On Feb. 2, the Archdiocese of Boston announced plans for a
reorganization that could change how many parishes operate.
The changes
are aimed at allowing the Church to cope with declining Mass attendance
and a shortage of priests, without forcing parishes to close.
“The
Archdiocese has been operating under a model decades old that was built
for a time when 70% of Catholics attended Mass regularly,” archdiocesan
spokesman Terry Donilon told CNA. “Today less than 20% attend weekly
Mass in the Archdiocese.”
These numbers call for what Donilon
described as a “total rebuild of the archdiocese,” likely to include
mergers between several parish communities.
The newly-formed
Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission hopes it can avoid some of the
more drastic measures it has resorted to in the past.
Vicar General Fr.
Richard M. Erikson told the Boston Globe that the archdiocese did not
plan to initiate another round of church closings, as it did in the wake
of the 2002 sex-abuse scandals and resulting lawsuits.
Instead,
the planning commission will consider how to combine a number of church
communities – which currently function as independent parishes – into
single parishes that would continue to worship in separate spaces.
The
combined communities would keep their buildings, while merging into one
single parish for administrative, financial, and pastoral purposes.
This plan could eliminate inefficient aspects of the current system, in
which one priest often already serves as the pastor of multiple parishes
simultaneously, due to the priest shortage.
Although the archdiocese is already taking steps to recruit more priests and boost Mass attendance, these longer-term strategies cannot address some of the immediate challenges posed by stark demographic realities.
Statistics
from the archdiocese indicate that 40 percent of its parishes are
barely meeting their financial needs or operating at a loss, while the
number of active diocesan priests is expected to diminish by nearly half
– from around 400, to only 180 – by 2021.
Mass attendance in Boston
dropped by 23 percent between 2000 and 2009.
“We approach our work
cognizant of the challenges and opportunities facing the Archdiocese of
Boston and inspired by the grace of God’s presence throughout,” said
Msgr. William Fay, a Brighton-based pastor who will co-chair the
Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission.
The commission has
begun discussing a draft plan for reorganization, although it has not
yet set a timetable for making its recommendations to Boston's Cardinal
Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley.
“The Cardinal has authorized us to
shape a plan that will provide the local Church with a roadmap for the
future,” Msgr. Fay said.
He anticipated the development and
implementation of “a plan that supports the good work of our priests and
which invigorates parish life.”