NEW YORK
New York Times
By SHARON OTTERMAN
NOV. 2, 2014
Roman Catholics across the Archdiocese of New York are poised to learn the fate of their local churches on Sunday, as church leaders from Staten Island to the Catskills announce which parishes will be eliminated in the largest reorganization plan in the history of the archdiocese.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop, said last week that Catholics should expect that about 14 percent — or just over 50 — of the archdiocese’s 368 parishes would be merged with other parishes by next year. The mergers will end the independent existence of those parishes and may lead to the closing and sale of church buildings.
Many of the mergers are expected in the Bronx and Manhattan, where Cardinal Dolan has said that a declining Catholic population means that there is no longer a need for 88 parishes, some only blocks apart. But the mergers will span the entire archdiocese, which includes Staten Island, and seven counties north of New York City.
“What we’re talking about is realism,” Cardinal Dolan, who is expected to address questions about the mergers on Sunday, wrote last week, describing the need for the reorganization. “Families do it, our schools have done it, corporations do it — now our parishes must do it. “
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