19 Catholic parishes may shut, Columbus diocese says
Bishop’s final decision is expected this summer
On Columbus Catholic Bishop Earl K. Fernandes’ desk are recommendations to close 19 diocese churches, including
nine in Columbus.
They await the bishop’s final decision, expected this summer.
The recommendations are part of Real Presence, Real Future, a campaign started by the diocese in spring 2021 under then-bishop Robert Brennan, who has since been reassigned to the Diocese of Brooklyn. The two-year campaign is intended to plan for the future of the diocese, one with fewer
Catholics and a shortage of priests that is expected to worsen.
The initiative includes a proposal to close 19 parishes in the 23-county diocese, whose members will be merged with other parishes that are staying open. Three others are suggested to become oratories, or places of prayer that are not parishes.
Before Fernandes makes his final decision, he will continue to familiarize himself with the diocese and pray, Jason Mays, diocesan spokesman, said in an email. (The diocese declined to make an official available to speak about the final draft recommendations and the initiative.)
The campaign is based on a projection that 80 priests will be active in 2030 in the diocese, compared to the 97 active priests it has now in 105 parishes, according to its website.
The process it is following is similar to ones that have been or are taking place in other dioceses around the country, which have resulted in the closure of parishes and Catholic schools as part of consolidation plans. So far, the diocese has hosted around 200 meetings at parishes to gather feedback from worshipers, and it also sent a survey to parishioners.
Those surveys were used by staff to come up with suggestions of mergers, changes in use of resources and the first models of how church life might change within the diocese, Mays said. Those models were submitted to lay people for feedback and then revised. Then, that process was done an additional time before the final recommendations were given to the bishop in August.
A commission of 34 parishioners, deacons and diocese officials identified as key parish leaders and chosen by Brennan served as a sounding board and reviewed clergy and parishioner feedback, according to the final draft recommendation report.
Michael Haller, a commission member who attends St. Mary Catholic Church in Chillicothe, said he believes now is a good time for church leaders to consider how the diocese operates and is structured and perhaps begin to rely more on parishioners for leadership, not just priests.
“Priests can’t do everything,” Haller said. “There’s just not enough priests.”
Haller said he is saddened by the reality of the church, but the commission made every effort to maintain operations in the diocese as closely as possible to how they are now.
The commission met virtually each quarter and communicated continuously, he said, and members were constantly looking at feedback from the community and priests and reworking their recommendations.
“Every comment that came in was reviewed,” he said.
The 118-page draft recommendations outline four possible models for churches going forward, with some churches merging – or staying open and sharing a pastor and staff – with other nearby parishes.
Some parishioners don’t think closing churches is the answer.
Ryan Barnabi, a 25-year-old resident of New Philadelphia, a city about 120 miles northeast of Columbus, said he thinks the plan is short-sighted. If approved, it would shutter Immaculate Conception in Dennison, Ohio, the church he’s attended his whole life.
“I get what they’re trying to do – there is a shortage of priests, and it is a real problem. But I hope there are other alternative, better solutions,” Barnabi said. “They’re more than buildings. They’re more than places of worship. There’s so much outreach that is done. … To just look at it like, ‘We have to shrink our physical footprint,’ I don’t see what that’s going to accomplish.”
Barnabi said he is angry his Tuscarawas County parish is on the list and said it doesn’t make sense as he estimates the church’s Sunday Mass welcomes around 150-200 people, with standing
room only.
“It just kind of came out of left field,” Barnabi said. “A lot of people in the parish were very upset about it, how it was presented. There were two slides, one page in the final presentation. They’re going to recommend to close an entire church and all you get is two Powerpoint slides.”
He also feels as if the diocese was not very involved in getting the word out to people about Real Presence, Real Future or how the process works.
“It was just a very murky process,”
Barnabi said. “There wasn’t much open communication or ease of the process.”
He knows the recommendations aren’t final and said he hopes no parishes close.
“At the same time, I don’t want to be naive,” Barnabi said. “I understand some parishes have very little Mass attendance and very little offertory collections coming in. … I don’t see closing parishes as a long-term solution to any problem in the church.” dking@dispatch.com @Danaeking