Declines in participation and priests bring changes

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

With a “significant decline in Catholic affiliation and participation” as well as fewer priests, the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown will undergo some major changes, according to Bishop George V. Murry.

In a Monday letter on “pastoral planning,” Bishop Murry wrote that “priests should celebrate no more than three regularly scheduled weekend Masses.”

Pete Schafer, director of the diocese’s office of evangelization and pastoral planning, said some churches currently have as many as five weekend Masses, and that will be reduced to no more than three sometime this year or in 2020.

When asked if these changes would result in the closing of churches, Schafer said, “That is a possibility. It’s one of the options.”

A decision on closing parishes would likely be made over the next year, he said.

Pastors and parishioners will meet on a regional level to make recommendations to Bishop Murry, who will make the final decision, as to the closing of any churches, Schafer said.

There are 87 parishes in the six-county diocese that includes Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Portage and Stark counties, Schafer said.

“Fewer people are coming to Masses,” he said. “It’s less than half full.”

Pastoral planning at the diocese has been ongoing since 2009.

In Bishop Murry’s letter, he wrote the number of people registered at the diocese’s parishes has declined 36 percent since 2000, and regular weekend Mass attendance has dropped by 60 percent since then. Overall population in the diocese area has decreased since 2000 and is projected to decline over the next 10 years.

Also, he wrote, “the reality of fewer priests presents a serious challenge. The number of priests in active ministry has decreased by 43 percent since 2000.”

There are currently more than 70 priests in active ministry in the diocese, Bishop Murry wrote, but more than half of them are at least 61 years old. In six years, he wrote, there will be 55 active priests in the diocese.

“Our priests have been stretched beyond what is healthy trying to maintain current parishes and Mass schedules,” he wrote. “Given the fewer number of priests and fewer number of active Catholics, we can no longer continue the status quo.”

Bishop Murry also wrote that while “consultation among the clergy and the laity as well as the formulation of specific recommendations will take time,” there is “a sense of urgency” to make recommendations because six priests are retiring this summer and at least 10 others are “in active ministry beyond the retirement age of 70.”