Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese mergers to start in 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh plans to merge parishes struggling with declining attendance and finances starting in 2019, the diocese said Friday.

Bishop David Zubik will announce assignments for priests and deacons in March 2018, and the first phase of mergers will begin within a year after they begin their assignments, said diocesan spokesman Bob DeWitt.

Eighty-six diocesan priests are working past the retirement age of 70 or are planning to retire within five years, and the diocese anticipates the total number of priests serving the region will dip from 211 to 112 by 2025.

DeWitt said priests and deacons would immediately start new assignments and begin working on “blueprints” to determine the number of primary worship sites and masses for each group of merged parishes, along with staffing needs, pastoral and finance counsels, development of ministry programs and timelines for merging. Parishes will remain open until mergers occur.

“What we're revealing at this time is that this is going to be a phased implementation,” DeWitt said. “All the priests and deacons are going to be assigned at once, and they'll go into the parishes, but the changes won't take place at the same time. We've not yet announced what parishes will be in what categories and we've not yet announced what those clergy assignments will be.”

The diocese will group parishes into A, B and C categories with Category A having the most needs. Parishes within that category will merge within a year of Zubik reassigning priests and deacons.

Mergers in Category B will happen within one to three years followed by Category C within three to five years.

DeWitt said the reorganization would likely include new parish positions and ministries for such things as providing transportation to church and welcoming parishioners.

The diocese includes 188 parishes — down from 204 in 2012 — in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties. Declining population and church attendance is forcing the reorganization dubbed “On Mission for the Church Alive,” DeWitt said.

Between 1980 and 2015, the number of active Catholics in the Pittsburgh diocese declined by 30 percent. Since 2000, weekly mass attendance has dropped by 40 percent and K-8 Catholic school enrollment by 50 percent.

Diocesan officials in February announced mergers impacting seven schools in the North Hills.

Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-765-2312 or bbauder@tribweb.com.