Chicago Parish Downsizing Plan In The Works
`Renewal' Ahead, Archdiocese Says
(CBS) -- The Chicago Archdiocese says some parishes are likely to close over the next several years as part of a plan that Archbishop Blase Cupich calls a renewal.
WBBM's Steve Miller reports.
As the Chicago Roman Catholic church membership shrinks -- along with the priesthood -- the Archdiocese is planning a big overhaul which will include closing perhaps dozens of churches.
The Archdiocese is not framing it as a plan to close parishes but as a way to renew parishes over the next several years.
Archdiocese Chief Operating Officer Betsy Bohlen says there is a worry about "future vitality" -- that some parishes may be too small to have youth programs or mom's programs, for example.
As for specific closures, there are no specifics.
"We don't have specific plans at the moment, in terms of the number of parishes or which ones. But it is likely true that there will be some parishes that will close, either because of low vitality or an inability to maintain the parish," Bohlen says.
Bohlen quotes Archbishop Cupich, who says that sometimes there is a dying but that faith teaches that that there is also a rising.
