Summit South Cluster is Page A1 news

Church cluster initiative coming together

That’s the headline on a page A1 story in today’s Beacon Journal on the work of the Suumit South 6 Virbrant Parish Life cluster.

A photo by Ken Love of a penance service December 19 at St. Francis deSales and another photo inside accompany the article by religion reporter Collette Jenkins

Jenkins devotes 59 paragraphs and 1953 words to describe how “Four churches in Akron, Green, and Coventry and Springfield townships are building a relationship by tearing down their parochial walls.”

Here are quotes from story.

Cluster chairman Bill Bertsch:

''Every decision made is probably not going to please everyone,'' acknowledged Bill Bertsch, who chairs the 20-member team planning for the future of St. Paul, Queen of Heaven, St. Francis de Sales and Nativity of the Lord Jesus.

''But I'm very optimistic about how this is going to play out, because we're talking about taking advantage of the talents and skills we have in four churches and utilizing them for the entire cluster of churches.''

Fr. Ralph Thomas of St. Paul:

''Historically, parishes tended to be closed in and among themselves. Now, we're encouraged to open up and see the broader view of our faith. It's a very healthy thing,'' said the Rev. Ralph Thomas, pastor at St. Paul's in Akron. ''Our church is in a stage of renewal, and we're inviting everyone to take an active part.''

Fr. David Halaiko of Nativity:
''This process is allowing us to empower our people to be what they should be,'' said the Rev. David Halaiko, pastor at Nativity. ''In light of the shortage of priests, it makes sense to explore options that will allow our laity to share in meeting the needs of our parishioners and the community.''

Fr. David Durkee of Queen of Heaven:
'We can always improve in trying to do our best for the Lord and this process is giving us an opportunity to do just that,'' said the Rev. David Durkee, pastor of Queen of Heaven. ''By sharing the workload, we can be not only more efficient but more effective. We're doing some trailblazing, and we are optimistic about the outcome.''

The article notes that while a third of the 69 clusters in the diocese were directed to downsize by closing schools or parishes that is not the case for these four parishes, known as Summit South No. 6 Cluster which includes St. Paul, Queen of Heaven, St. Francis de Sales and Nativity of the Lord Jesus. .

Its mandate from the bishop is to:

• Continue to explore collaborative possibilities to strengthen pastoral care in an equitable manner.

• Strengthen evangelization and the social and community services that serve the poor and the surrounding neighborhoods.

• Engage all of our faithful in regularly attending and participating in the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy.

The team for the Summit South No. 6 Cluster began meeting in July and selected Bertsch, a parishioner at St. Francis in Coventry Township, as its chairman. Deacon Dennis Smith from Nativity in Springfield Township was named vice chairman, the secretary is Terry Nesline from St. Paul in Akron, and the team's communications liaison is Kay Metzler from Queen of Heaven in Green.

Click on the headline to read Jenkins story.