DECLINING NUMBERS FORCE CLOSING AND MERGERS, BUT CATHOLIC COULD BUILD ANEW
Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY) - April 29, 2007
Author: Renee K. Gadoua Staff writer

Amid news that the Syracuse Diocese will close at least 25 parishes and missions, officials announced they are considering building two new churches.

Churches could be built north of Oneida Lake and in southern Onondaga County.

"We have to build where the churches need to be," Syracuse Bishop James Moynihan said Saturday after making public the second round of changes in the reconfiguration plan for the seven-county Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.

Closing Aug. 16 are St. Stephen Church, Syracuse; St. Peter Mission, Split Rock; and St. Mary Mission, Jamesville. At least 12 more churches in Onondaga and Oswego counties will close within 18 months as a result of seven mergers of two or more parishes.

Last week, the bishop announced one Utica church and three missions in the Eastern Region will close Aug. 16. Four more churches in that area could close within 18 months.

Four more announcements will address changes effective beginning in August 2008.

The reorganization comes in response to a 25-year trend of declining numbers of clergy and parishioners. By 2010, diocesan officials estimate fewer than 100 priests will be available to minister full time to about 284,000 Catholics in a 5,000-square-mile area.

Four congregations - churches in Brewerton, Central Square and Cleveland and a mission in Constantia - will merge. Also merging are parishes in Tully, LaFayette and Pompey.

It's possible all those buildings will close in favor of building two churches in the two communities, Moynihan said.

"We have a lot of small places," he said. "In the days of yore, when we had more priests to fill those small places, that was fine. It's not the days of yore."

Parishioners will have a year to propose a site. After the bishop's approval, building could begin within six months. The new churches will seat about 1,000 people each, Moynihan said.

Four sets of parishes in Syracuse and one set in Fulton will merge. Parishioners there will propose which buildings will remain open.

"The process involves people," said the Rev. Gregory C. LeStrange, pastor of St. Joseph Church, in Camillus, and a member of the clergy committee that worked on the reconfiguration plan.

Most of the sets of parishes that will merge had been operating with a single pastor for at least two years. So far, no churches in Liverpool, Baldwinsville, Fayetteville or Manlius have been affected.

Moynihan said he's heard few complaints from priests or lay people about the decisions.

"People are very attached to their houses of worship," he said. "But they're very realistic. They have loads of faith."

There were tears and shocked faces among about 50 people attending a 7 p.m. vigil Mass at St. Stephen, which will close.

"It's a shame," said Dolores Dziados, 74.

She was baptized at St. Stephen. She was married there in 1951. Her husband's funeral was there in 2000.

"Everything happened here," she said. "I never wanted to go anywhere else."

Dziados has traveled from Liverpool for services since the 1950s. She's not sure which church she'll attend when St. Stephen closes.

"It's too bad," she said. "I guess I have a few months to decide."

Monsignor Peter Gleba, pastor of St. Stephen Church and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, told worshippers at the beginning of Mass he was shocked and disappointed to learn St. Stephen will close.

"I'm just as surprised as you are. I was hoping this would be a mission of Sacred Heart," he said.

"I know people are disturbed and upset, but we have to listen to our bishop," Gleba said.

St. Stephen opened in 1915 to serve Czechoslovakian Catholics. Last year, the church recorded two baptisms, no confirmations or weddings, and eight funerals. Gleba said there has not been a wedding there in 10 years.

St. Stephen is about a half-mile from Sacred Heart.

Sister Patricia Bergan, parish associate at St. Andrew the Apostle, was disappointed to learn that either St. Andrew, near Syracuse University, or St. Lucy, on Syracuse's West Side, will close.

"St. Andrew is a very vibrant, lay-involved parish," she said. "We'll continue working for the best of the two parishes."

The Rev. Stephen Wirkes, pastor of Immaculate Conception and Holy Family/St. Michael churches in Fulton, said his parishioners have known since at least Thanksgiving only one parish will remain in Fulton.

"The only decision left is which building," he said. "We looked at the money and the reality. We want to spend money on ministry and not on heating bills."

He expects lively and emotional discussions about selecting the building. He also looks forward to a stronger, larger and more connected worshipping community.

"We're moving on," Wirkes said. "We are Catholics. We are one family."

Renee K. Gadoua can be reached at rgadoua@syracuse.com or 470-2203.