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ELLSWORTH — The
bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland
has a proposal to address the shortage of priests
that could bring about the reduction of Maine’s
135 parishes to 35.
Around the state,
the change could mean longer commutes for priests
and parishioners to attend Mass.
How the proposal
would affect the parishes and satellite worship
sites in Hancock
County is unknown.
“They’re talking
about merging smaller parishes together into
larger canonical parishes,” said Diocese
Communications Director Sue Bernard.
“We’re looking at
how the church can best do its mission over five
to 10 years,” Bernard said. “What this is,
basically, is a long-range plan.”
A change in the
state’s Catholic population, as well as fewer
priests, led to the plan.
“We have a
declining number of priests on top of a shift in
population,” Bernard said. “We’ve lost several
thousand people in northern Maine who have
migrated to southern Maine.”
The church’s plan
is described in a document titled “Toward a New
Evangelization: A Rationale.” The document can be
read online at www.portlanddiocese.net.
The document
states that “a maximum of 30-35 parishes for the
entire diocese is proposed for consideration.
“At present, there
are not enough priests to provide a resident
pastor in every parish, and the number who will be
able to do that in the future is in decline,” the
document stated.
Voice of the
Faithful Maine, a lay organization created two
years ago as a result of the priest sexual abuse
scandal, has been observing the bishop’s
restructuring work. Spokesman Michael Sweatt
described the proposal as “a significant and bold
move for the diocese.”
“Our fear is that
something like this could be the next crisis for
Catholics in Maine,” said Sweatt. “It has to be a
collaborative effort for this to work.”
The newly
configured parishes could have former parish
churches designated as worship sites, the proposal
states.
For example, St.
Joseph Catholic Church in Ellsworth has summer
worship sites in Winter Harbor (St. Margaret’s
Chapel) and Green Lake (Our Lady of the Lake) and
in Blue Hill at George Stevens Academy.
All of these sites
are considered the same parish.
Under the new
plan, St. Joseph and its worship sites could
become part of another parish.
“My understanding
is the priest would go from worship site to
worship site to worship site,” Sweatt said.
Sweatt said Bishop
Richard J. Malone had said in a recent interview
that priests had already been traveling to
multiple worship sites.
“I guess the real
question is, how is this model very different,”
Sweatt said. “Over time, one pastoral council
would be created, which would make a
recommendation to the bishop to close worship
sites.
“That strategy
would get the bishop out of the hot seat of
closing worship sites,” Sweatt said.
The Rev. Lou
Phillips, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in
Ellsworth, said the bishop has “made it clear he
doesn’t intend to close worship centers.”
“I think the
bishop is very concerned about keeping the worship
centers open but staffing them creatively,”
Phillips said.
The diocese plan
may be handled differently depending on the
region, he said.
“It’s much easier
to come up with a workable plan in the urban areas
like Augusta,” said Phillips.
During the summer,
the number of Masses for the Ellsworth parish
doubles to six. Phillips manages this with the
help of The Rev. Richard MacDonough, who has been
spending summers in the parish for 40 years.
Phillips or
MacDonough will travel about 175 miles a weekend
to say Mass at the Blue Hill, Green Lake and Winter
Harbor worship sites.
Of the priest
shortage, Sweatt said, “We should be able to talk
about what it means to be a priest.”
Catholic priests
are not allowed to marry.
Sweatt said Maine
had lost 25 to 30 men who left the priesthood to
marry. He predicted 75 percent of them would
return to their parishes — with their families —
if allowed.
Bishop Malone will
name a committee June 10 to “work out a plan,”
Bernard said. The committee will make
recommendations to the bishop in January.
Maine is not the
only state to be affected by parish restructuring.
Sweatt said the
Boston Archdiocese will lose 66 of its parishes.
Archbishop Sean
O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese cited the
following reasons for the reduction: declining
Mass attendance, a shortage of priests and the
inability of the archdiocese to support struggling
parishes, especially in light of financial
struggles brought about by the sex abuse crisis,
according to an Associated Press report. |
