Many of the Catholic churches in Dearborn County, Ind. have been there so long, the people who attend them don’t measure the time they’ve been there in years, but in generations.
Church member Vera Ahaus sits on her porch three doors down from one church that is set to close, St. Paul in New Alsace. She says she’s wondering what will happen to the churches that have played such an important role in her life.
“My mother was raised in this parish, my father in Yorkville parish. It’s just been our family,” Ahaus said.
St. Martin in Yorkville, St. John the Baptist in Dover, St. Joseph in St. Leon and St. Paul will gradually become one church by the end of 2015.
“I’d like to hear more details and how they’re doing with the land and the buildings and the cemetery,” says Paul Alig. Alig volunteers to mow the St. Joseph cemetery where many of his family members are buried. “I still have a lot of questions.”
So far, there are few details about how it all happens or what becomes of the church property after those four churches become one.
Each parish has a church and a few other buildings for schools, community meetings or offices. There are a number of cemeteries also cared for by the churches.
Most of the other churches affected will be merged from two churches into one.