Parishes in the Youngstown Diocese, including Stark and Portage counties, will be downsized like those in Cleveland Diocese. Six priests would be lost in Stark and Portage under a proposed reconfiguration.
News of the reconfiguration was reported today by Beacon Journal religion writer Collette Jenkins in a story in today’s newspaper.
Stark County would lose four priests (23 instead of 27) and 15 of the 27 parishes would consolidate for form seven. That would leave the county with 19 parishes — two of them would have two worship sites.
Portage County would see no reduction in its 10 parishes, but would lose two priests--. leaving the county with eight priests. St. Joseph in Randolph Township and St. Peter of the Fields in Rootstown Township would share a priest. Also sharing a priest would be St. Ambrose in Garrettsville and St. Michael in Windham
Churches in Stark County that would merge to form a new parish are
St. Joseph and Regina Coeli, both of Alliance, and St. Ann in Sebring would combine with two worship sites.
St. Theresa in Brewster and St. Clement in Navarre with two worship sites.
Our Lady of Peace and St. Paul in Canton.
St. Peter and St. Benedict in Canton.
All Saints and St. Anthony in Canton (will serve Latino community.)
St. Mary and St. John of Canton.
Sacred Heart of Mary in Harrisburg and St. Joseph of Maximo
In addition to Portage and Stark, the six-county diocese includes Columbiana, Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties. The diocese is made up of 112 parishes and two missions, and serves nearly 202,000 registered Catholics.
There are 97 active priests in the Youngstown diocese. Thirty-six of those priests are eligible to retire in the next five years and only 14 seminarians are studying for the priesthood in the diocese.
The Catholic population, as in other parts of the country, has shifted from the cities to the suburbs. And the number of registered Catholics in the diocese has dropped from 256,071 in 2000 to 201,857 in 2009.
The proposed plan does not include any parish closings. but some buildings will be closed with he mergers.
'Once reconfiguration is implemented, officials expect registered Catholics to be able to find a parish within 15 miles or 25 minutes of their home.
The proposed plan for the reconfiguration of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown is on the table, and parishes have until March 15 to voice any objections.
Click on the headline to see the Beacon Journal story.
Friday, February 26, 2010
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