Archdiocese behind Anti-Marriage Equality Dvd's Shuttering Churches Due to Lack of Funds, by Bridgette P. Lavictoire, Lez Get Real, October 16, 2010

Archdiocese behind Anti-Marriage Equality Dvd's Shuttering Churches Due to Lack of Funds

By Bridgette P. Lavictoire
Lez Get Real
October 16, 2010

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/10/archdiocese-behind-anti-marriage-equality-dvds-shuttering-churches-due-to-lack-of-funds/

Call it the "you can do without Last Rites so long as gays don't get Equal Rites" plan. Catholics in the Twin Cities are going to be getting some sweeping changes in their Archdiocese. So far, the details of their reorganization plan have not been officially released, but pastors were given the heads up by Archbishop John Nienstedt that their parishioner, many of them older folk, are probably going to have to be traveling longer distances in order to visit their local priest.

Like many of the Catholic diocese and archdiocese in America and Europe, the Catholic Church in Minnesota has seen declining numbers. All Saints Catholic Church, for instance, has dwindled to less than three hundred members and is one of thirty-three churches that will now have to share priests and resources. Twenty-one parish churches will be shuttered, which is about ten percent of the ones in the archdiocese. Those parishioners will be forced to join other congregations elsewhere, which could mean some major traveling.

The reason for these changes and closures has to do with financial strain, a shortage of priests, and declining attendance in the core cities. However, the Catholic Church was able to spend some four thousand dollars to make and send out DVD's attacking homosexuality and same-sex marriage rights. They have claimed that the money for the DVD was made by an anonymous donation specifically done for that reason; however, one has to wonder if they should have just simply told them that it was more important to have the money to run churches and not fill landfills with wasteful DVD's advocating the restriction of people's lives and rights.

So far, the timeline for the changes has yet to be worked out, but they are being worked on by the priests and churches involved. The archdiocese is also working on evaluating the financial stability of the ninety or so Catholic schools to determine which will remain open.