NEW ORLEANS — Several parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans will close next summer and their congregations will be combined into a new parish. It is the latest chapter in the archdiocese and its more than 110 parishes’ financial troubles.
During Saturday Mass, Reverend Tony Ricard of St. Gabriel the Archangel Church read a letter from the archdiocese to his parishioners. It outlined a plan to consolidate the parish and two others, St. James Major Church and Transfiguration of Our Lord Church. The new parish, made up of the three closed ones, will open on July 1, 2024.
There was an audible reaction from the pews. St. Gabriel has been in the Gentilly Woods area for more than 60 years. During the homily, Rev. Ricard passed around a microphone and allowed parishioners to share their thoughts. “It’s very hard to imagine our church leaving us,” said one woman who has been attending St. Gabriel her entire life. “We’re all hurt, we’re all disappointed,” said another, “we may lose a lot of people.”
The other two parishes are also rooted deeply in their communities. St. James Major Church has existed for more than a hundred years, according to its website, and Transfiguration of the Lord Catholic Church was created from several historic parishes during the archdiocese’s last major consolidation. That was after Hurricane Katrina when 40 parishes were consolidated, and more than 20 churches closed.
After the mass, Rev. Ricard told WWL-TV he expected the reaction. “We know that it’s a painful process, it’s hard because when you say goodbye to your church it’s literally like the death of a family member,” he said.
More parishes could face the same fate. A source told WWL-TV that closures would be announced in phases. For now, the archdiocese is staying quiet about which parishes, if any, could be next.
There is new insight into how they would be chosen, though. During Saturday Mass Rev. Ricard outlined the factors that determined the three Gentilly parishes would close, including attendance, number of events hosted, such as weddings, financial solvency, and adult conversions.
St. Gabriel had been “struggling to pay its bills in full,” said Rev. Ricard. In the past, the archdiocese was able to help parishes that were struggling financially. But after a legal decision that allowed hundreds of alleged victims of clergy abuse to come forward, millions of dollars in legal fees mounted, and in May 2020 the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In a statement Friday, it said that the bankruptcy was not the primary reason for the consolidation:
“Parish Pastoral Planning is an important issue separate from the Archdiocese of New Orleans Chapter 11 Reorganization. Conversations around Parish sustainability and vitality began with the Ninth General Synod in 2016 and have been ongoing. External 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 directly impact parish sustainability and vitality.
The impact of the Chapter 11 Reorganization 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 letter from the archdiocese to St. Gabriel said that in the coming months, it would work with the congregations of all three churches to determine where the new parish will be located and what it will be called. Rev. Ricard said he expects it will take time for his parishioners to adjust to the change, but that it will ultimately be good for the community. “When you bring communities together, you build a viable church, you build a church that can sustain itself physically and financially,” he said.
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