Faced with rising costs and shifting populations, several dioceses in the Northeast United States announced reorganization plans in mid-January that involve closing or merging many of their parishes and schools.
"For the past three years, the Department of Catholic Education has been engaged in an effort to right-size our Catholic elementary school system," said Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of Buffalo, N.Y., as he announced Jan. 20 that 14 Catholic schools in the diocese would close at the end of the school year.
In the nearby Diocese of Scranton, Pa., Jan. 17, Bishop Joseph F. Martino announced a final reorganization plan for Catholic high schools and elementary schools in Lackawanna, Wayne and Luzerne counties. The next day, he received preliminary recommendations for reorganizing schools in Lycoming, Bradford, Monroe and Pike counties and asked for feedback on the plan by Feb. 8.
Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York outlined his parish realignment decisions Jan. 19, saying that 10 parishes will close and 11 will merge with other parishes. Five new parishes will be established and new churches are planned for nine existing parishes.
Decisions to close nine Catholic schools in the archdiocese were made earlier to coincide with the end of the 2005-06 school year, said archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling.
In Camden, N.J., Bishop Joseph A. Galante said Jan. 18 that his diocese would begin a comprehensive planning initiative on two tracks --- one for parishes and the other for Catholic elementary schools.
"While I do not know the outcome of the planning processes, because these have just gotten under way, I do know that, given these challenges facing the church, the status quo will not be an option if we are to serve the needs of the Catholic people now and into the future," he said.
In Buffalo, diocesan officials said the schools to be closed suffered one or more of the following factors: declining enrollment, fewer school-age children in the community, significant parish or school debt and a large portion of the weekly parish offerings being used to keep the school open.
The average per-pupil cost at the 14 schools is $4,738, while the average tuition is only $1,525. The average debt of the parishes associated with those schools was $224,160.
Since 1960, the number of students enrolled in Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Buffalo declined from 79,767 to 15,612 today, the diocese said.
"Certainly, this decision leaves area Catholics with mixed emotions, but I want to stress that these decisions were made to strengthen and support the remaining Catholic schools here in western New York," Bishop Kmiec said.
Denise McKenzie, secretary of Catholic education in the Buffalo Diocese, said the restructuring might allow some parishes "to provide additional resources for their religious education programs, assisting a large number of elementary-age parishioners who attend public schools."
In Scranton the schools' restructuring was linked to an announcement earlier in January that the diocese had a more than $1.3 million budget deficit in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006.
"While our Catholic schools are certainly important to the evangelizing mission of the church, there are other parish ministries that are just as important," said Msgr. Joseph C. Bambera, an episcopal vicar and canon lawyer in the Scranton Diocese, in a statement. "And you have to consider that only about 25 percent of our Catholic children are enrolled in a Catholic school, so the great majority must be accommodated in parish-based religious education programs."
The Scranton reorganization announcement involves the closing or merger of six Catholic high schools and nine elementary schools, as well as other mergers and transfers of programs between schools. Bishop Martino said he expected to announce the second phase of the reorganization in March.
"The future for Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton begins today," the bishop said Jan. 17. "We will chart a path that takes our schools through the 21st century --- a path that will provide all of our students with a quality Catholic education that is accessible and affordable for families and parishes."
Cardinal Egan said the three-year process that led to the New York parish realignment decisions involved a lot of listening and learning.
"The good news is that the process works," he said. "Every decision was the result of an in-depth study of the needs of the faithful here in the Archdiocese of New York."
Under the plan, nine parishes and six missions originally targeted to close or merge with other parishes will retain their current status. Another three that had been recommended for closure will instead merge with other parishes.
Of the five new parishes expected to be established, one is on Staten Island, three are in Orange County and one is in Dutchess County.
Bishop Galante said the planning initiatives in Camden would involve each of the 124 parishes and 52 elementary schools in the six-county diocese. He acknowledged that the process would result in fewer parishes and fewer schools.
"It will mean the consolidation and merging of parishes and schools," he said. "It will mean the pooling and sharing of the financial, material and human resources. It will mean a changed church of South Jersey, but a stronger one, a revitalized one and a more dynamic community of faith."
Seventeen Catholic schools in four clusters are on an accelerated schedule for planning because each cluster has schools that are experiencing grave financial difficulties and particularly low enrollment. Final recommendations on those schools were expected to be forwarded to Bishop Galante and his advisers by the end of January, with decisions to be implemented before the start of the 2007-08 school year. ---CNS |