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	As Troubling As Catholic Diocese's News Is, Supply of Priests Is a Bigger Challenge Morning Call June 3, 2008 http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/all-editorial1.6438491jun03,0,2919323.story By the numbers, the restructuring plan announced on Sunday by the Catholic Diocese of Allentown makes sense. With about 272,000 members, Catholics are the largest single religious group in the Lehigh Valley, comprising almost one quarter of the population in four counties. But, the number of priests available to minister to them and to look after the churches, schools and related groups can no longer carry the load. The number of priest in the diocese by this time next year is expected to be 115, or 100 fewer than when the diocese was founded in 1961, and a number too small to maintain the current number of parishes. Most dramatically affected are what are called the "national" or ethnic parishes. This is especially so in Carbon and Schuylkill counties, and, in the Lehigh Valley, in South Bethlehem, where five churches will become one. The presence of churches identified as Italian, Slovak or Irish reflects a broader stream of history and Pennsylvania — that this is a place and nation that welcomed immigrants. Joseph McShea, founding bishop of the Allentown Diocese, wrote in 1961, "All through the 19th century, vast numbers of Catholics poured into the five-county area of this Diocese in a steady flow of immigration from Ireland, Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean shores. They came seeking a new livelihood, new freedom, both political and religious. Those faithful Catholic immigrants were already fused in the solidarity of their Catholic faith and in the warmth of the charity of Christ which burned in their hearts. Tenaciously, they have adhered to this sacred legacy through the generations." The United States, this state and the communities of this region have changed greatly since the diocese was created out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia 47 years ago. And so, in the plan announced by Bishop Edward P. Cullen, the number of churches will go from 151 to 104 in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Schuylkill counties. Plans for churches in Berks County will be announced later. While specific changes were not known until Sunday, the Diocese's consolidation has been a three-year process. People know that the challenge of encouraging people to serve in what Catholics call "vocations" has been on-going, and a series of Catholic school closings and consolidations has been evident for years. (In the restructuring plan announced Sunday however, the 44 remaining schools in the Diocese will stay intact.) Members of the churches not affected by the changes announced Sunday know that their relief may be only temporary and that the consolidations are only a holding action. If the trend of declining priest callings cannot be reversed, more parishes — close to people's hearts and part of so many family histories — will have to close. This week's actions were reasonable and necessary to the diocese, but the problem of fewer priests is greater than a single diocese, even a well-run one, can solve.
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