Pastoral planning

The proposed parish closures and mergers were part of a major archdiocesan pastoral planning initiative.

Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski announced the parish closures and mergers a year ago in a plan called "All Things New".

Fewer people were attending Mass, he explained.

Furthermore, parish boundaries hadn't changed as shifts in population from the city to surrounding counties eventuated.

He said the archdiocese planned to close 35 churches by merging them with neighbouring parishes, and to merge 15 others to create five new parishes.

All up, 50 of the archdiocese's 178 parishes would not continue in their present form.

He stressed that the "All Things New" plan sought to create a sustainable future for the archdiocese.

Wide consultation

Feedback was an important part of the decision-making process.

Before announcing the changes in May 2023, the archdiocese held 350 listening sessions. There was at least one session in each of the 178 current parishes.

Additional feedback came from 70,000 Catholics in the archdiocese who participated in a survey. Besides this, feedback from 18,000 school parents, staff, teachers, donors and community partners was garnered.

The archdiocese also held focus groups and talked with civil and business leaders.

Parishioners appealed

Soon after the diocesan announcement about the planned closures and mergers, twelve parishes decided make an appeal to the Vatican.

The planned mergers were put on hold pending rulings from the Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy.

The Dicastery would be looking at two factors in particular.

Canon Law says:

• A diocesan bishop has the authority to alter parishes but only for a just reason specific to each parish
• Concern for souls must be the principal motivation for modifying a parish

Vatican ruling - yes, no

The Vatican has announced its decisions concerning some of the twelve parishes. It is still studying the remainder.

In one case, the Dicastery found no just reason under Canon Law for one of the parishes to merge with two others. It was therefore unable to sustain Rozanski's decree.

It said while these parishes would retain their status as three separate parish communities, all three would remain under their shared priest's pastoral guidance.

The 'no just reason' criterion also saw plans for a proposed parish closure cancelled. The plan had been for the parish to merge with an adjacent one.

The Vatican dicastery upheld Rozanski's decree however for a parish to be subsumed by another.

The ruling means the parish closure actually occurred some months ago - effective from 1 August 2023. The parish school is set to close this month.

Moving on

The "All Things New" plan changes, as originally presented, would have left the archdiocese with 44 fewer parishes - down from 178 to 134.

Even with the appeals and the Vatican decisions to date, the original plan is largely intact.

It will be completed in 2026.

Source

• CNA
• Crux

Masses are held at Sacred Heart in Havelock three times a month, while the congregation of St Francis de Sales in Renwick gathers for Mass once a month.

However, those churches are to close following the review. Continue reading

In a 'searing' editorial in the diocesan newspaper, "Our Diocesan Community", Jirik compared the challenge facing the diocese akin to the Protestant Reformation of some 500 years back.

The Ballarat Catholic Diocese needs "more Catholics to support their parishes, not just the same parishioners supporting it more," he wrote.

Jirik told The Courier the diocese had a problem that cannot be solved until it is addressed.

Pointing out that diocesan finances are different from parish finances, he said that not all 116 churches in the diocese might survive.

"People are turning away from the church, there's no question, but until we admit we've got a problem, we can't address it."

Among the issues Jirik identified as problematic are:

• diminishing finances,
• rising costs,
• a lack of planning and prioritisation,
• a lack of capability,
• a lack of expertise,
• duplication of services,
• 'cultural' attitudes,
• and strategically insufficient funds at the diocese level, and
• insufficient resources to provide for the long-term sustainability of parishes.

Jirik cited the Dunolly parish is a good example of changing demographics.

150 years ago, with a population of 12,000, parishioners donated to build a large church, but now, the population is closer to 900.

The parish has a regular mass attendance of around 17 people.

"We've got people holding on, and I'm saying, well, that's fine, but there's a cost in all that, or we can do this in a way that's a bit more structured."

The value of land is also an issue, especially in small towns.

"There's buildings insured for millions of dollars but not worth millions, in fact they're costing us money to hold, and even if the building was worth anything, the land is not worth much," he said.

"Parishes in Warrnambool or Daylesford, they can do okay out of the land, but the building itself is not worth much."

To continue charitable parish work, the parishes should be looking at "other income streams", he added.

"We've gone down from 51 to 41 (parishes), and we've got plans to shrink it even further to get more efficiency out of it," he said.

"If we don't do anything, half won't survive".

"The reality is, people aren't turning up, so there's a question, do we need all the parishes? Do you need all the priests?"

Jirik said the revelations of paedophile priests and alleged cover-ups have not helped people return.

"I go to Mass on a Sunday afternoon at 5pm, and particularly in May there's a lot of people getting their confirmations, but after they've got it, and they're into a Catholic school, their connection with the parish, or the church, just disappears," he said.

"They're not there supporting the parish like they used to".

"Even the Catholics aren't turning up."

"The people have spoken," he said.

Source

• The Courier