Archbishop Suppresses 18 New Orleans Parishes; More Closings to Come, Peter Finney, Catholic News Service, July 14, 2008

Archbishop Suppresses 18 New Orleans Parishes; More Closings to Come

By Peter Finney
Catholic News Service

July 14, 2008

http://www.catholicexplorer.com/explore4325/nationworld/archbishop-suppresses-18-new-orleans-parishes-more.shtml

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Confirming decisions he had announced in April in a post-Katrina realignment plan for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes signed letters July 3 closing 18 parishes and either merging them with others or changing their status to mission churches.

Those closings will take effect in the near future upon the reassignment of pastors, said Father Michael Jacques, chairman of the archdiocesan pastoral plan steering committee. The closing parishes will have the opportunity to celebrate a final Mass or prayer service sometime in August.

Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans speaks to the congregation Aug. 29 2007 at an evening interfaith prayer service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lakeview, La., on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. During the service at the church, whic h has been restored after being inundated with 10 to 12 feet of water in the storm, Episcopal Bishop Charles Jenkins, Archbishop Hughes and other faith leaders signed a statement, "A Vision for a Renewed New Orleans."
Photo by Frank J. Methe, Clarion Herald

Archbishop Hughes signed the letters of suppression following a facilitation process in which parishioners were invited to town hall meetings to express their feelings and concerns about the closures and mergers. Each parish selected a leadership team that made recommendations to Archbishop Hughes.

The decisions, announced at parishes July 11-12, involve 11 clusters of parishes. Archbishop Hughes also said four pairs of parishes would each share a pastor.

"We expect the archbishop will be able to make the assignment of these priests in the affected parishes by the end of July," Father Jacques said. "Then a date for the final Mass or prayer service at each church will be given."

Archbishop Hughes said in announcing the pastoral plan April 9 that his decisions were necessitated by post-Katrina realities such as the diminishing number of diocesan priests, population shifts and financial strains.

He has given pastors of the closing parishes a detailed protocol to ensure that sacramental registers, financial records and transactions, patrimonial goods and church property are properly handled.

Father Jacques said other parishes have begun the facilitation process but still need more time for their leadership groups to meet to discuss plans. He said the process will continue even if a parish chooses not to participate.

St. Henry in New Orleans is the only parish that has yet to appoint a leadership team for the process, Father Jacques said, but parishioners from Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Stephen -- which are expected to merge with St. Henry -- will continue their discussions.

"They have chosen to not choose leadership," Father Jacques said of St. Henry. "We've attempted to invite them to recommend people for the leadership team. If they choose not to participate, that doesn't mean we will stop our process. We are inviting them again."

Father Jacques said the implementation of the pastoral plan has presented many parishioners with pain, suffering and challenges, but he said he hoped the meetings had helped them "gather the things and the gifts they want to bring with them to the new parish."

"It's been difficult all the way around," he said. "That's not only understandable but also necessary. We are going to move forward and do the best we can."

The changes were announced in parishes a few days after the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the population of New Orleans increased by 13.8 percent to 239,124 between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, making it the fastest-growing U.S. city with a population of more than 100,000.

But the population is still at about half of the 453,726 who were living there shortly before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005.