by Tom Gallagher
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To the surprise of practically no one, the Archdiocese of New York is moving to large-scale parish closings, according to a story in Capital:
"The Archdiocese of New York took a major step last week toward consolidating its dense network of 376 parishes, entering the final stages of planning for what is likely to result in the most significant sweep of parish closings seen here in recent memory.
Early last week, an advisory board that has been working for months with outside consultants to find ways to streamline the centuries-old archdiocese quietly sent its preliminary recommendations to local working groups—known as clusters—for review. It is the first time a broad consolidation plan such as this has been handled this way."
The report went on to say:
"It's unclear how many churches have been targeted for closure by the 40-member board. But archdiocesan officials acknowledge the closures could be far more significant than the last round, in 2007, when 21 parishes were closed amid protests by long-time worshipers. Dozens of churches could be shuttered in the current sweep.
'I can't put a number on it at this point because there's still a lot of process that needs to go through, but that certainly is a possibility,' Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the archdiocese, said last week."
Stay tuned.