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Parishioners upset about closing of church
Photo
Bishop George V. Murry
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Two Catholic churches in Columbiana County are scheduled to close and merge congregations with a third, a move that has some parishioners upset.
The Rev. Nicholas Shori, director of the Parish Implementation Plan in the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, addressed the closing and merger in Columbiana Deanery.
The churches in question are St. Aloysius in East Liverpool, Immaculate Conception in Wellsville and St. Ann in East Liverpool. In the diocese plan, outlined early in 2010, the churches were slated to merge and have one pastor, one parish and worship sites to be determined.
Father Shori said the transition teams of the three churches voted on the fate of the churches. The transition team voted, with one dissenting vote, to close Immaculate Conception and use St. Aloysius as the worship site.
He explained that the transition team of St. Ann requested the church be “suppressed,” that is, closed completely. “That’s the route they chose to go,” he said. That took St. Ann out of the equation as far as being a worship site. St. Ann will have its last Mass after Christmas of this year then close.
Each church transition team numbers about five members.
Father Shori said Bishop George V. Murry of the diocese planned to meet with the transition teams Tuesday. He will release a statement today.
Father Shori said the transition teams studied the demographics and other factors in the decision. He said Immaculate Conception “was not financially solvent.”
Father Shori said some may argue that Immaculate Conception has other funds on which to draw, but he noted that they are designated for religious education and are restricted legally in how those funds are used.
Throughout the diocese, members of the transition teams were selected by the pastoral councils of churches. These church members hold leadership positions within the churches including the finance boards. “They know the facts of what’s going on,” Father Shori said.
Father Shori said the bishop has answered questions sent to him by parishioners in churches that are closing, merging and in collaborative units. “There are a lot of emotional issues,” he said.
Angela “Dolly” Brophey of Wellsville, who was baptized at Immaculate Conception and is a former church-council member, said about 100 church members attended a gathering Monday at the Sons of Italy. “We want to keep our church open as a worship site,” she said. She said in the diocese plan that option was still open until recently.
Brophey said she believed church members would contribute more if that meant that the church could remain open. “The [financial] needs were met by church members,” she said. She said she believed the church was solvent.
Brophey said she has sent four letters and received responses from the bishop’s office, and Bishop Murry has called her twice. Brophey said she thought the bishop would meet with church members, but the meeting didn’t materialize. “It’s in God’s hands," she said, adding she felt “a piece of her heart was being torn out.”