By Kathleen Lavey
Lansing State Journal
September 15, 2008
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/NEWS01/809150361/-1/newshome
[with video]
No Lansing-area Catholic schools or churches will immediately close under a restructuring plan announced this morning by Bishop Earl Boyea.
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| Bishop Earl Boyea addresses a press conference announcing changes in the Catholic Diocese of Lansing Monday at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing. Photo by Jeremy Herliczek |
However, a number of mid-Michigan churches will merge or "cluster" to share resources.
Among the mergers:
• St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Student Parish in East Lansing. Two sites will operate but church administrations will be combined under the direction of St. John's current pastor, the Rev. Mark Inglot.
• St. Mary Cathedral and Holy Cross in Lansing are slated for merger if the Franciscan order, which currently staffs Holy Cross, ever chooses to leave.
If the plan is fully implemented, the Diocese - which had 97 parishes in 10 counties when planning began in 2005 - would have 80 faith communities. The Diocese currently has 94 parishes following closures of three in Flint this summer.
Churches that are clustered maintain separate identities but share resources and ministers. Clusters include:
• St. Joseph church in St. Johns with Holy Family in Ovid.
• St. James in Mason with Saints Cornelius and Cyprian church in Leslie.
• St. Isidore in Laingsburg with St. Mary in Morrice.
Churches in Jackson, Ypsilanti and Flint are scheduled to close.
One school - DuKette in Flint - was closed this summer as part of the plan. However, Boyea said immediate attention should go to finding a way to regionalize support for schools.
"We need some way of better financing Catholic education," he said. "It can't wait."
Read more on this report in Tuesday's Lansing State Journal.
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