Parish mergers to take effect July 1

By Peter Finney Jr. 
Clarion Herald

The pastoral planning process that began 20 months ago with the goal of nurturing parish vitality across the Archdiocese of New Orleans will be implemented July 1 with the creation of five new parishes from among 11 existing parishes.

The plan, approved by Archbishop Gregory Aymond, includes decisions on the worship site and new name for each newly created parish, formed from mergers involving two or more parishes:

• The new St. John Paul II Parish has been formed from the merger of Our Lady of the Angels in Waggaman and St. Bonaventure in Avondale, with parishioners worshiping at Our Lady of the Angels Church. Father Vincent Phan will be the pastor.
• The new St. Michael the Archangel Parish has been formed from the merger of St. John the Baptist in Paradis and St. Gertrude the Great in Des Allemands, with parishioners worshiping at St. John the Baptist Church. Father Lance Campo will be the pastor.
• The new Mary, Help of Christians Parish has been formed from the merger of St. John Bosco and St. Rosalie, both located in Harvey. While parishioners have been given permission to worship at both churches through November, the future worship site will be at St. Rosalie Church. Salesian Father Mark Hyde will be the pastor.
• The new St. Martin de Porres Parish has been formed from the merger of Transfiguration of the Lord, St. Gabriel the Archangel and St. James Major, all in New Orleans, with parishioners worshiping at Transfiguration of the Lord Church. Father Francis Offia will be the pastor.
• The new St. Josephine Bakhita Parish has been formed from the merger of St. Mary of the Angels and Our Lady Star of the Sea, both in New Orleans, with parishioners worshiping at St. Mary of the Angels Church. Franciscan Father Francis Kamau will be the pastor.

St. Theresa of Avila to close

Archbishop Aymond announced last November that St. Theresa of Avila Parish in New Orleans would close on July 1. The territory of St. Theresa of Avila Parish north of the Pontchartrain Expressway will be assumed by St. Patrick Parish on Camp Street, and its territory south of the Pontchartrain Expressway will be assumed by St. Alphonsus Parish on Constance Street.

St. Hubert: One Mass

St. Hubert Church in Garyville will continue to celebrate one Sunday Mass, but the parish of St. Hubert will be merged into St. Peter Parish in Reserve.

Planning for vitality 

“This kind of restructuring makes us a stronger, local church,” said Father Patrick Williams, vicar general of the archdiocese. “That has always been our goal – how do we become a stronger church?”

Five categories analyzed

The pastoral planning process began in October 2022 when Archbishop Aymond asked Benedictine Father Charles Benoit, the pastor of St. Benedict Parish in Covington, to head a Parish Sustainability Committee of priests and laity tasked with identifying the vitality of parishes in five distinct categories. Representatives of the Pennsylvania-based Catholic Leadership Institute, who helped oversee the planning process, asked parishes to offer data in those five categories.

Pastoral:

• The level of engagement in ministries, including youth ministry and social outreach ministry; the vitality of faith formation and the parish school of religion; the existence of a pastoral council.

“Coming out of the archdiocesan synod (in 2016), those things were considered non-negotiable, that every parish was to have,” Father Charles said.

Physical plant: 

• Taking into account damage from Hurricane Ida in 2021 and the level of deferred maintenance. This also includes the overall size of the physical plant and the parish’s ability to maintain it now and in the future.

“We were looking at long-term physical sustainability,” Father Williams said.

Spiritual:

• Mass attendance, number of baptisms, first Communions and confirmations, which include youth and those enrolled in RCIA.

“Unlike some other dioceses, we did not look at weddings because in New Orleans, more so than in many other dioceses, people choose a historic church rather than their church parish, and a wedding is recorded where the sacrament occurs, not necessarily where the people are living,” Father Charles said. “We looked at general numbers and ebbs and flows. We looked at the average number of decreases in the sacraments each year, nationwide, as well as Mass attendance. We looked at the average increase in the RCIA in the archdiocese. Then we tracked the sacramental statistics of those parishes to the national averages.

“We looked at if a parish was decreasing at a greater level than the nationwide figures. We were mindful that Ida and COVID occurred, and we looked for noticeable upticks. In some cases, there was a parish that in a five-year period had six baptisms total. So, it wasn’t just looking at how the numbers were changing – it was also looking at the total numbers.”

“We looked even before the pandemic to see if there was any trending (decrease), realizing that there would have been a decline in 2021,” Father Williams added.

Financial:

• Determining whether or not a parish has the finances to maintain its physical plant, which may have been badly affected by Ida, and whether or not a parish has the ability to pay its normal bills such as insurance, utilities and repairs.

“We were looking at day-to-day operations and also at the long term,” Father Charles said. “Some parishes had past-due (bills) to the archdiocese. We looked at their savings. We looked at the ability of the parish to sustain itself financially without the support of the diocese or outside funding. Or, maybe it was declining operations, and parishes were using up all their savings. Most parishes had a quick recovery financially from COVID.”  

Demographics:

• In addition to the parish census data collected by each parish, the committee commissioned a micro-level analysis of 2020 U.S. Census figures that identified the number of people residing in each church parish.

“We got a report for each parish that showed what had happened from the previous census and what was projected for the next five years and into the next census,” Father Charles said.

“If a parish would say, ‘Well, OK, we will increase our congregation by 10%, but the demographics showed that in that area that the population was decreasing, it just wasn’t realistic,” Father Williams added. “Even if you reached into the non-Catholics, it was just not a realistic goal. In many of the areas, the demographics have changed significantly.”

Father Williams said one of the limitations of the census figures is that they do not indicate exactly how many Catholics live in the eight civil parishes of the archdiocese. The census does not ask people to identify their religious affiliation.

“That’s always a hard number,” Father Williams said. “We get asked that question for a Vatican report – how many Catholics are in a parish? We know how many registered Catholics there are, but it’s really hard to know. We’ve been using the figure of about 40% of the metropolitan area. But religious identification is so fluid.”

In some cases, data from a software program called ParishSOFT helped committee members figure out where parishioners live, which was especially helpful if a parish was drawing Massgoers from outside its official territorial boundaries.

Criteria for decisions

The parishes involved in the merger process were struggling in four or five of the study categories, Father Charles said.

“Now, there may have been other parishes that had negative markers, but because of their location, they were deemed pastorally necessary,” Father Charles said.

Lead through the pain

In selecting the pastors for each of the newly merged parishes, Father Williams said Archbishop Aymond selected priests “who clearly understood that one of their pastoral responsibilities would be bringing communities together.”

Except for Father Kamau, who had been pastor of St. Mary of the Angels for only six months, and for Father Hyde, who had been pastoring both St. John Bosco and St. Rosalie, the archbishop decided to appoint a new pastor with no ties to the merging parishes.

“That was a guiding principle – that it was important to have someone new come in so that it’s not a situation of, ‘Well, that’s your pastor,’” Father Williams said.

The Catholic Leadership Institute worked with every parish community to facilitate meetings, Father Charles said.

“There were open meetings in each parish where people could voice their concerns,” Father Charles said. “We listened and we took into account the concerns and the desires of the people and saw what best fit the parish. That’s why there was no cookie-cutter approach to any of these decisions. Each decision was unique to the parish situation.

“When you look at St. John Bosco and St. Rosalie, there was no new pastor named because they were already sharing a pastor. With St. Hubert’s being at the very end of the diocese, people said there was a need there to have a real Catholic presence, but the problem was the sustainability of the parish. That’s why a unique decision was made there to keep their church open and have one Sunday Mass.

“The people had a chance to voice their concerns. There was healing for some. We’re dealing with emotions. We’re dealing with people who love their parish. We do have parishioners who are grieving, where intellectually they may say this is the right decision, but spiritually and emotionally, it may be difficult.”

Recommendations made

Father Williams said parishes were asked to make recommendations about the future of their parishes, but the archbishop’s role was to make the final decision.

“The decision has to be made on which physical plant will best serve the needs of the merged parish,” Father Charles said. 

What about the assets?

Under canon law, all of the assets and liabilities of the closing parishes “follow the people” to the newly merged parish, Father Williams said.

“So, all of the assets of St. Gabriel and St. James Major will go into the new community (of St. Martin de Porres),” Father Williams said. “We realize that just because we’re consolidating, those properties are still going to exist. They’re going to have to have insurance and have to be maintained. We’re realizing these communities are going to need some help. The goal is to sell them. The only money that will go to the diocese is if those communities had a debt. In some instances, it’s a significant debt, and whatever the sale is, they may not make a profit. I think most will, but it’s going to be a challenge to sell.”

Staffing, ministry issues

The newly merged parishes will have to decide matters such as overlaps in staffing or ministries, Father Williams said.

“Many of these parishes had minimal staff,” Father Williams said. “Some of the new pastors have had to have some involvement in that. It’s a process.”

The archdiocese experienced an overall 5% increase in Mass attendance, indicating a slight rebound since the limitations brought on by the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021.

“It’s a hopeful sign,” Father Williams said. “I think it indicates the capacity for growth is there, but it’s not going to happen in every single corner if we don’t look strategically at how we bring this together.”

Vitality is the goal

For Father Charles, the process goes back to the priorities identified by the 2016 archdiocesan synod.

“We’ve used the terms ‘vibrancy’ or ‘vitality’  in each parish,” he said. “When you look at the vision of the synod and how the synod envisioned the parish, the idea was how to allow our parishes to have that level of vitality. It’s not just survivability.”

More study ahead

The Parish Sustainability Committee met recently and is preparing to look at several other parishes that are having sustainability issues.

“It’s an ongoing conversation because nothing is static,” Father Williams said. “I think we’re going to build a culture of reflection on sustainability.”

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