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	Reconsider Closing of 4 Town Churches The Republican & Herald February 22, 2008 http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19321251&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=530483&rfi=6 To the Editor: This is an open letter to the Catholics attending Mass in Saint Clair: Since September 2007, and particular Survey Sunday, the most talked about topic among Catholics in the Diocese of Allentown is the restructuring of parishes. The Diocesan Pastoral Council of the recently held synod of the Allentown Diocese set up guidelines or criteria for parish restructuring. This included the closing, merging or consolidating of churches and reducing the number of priests by assigning one priest to one parish and administrating to 2,400 souls. Also taken into consideration would be financial status, location, condition of the buildings, size, accessibility for the disabled, parking, etc. Looking at the number of parishes in Schuylkill and Carbon counties, it appears these counties will feel the brunt of restructuring. However, if one looks at the criteria set forth by the DPC of the synod and applies it to the Borough of Saint Clair, there are questionable areas: 1— At present, there are five churches shepherded by two priests. The diocese wants one church lead by one priest. One priest for approximately 2,000 souls is a big chore. We understand there is a shortage of priests. We read and hear of suggestions of seeking priests from foreign countries, which has worked in the U.S. and even in our own diocese. But what about the priests who are working outside the diocese and those assigned to nonparish work? Couldn't deacons or lay people assist in these assignments and request those outside the diocese to return home? 2— As stated, there are five churches in Saint Clair and two priests. At present, it appears that Ss. Peter & Paul, St. Casimir and St. Boniface will close due to low parishioners and size. The two remaining churches, St. Mary's and Immaculate Conception, are the two large churches remaining. Both have pluses and negatives, according to the criteria set by the DPC. Both churches have approximately the same capacity, but one cannot accommodate 2,000 people from the five parishes, especially on special feast days, e.g. Christmas, Easter, holy days, etc. 3— Parking. St. Mary's has on-street parking except for a small off-street lot. Immaculate Conception has three off-street parking lots, however, both churches do not have parking facilities to accommodate 2,000 parishioners on any given weekend or holy day. There are five denominations within a one-block area of St. Mary's and if they have services at the same time, where do all these people park? 4 — Of the two large churches, only one (Immaculate Conception) is handicap accessible. However, if you would leave both churches open, this would relieve the handicapped to one church and those able to walk can participate at the other. Also, this would facilitate accommodating the parishes of Saint Clair by having one parish at one end of town and another at the other end. This is what is anticipated in Mahanoy City, Pottsville, Minersville and Port Carbon/New Philadelphia. 5—If only one church remains open in Saint Clair, it is evident that the diocese will lose parishioners. If the handicapped accessible church is closed, the disabled Catholics will have no place to worship. To make the remaining church handicapped accessible would be quite costly. To summarize, the diocese stands to lose a large percentage of Catholics in Saint Clair and possibly other communities if they adhere strictly to the recommendations of the DPC. It would be prudent to keep two churches in Saint Clair with two pastors. One priest cannot administer to 2,000 souls. One church cannot accept handicapped people without extraordinary cost. One church cannot accommodate 2,000 parishioners on a given weekend and certainly not on special holy days. One church cannot provide adequate parking for 2,000 without causing problems within the community. In closing, we ask the Diocesan Pastoral Committee and His Excellency Bishop Cullen to reconsider the closing of four churches in Saint Clair on the basis of what we have enumerated above.
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