US: Dramatic cutback on the number of parishes in NYC
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, announced on November 2, 2014, a plan to merge over a third of the parishes of the archdiocese of New York. It will be a restructuring on a hitherto unprecedented scale both in the archdiocese and in the history of the Catholic Church in America. 112 out of 368 parishes are concerned by the merge, which will come into effect on August 1st 2015, reported American news agency Associated Press.
“This period of transition in the history of the archdiocese will undoubtedly be difficult for the faithful belonging to the parishes that are merging,” the archbishop stated in his press release. “Many people will be hurt by this situation and upset in their spiritual life, and I will be one of them.”
A significant drop in attendance of church ceremonies and a marked decline in the number of priests are at the root of this decision, explained The New York Times. Too few of the 2.8 million Catholics in the diocese attend Mass or Catholic schools (12%), while operating costs are increasing; the archdiocese cannot cover the costs any longer.
The drop in numbers in New York is not a unique phenomenon, according to the archdiocese’s website, Catholic New York: the dioceses of the northeast and the Midwest, in former times the cradle of Catholicism in the US, are facing a similar lack of donations and participation in the life of the Church. Merges and closures of parishes and schools have happened in Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, Buffalo and Springfield in Massachusetts. The official Catholic report for 2014 lists 17,900 Catholic parishes in America, versus 18,674 in 2009.
(Sources: kipa-apic.ch – AP – ArchNY – DICI no. 305, 21/11/14
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