Courtney McGrailThe Archbishop of New York has announced plans to merge 112 of its 368 parishes into 55, effectively shuttering at least 31 churches by next summer. Twenty-four of the merged parishes will continue to celebrate scheduled Masses and sacraments at two sites. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the reorganisation is a necessary adjustment to historic parish infrastructure that will strengthen the Catholic Church in the archdiocese.
“The parish is the people and the people have to be cared for. What’s most important is the faith continues, the Eucharist continues and the sacraments continue,” he said.
Dr Dolan insisted the decisions are not about dying, but rising. “It’s about what Pope Benedict said, ‘The vine has to be pruned once in a while if it’s going to grow,’” the cardinal said, “and it’s about what Pope St John Paul II said, ‘We’re into mission and not maintenance’ and it’s about what Pope Francis said, ‘The Church is not about building structures. It’s about welcome, love, mercy, service, embracing and inviting. It’s about going ahead and not getting bogged down in the past.”
The cardinal said the math shows a lopsided distribution of parishes inconsistent with Catholic population, especially in Manhattan. He said 25% of the archdiocese’s parishes are in that borough, yet only 12% of the Catholic population is there. In Manhattan, 28 parishes will merge to form 13 and nine sites will no longer hold weekly Mass, although they may be used on special occasions.