NEW ORLEANS — On Sunday, the Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, made a big announcement.
By July 2024, 13 parishes across the Greater New Orleans area will reduce to five.
That means in less than a year, many local Catholics will worship somewhere new.
The congregation at St. Mary of the Angels heard the message from Father Mike Haney over the weekend.
“Everybody that came to church heard about, and those that didn’t come to church, probably heard about it from their neighbors," Haney said.
Haney said that Aymond wrote each church a letter to deliver the news. For Haney's flock, it was good news.
“Their reaction was kind of a sigh of relief," Haney said.
St. Mary of the Angels will stay open and merge with Our Lady Star of the Sea.
In Gentilly, three congregations, Transfigurations of the Lord, St. James Major and St. Gabriel, will merge into one.
“Saying goodbye to our actual church building is saying goodbye to a family member, but I reminded them that the real church is the people of God and that when we come together wherever we are, we bring church with us," St. Gabriel Reverend Tony Richard said.
In a video to the archdiocese, Aymond went over the decisions.
“The final decisions are unique to each parish situation," Aymond said.
In 2020, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy after hundreds of clergy abuse claims turned into millions of dollars in legal costs.
However, in his announcement on Sunday, Aymond blamed natural disasters such as Hurricane Ida, the COVID pandemic, inflation and higher insurance rates for making some parishes financially unsustainable.
The archdiocese began evaluating each church when the process began more than a year ago.
Haney said his congregation received some critical marks.
“Has the congregation increased in size? They were looking at financial records. Are we viable financially? They were looking at the condition of the buildings and facilities, and they were looking at activity," Haney said.
Haney defined 'activity' as how many baptisms, weddings, funerals, confirmations and first communions the church held in the last few years.
For some, the decision means saying goodbye to a place close to their heart.
“Let us be clear and honest that these are difficult and painful decisions for everyone involved," Aymond said.
For others, such as St. Mary of the Angels, it will mean welcoming more people in.
The full list of mergers and closures visit: https://nolacatholic.org/parishpastoralplanning
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