Parish Reconfiguration and Reallocation

Background and Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Reconfiguration Process

How many parishes have closed?

59 parishes have closed involving the closing of 44 church buildings. 11 mergers have taken place and eight new parishes have been formed. The Archdiocese now has 295 parishes, some using more than one church building.

What is a cluster?

A cluster is a group of parishes brought together for collaborative planning purposes.  Cluster planning began in 1995, and has enabled groups of parishes to work together on a variety of levels since that time.

Who were the people in the reconfiguration cluster meetings?

Cluster meetings included representatives from each parish:  the Pastor, a member of the Parish Pastoral Planning Council, a member of the Parish Finance Council, and a member of the parish staff.  The number of representatives from a parish may have varied since many parishes sent a few more than the required number of both staff and lay people.  About 1,800 lay people attended cluster meetings and about 340 priests.

What was the role of the cluster group in reconfiguration?

The cluster group should have analyzed all available information for the cluster’s mission and outreach.  These items include Mass attendance and the sacramental index of each parish, as well as a careful review of all activities accomplished in the cluster:  presence of an ethnic apostolate, number and population of parish schools, outreach to the hungry and homeless, programs for the elderly and homebound, nursing home coverage, youth groups, number of children in religious education, adult education programs, RCIA, meetings hosted by parishes, and a number of other activities sponsored by parishes.

The cluster group should then have looked at the facilities available among the existing parishes in the cluster including parking, disabled access and public transportation, and the financial condition of the parishes and the ability of the cluster to support the work of parishes.

The last step in the cluster process was to answer the Archbishop’s two questions with a recommendation:

1. If the Archbishop found it necessary to close one parish in your cluster, which one would you recommend and why?

2. If the Archbishop found it necessary to close more than one parish in your cluster, which ones would they be and why?

The recommendation was then submitted to the Vicar Forane, a pastor who coordinates a group of priests in a Vicariate.

What are the Vicariates and the Vicars Forane?

Vicariates are geographic subunits of the five regions of the Archdiocese.  The Archdiocese has 20 Vicariates, each with about 15 parishes.  Vicars Forane are priests who coordinate the work and communications of the priests within a Vicariate.  The Vicars Forane report to their Regional Bishops. 

What were the next steps after the cluster process?

The Vicar Forane reviewed the cluster recommendations for his vicariate and attached his comments.  The packets were then sent to the Regional Bishop, who also attached his comments.  The next stop for the packets was the Central Committee, who carefully reviewed all materials and referred to supporting information before attaching their comments or making recommendations.  The packets then went to the Archbishop for his review, and his decision.  He consulted with the Presbyteral Council, and having consulted them he made a final on which parishes would close and which would remain open.

What was the Central Committee?

In order to consult with a broad cross section of lay people and pastors during the reconfiguration process, a Central Committee was empanelled to review the recommendations of every cluster.  The Committee included members from all five regions of the Archdiocese.  Eleven lay men and women, two women religious and five pastors made up the Central Committee.  They were nominated by their Regional Bishops based on their history of involvement at the parish level.  The Central Committee, like the cluster groups, was a predominantly lay group.

The Central Committee needed to meet twice weekly for several hours each time over the course of three months for their part of the process, because they reviewed the recommendations and comments in great detail.  They had resources available for clarification – among them maps, various statistics and other background information.  They looked at information from abutting clusters when reviewing a recommendation.

Based on their review of a cluster recommendation, plus the attached comments from the Vicars Forane and Regional Bishops, and their own research of the particular cluster, the Central Committee had the standing to do one of three things:  Endorse the cluster recommendation, endorse the recommendation with suggestions for slight changes, or, if they felt that either the process in the cluster was seriously flawed, or the cluster failed to make a recommendation, to take a new look at the cluster and make an alternative recommendation.

What steps followed the announcement of the Archbishop’s decisions?

After the Archbishop announced his decisions in May, 2004, parishes began the process of closing. The appeal process was outlined by the RCAB Office for Canonical Affairs, and explained in the Pilot, on the RCAB website and in transition workshops. Some people did file an appeal to the Archbishop after their parish closing decree was issued. This is called “local recourse.” If the Archbishop decided to adhere to his original decision, those who had filed local recourse could, if they chose, file a Roman appeal. The Archbishop changed some of his decisions. One parish closing was reversed (Saint Albert the Great, Weymouth). Some parishes were told they would not close indefinitely. Three churches of closed parishes were returned to use as chapels, available for Sunday Mass.

How many parishes succeeded in appealing to Rome and what have the outcomes been so far?

Originally, 15 parties appealed parish closings to the Vatican Congregation for Clergy. Two of those were withdrawn, and the remaining 13 closings were upheld. Currently, 11 parties are appealing that decision.

Updated 3/2/2007

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