Given current trends, somewhere between 2020 and 2025 the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will have more parishes than it has available priests.
That’s a statistic Archdiocesan Research and Planning director Dr. Robert Miller shared at a Nov. 6 meeting of the Serra Club of Philadelphia meeting at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Philadelphia.
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That fact in itself goes a long way toward explaining why there will be parish consolidations as part of the ongoing Archdiocesan Strategic Planning process.
Of course there are other factors, including lower Mass attendance, Catholic population shifts, especially away from the city and older suburbs to new suburbs, and financial deficits in parishes that the Archdiocese can no longer afford to fund.
“If we have parishes that don’t absolutely need to be there and we can merge those parishes with another parish, it relieves a priest to be available to parishes that need to be there,” Miller said.
“It’s not money; it’s mission that leads it and usually its demographics.”
“The important thing always is the people of God working together to do what God wants us to do. Whether we do it in this building over here or that building over there doesn’t matter a whole lot.”
Although every parish in the Archdiocese will ultimately undergo scrutiny through their Pastoral Planning Area (PPA) at this time there are seven PPAs with 59 parishes under study. Although a few cases may be decided as early as January 2013, in most cases it will probably be around March.
One of the big differences between the planning that was going on in the 1990s and 2000’s is that “now there is much more direction from the Archdiocese on what needs to be addressed and how in some cases it will be addressed,” Miller said.
The direction can be rather specific, he explained, particularly when considering parishes that have marginal use of the sacramental life of the Church, for example very few baptisms, funerals and marriages.
“That is going to get the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee’s attention, to say, is this parish really having the full experience of parish or might it be better served by joining up with another parish?
The process itself is relatively complex. It involves meetings of the pastors and their dean with Strategic Planning Committee representatives, meetings including the above and parish lay representatives and meetings with parishioners as a whole and the regional bishop. Final plans are forwarded to the Archbishop, who after consultation with his presbyteral council will make a final decision.
“One thing we ask the parishes to do is consider conceptually planning for the future of the Church in their area,” Miller said. “Pastors and parishioners tend to define that as their parish, so they spend a lot of time defending why their parish should stay open and that is certainly a very normal and human response.
“But that’s not what we are encouraging them to do because we are called to build the Church of the future. The parishes of the future will be really there to serve our grandchildren. With the clerical staff available we have to plan what will make sense in 2050.”
Miller put out some statistics, for example as an archdiocesan parish average — although no parish is average in everything — Sunday Mass attendance is 988, average annual baptisms are 49, average annual marriages is 13, average annual funerals are 42, and average number of contributing envelopes are 668.
“If you are doing less than this you know you are doing less than the Archdiocese. And you know even if you don’t have a target on your back it is something to be considered. There may be a reason why you will never be average, and that’s fine but it does pose the question.”
Change in structure should not be the important thing, Miller said.
“The important thing always is the people of God working together to do what God wants us to do. Whether we do it in this building over here or that building over there doesn’t matter a whole lot.”
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My Prayers are for an increase in vocations so this doesn’t have to happen but I witness less and less people attending mass. I physically can’t always be there but I truly miss mass. Daily mass online is beautiful but it is not the same. Being in the house of God has the ability to make me feel good and loved. Since I have been converted back to the church the something I was missing no longer exist.The most important thing is the presence of God in every tabernacle no matter where it is.
We are all bearing the painful effects of priest abuse, poor administration, increased secularization, fewer responses to the call to priesthood and a weak economy. For the Catholic Church of the Philadelphia area to survive, difficult choices must be made. Some of us will have to detach from our beloved church buildings and schools. Others will have to find ways to welcome new grieving members. It’s not easy, but, with Christ, it can be done. I was a member of Sacred Heart Church in Phoenixville which was merged with St. Ann on July 1, 2012. I still cry sometimes, but I also find Jesus on the new altar and in new faces. We are, after all, one Church.
It is discouraging to note the difference in the number of professed Catholics and the numbers we hear that are attending Mass. But I think there’s a positive spin to that. Those who profess to be Catholics yet do not attend regular Mass are still in the game so to speak. What they need is a little aggressive solicitation. This is where the parish priest comes in. It seems too many of them preach and evangelize only from the pulpit. Whatever else Catholicism is it is still a product and a product no matter how good still needs to be sold. Both door to door and through cold calls. In sales we are told that for every 100 cold calls we make we’ll make a sale. Experience has shown that the number of successes is better than that however even one out of 100 is better than nothing. Start knocking on doors and picking up the phone Fathers as there’s souls anxious to hear the Word.
Yes- keeping the whole entity of school and church seems to be a no-brainer. Where do the old parishioners who remain in the neighborhoods who still walk to church go now? A functioning well maintained church with a “saved” school should go hand in hand- in particular, I speak of St. Donato Church- historical- (St. Francis Cabrini herself founded an orphanage and worshipped at this site) and still beloved.
I pray the Holy Spirit enlightens this deciding body and delivers a hefty dose of common sense.
Respectfully-
When you are considering the merging of these parishes can you just make sure you take into consideration of the churches who still have schools attached to the parish. If you merge a parish and close down the church where are our kids going to be able to worship and celebrate Mass. The kids will not be able to travel. One of the reasons our kids are in Catholic school and the parents pay the tuition is so that they will be able to get the full effect of our Catholic education.
Please be mindful of that when you are deciding what parishes survive.
Thank you….
It seems to me that the parish’s data on “registered households” and “registered Catholics” is way out of date. Without the annual visitation it is impossible to keep parish records up to date. When computing Mass attendance percentages, it is clear that the percentage (based on actual numbers of Catholics) is way way too low. Currently, the Archdiocese reports that Mass attendance is 23%; I suspect it is closer to 50% based on accurate up to date data on registered Catholics.
look i understand you look at the reality of numbers and how practical it is for the archdiosese to switch one building for the other. what does it matter to the persons in the parish. why don’t you take a vote before you shut down these buildings and see how the persons of the parish feel about losing their buildings of worship. no we are like stupid drones all those monies collected for their parishes mean nothing. how unethical of our archdiocese to undercut and put into action the dimise of parishes that have been loyal. oh wait a minute as long as noone complains you can do what we want. this is unacceptable behavior and not god’s mission. may i remind you the catholic church is non profit charity. give the parishioners a chance to vote. thank you.