NEW ORLEANS — The Archdiocese of New Orleans is expected to announce the consolidation of multiple parishes in the largest contraction of Catholic churches since 2008, when the loss of population after Hurricane Katrina forced 40 parishes to consolidate and more than 20 individual churches to close.
There are more than 110 Catholic parishes under the New Orleans archdiocese, stretching from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain to the mouth of the Mississippi River and from the River Parishes west of New Orleans to St. Bernard Parish east of the city.
Sources with knowledge of the church’s new consolidation plan were not authorized to speak about it before an official announcement was made. Those sources said pastors at the affected churches are expected to announce the mergers at Masses this weekend.
The sources confirmed Friday that three Gentilly churches would be consolidated into one parish under the plan: St. James Major Church, Transfiguration of the Lord and St. Gabriel the Archangel.
The archdiocese provided a statement late Friday afternoon, explaining that several factors, "such as storms and floods and their subsequent recovery that have caused demographic shifts coupled with economic challenges such as inflation and sky-rocketing insurance rates," are affecting whether parish churches can survive, which it calls "pastoral planning."
"The impact of the (bankruptcy) on parish pastoral planning is limited to the fact that the administrative offices of the archdiocese, because of its own financial situation and its need to maintain a balanced budget, can no longer supplement parishes and ministries that are struggling financially,” the statement said.
Howard Rodgers, a parishioner at St. Gabriel, said the pastor there, the Rev. Tony Ricard, announced at last Sunday’s Mass that he would have more details about the consolidation of the Gentilly churches this Saturday.
Consolidating churches would allow the archdiocese to sell more property to cover its mounting bankruptcy debt. It’s the latest domino to fall from the church’s clergy sex abuse crisis, which caused the archdiocese to file for bankruptcy protection in May 2020.
Just days before filing for Chapter 11 protection, Archbishop Gregory Aymond told the Vatican the archdiocese’s uninsured costs to cover abuse claims would not exceed $7.5 million. He also promised the area’s 500,000 Catholics that the bankruptcy only affected the archdiocese’s administrative offices and their donations to parish churches would not go toward paying abuse claims.
Now, however, the church faces 450-500 child molestation claims and court records show legal fees alone reached $26 million in March of this year, with millions more in attorneys’ fees expected to be reported to the court next month. Based on settlement figures reported in other dioceses’ bankruptcy cases around the country, the New Orleans archdiocese could easily end up paying abuse claimants more than $100 million to settle its debt.
The announcement has angered many local Catholics.
“I don't think the archdiocese understands how painful it is when this happens to a church and happens to a church community,” said Cheron Brylski, who fought to keep open her parish church, Our Lady of Good Counsel, when it was consolidated with St. Stephen’s and St. Henry churches in 2008.
“The closures in 2008 were unexpected, but at the same time, there had been discussions in the archdiocese … about what to do about the fact that populations in the churches were declining. But this is not that. This is simply almost like a tax on people who still are very loyal to the very church that in some ways betrayed them by their own lack of willingness to deal with an internal problem.”
It's unclear which area parishes will have to merge under the new consolidation plan. A source told WWL-TV the closures would be announced in phases and may not take effect until next summer.
But at least one Metairie parish pastor expressed concern publicly about the possibility that his parish could be on the consolidation block. The Rev. Mike Mitchell, pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Metairie, posted a message on his parish website saying he was scheduled to meet Oct. 23 with Aymond, Vicar General Pat Williams and the Rev. Charles Benoit about the future of his parish. In an appeal to parishioners, Mitchell wrote that the church was facing declining attendance and “our operating account is getting very low.”
“I think we need to set a goal and shoot for something close to 600 people at our weekend Masses in October and November since the Archdiocese will be watching closely,” he wrote.
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