and school fully closed.
To understand the sense of scale here... the one school that will remain open at its peak in the 60s it had 1200 students in it.. Today has about 400-500. Honestly when I walk through the building I have no idea how they got 1200 students in there.
There are still a good number of Catholics living in that 2 square mile area, but nowhere near the number when they were at their peak and fully supporting 3 parishes and 2 schools. Demographics have changed and shifted, and the church, being the church, doesn’t move quickly to adjust... so you really have probably about 30 years of reorganization happening all at once.
**I’m not sure how Pittsburgh is set up but churches kick back a share of their collections to the Archdiocese.**
Where did you get this idea?
Somewhat. They definitely have balance sheets. Parishes that don't operate in the black have to be subsidized by the diocese. The diocese doesn't have a license to print money, either, so if a parish consistently operates at a deficit, the problem needs to be fixed somehow. Either attract more contributors, or close down.
Because, as everyone knows, the clergy at "basic Christian churches" are all perfect and without sin, right?
Guess again ...
I always lead with God I am a sinner....we all are . The Vatican just seems to go boldly and set their own guidelines...
That how most Archdioceses operate. Nothing sinister. It’s just what they do.
If you belong to a church of any denomination, they have to collect a certain amount of money to stay open.
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