but several other parishes were not so lucky:
He said the four new parishes will be as follows:
• St. Bernard’s Parish worshipping at St. Camillus de Lellis Church and serving the northern part of the city.
• St. Anthony Parish at St. Anthony Church serving the downtown area.
• St. Joseph Parish at St. Joseph Church serving West Fitchburg, including the Cleghorn neighborhood.
• St. Francis Parish at St. Francis Church serving the south and east neighborhoods of the city.“The patrimony, including assets and liabilities of St. Camillus de Lellis Parish and St. Bernard Parish, which includes St. Bernard Elementary School and St. Bernard Cemetery, will all be part of the new St. Bernard Parish at St. Camillus Church. The patrimony and traditions of Immaculate Conception, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Madonna of the Holy Rosary, as well as their assets and liabilities, will be assumed by the other three newly established parishes,” the bishop wrote.
I was a little surprised at St. Joseph considering many activities had been combined with St. Anthony’s lately however it is a bigger church than Holy Rosary so that might have been an important factor in the decision.
I would be a liar if I didn’t say I was relieved but I feel sorry for the others.
Update: I guess Robert Stacy McCain’s picked the right parish to visit didn’t he?
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Well, congrats on St. Anthony’s DTG.
But, does this mean St. Bernard’s will be closing? That was my/our church (we’re Mc’s): catechism, 1st communion, boy scouts, confirmation, & buried my mother from there.
Will the four remaining parishes be adding an extra mass or two to their schedules since they are picking up extra parishioners or has regular attendance been down so the same time slotted masses be performed with the intention of simply having more people in attendance?
My understanding is that St. Camillus is going to become the “The Parish of St. Bernard’s at St. Camillus” and it will take over the School and such under the name of St. Bernards parish. The church building itself will likely close although if you read the article it is possible one of the parishes that close might become a “utility” location. Sort of a central spot for CCD etc, city wide Catholic services.
It’s going to be really hard on a lot of people. I understand my relief means that someone else is being crushed, sort of like being a survivor of a disaster.
I presume so, particularly if the priests will be distributed among the parishes remaining.
I’m glad for you to hear that your church will be spared. Best wishes as you all work to assimilate new parishioners.
My town of about 25,000 people has two Catholic churches, so Fitchburg is still doing very well by comparison.
Then again, my grandfather’s church in Florida (http://www.saintanneruskin.org/) has expanded a lot in the past few years. Attendance at the Saturday Mass is way up over the past few years.
Do these consolidations stem from:
loss of general population;
loss of Catholic population, i.e. moving away;
lack of children making the transition to adult faith;
loss of Catholics to other Christian denominations;
general decrease in Christianity;
increase in nominal Catholicism where people are culturally Catholic, but don’t participate in parish life?
I live in South Carolina, where Catholicism is growing…. I don’t have any experience of this.
We were once a manufacturing hub and immigrants came from all over to be here, particularly Canada, Italy and Finland. (We still have a Finnish Consulate in Fitchburg). When the factories closed the children of the working class moved on to other locations. It’s the advice I’d give my kids since Fitchburg has really gone down hill.
It really depends on the parish. St. Anthony’s is very strong and rather faithful, we have very few people in the cafeteria. I think that is why we have thrived and have survived.