Watervliet, Green Island Catholics involved in months-long, open process

Consolidating six parishes into one is a painful process, but two pastoral planners for the Albany Diocese also call it an inspirational one.

"To see a group of people who love their parishes be able to put aside their natural inclination to preserve their own and look at the larger picture is really inspiring," stated John Manning, associate director of pastoral planning.

Recently, parishioners at the six parishes in Watervliet and Green Island learned that, after 15 months of planning, a core team of representatives from each of the churches would recommend closing all six and establishing one parish community with a new name. Three of the current churches would become "worship sites": St. Patrick's and St. Brigid's in Watervliet, and St. Joseph's in Green Island.

Under the plan, which the group will present to Bishop Howard J. Hubbard on Feb. 15, Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Watervliet would close this summer. Two more churches, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Immaculate Conception in Watervliet, would be used for liturgies until June 2006, then close. The Bishop is expected to make his decision on the recommendations by April 1.

Reasons for change

Diocesan officials cited several reasons for the consolidation, including declining Mass attendance, the cities' populations moving to the suburbs and the shortage of priests available to serve in parishes.

About 1,900 people currently attend Mass each weekend at the six churches. In addition, the six parishes are spending 40 percent of their collective incomes on upkeep of their 21 buildings -- including six churches and six rectories -- even as funerals far outnumbered Baptisms.

"There's a constant struggle: Do we keep buildings vs. programs?" noted Mr. Manning. "Twenty-one buildings for 1,900 worshipping people -- that's a lot of buildings."

Planning committee

The core planning team consisted of four parishioners and the pastor or parish life director from each parish, as well as diocesan officials.

For the past 15 months, they looked at various alternatives, including the possibility of using just one church. But they decided to try having three worship sites, with one leadership team (two priests and a parish life director), staff, pastoral council, faith formation director, school, prayer and worship program, and Christian service program.

Sister Kathleen Turley, RSM, diocesan chancellor for planning and pastoral services, didn't want there to be any misconception that three of the six parishes were remaining open. "St. Patrick's [church] is going to be used," she explained as an example, "but it is no longer St. Patrick's parish. Every single one of [the six parishes] is going to change."

Challenges ahead

The new Watervliet/Green Island community can look to dioceses like Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which have done similar consolidations, for guidance in making six pastoral councils, faith formation programs and so on into one.

"That's going to be a challenge," Sister Kathleen admitted. "It's a transitional process. The key is that there will be representatives on the pastoral council from each of the existing [parish] committees."

Mr. Manning said that leadership, good will and common sense will be crucial to making the process a success. Diocesan officials hope the resulting parish community will be able to keep traditions from the Italian and Polish Catholics who attend the parishes, and practices -- like novenas -- that have been mainstays.

Building use

As for the buildings, Sister Kathleen said that just because a particular church is not used as a worship site doesn't mean other buildings in that parish won't be used by the community.

A study over the next 18 months will explore how much it would cost to repair or renovate the buildings and how best to use them.

The chancellor noted that whenever buildings become available for other uses, the Diocese looks at its needs -- for instance, whether a Catholic Charities agency happens to need space at that time. If there are no needs in the area, the buildings can be sold to buyers who "are not at cross-purposes" with Church teachings.

Emotional reactions

Despite having been informed about the planning process since 2003 through bulletin inserts and announcements, many parishioners of the six parishes expressed anger and sadness on hearing that the consolidation is about to become final.

Mr. Manning called this "a natural part of the process." In fact, he said, "if there wasn't some anger and denial, that would say to me that the area was dead. There is some vitality here."

"What you're looking at here is death and dying," Sister Kathleen observed. "People need an opportunity to vent that anger, to grieve and be sad -- and to move on to the next step of acceptance."

Model for others

The parishes of Watervliet and Green Island were among the first in the Diocese to go through such a combined planning process for their future. Their experience, said the chancellor, will help the Diocese make changes to ease the process in other cites.

For one thing, she said, future planning meetings won't spend as much time dealing with surface issues while avoiding fundamental ones. Sister Kathleen felt that the process moved too slowly in Watervliet and Green Island.

However, diocesan officials also want to make sure all parishioners on planning teams get the chance to talk about their parishes' strengths. Sharing stories that focus on positives, said Sister Kathleen, will help to move the process along.

It's impressive, she added, to see the faith of Catholics chosen for the core teams, because they have to wrestle with making difficult choices while knowing some of their peers will not agree with their decisions.

The chancellor said that, in consolidating, Watervliet and Green Island "have the opportunity to bring together a very vibrant, alive parish that would combine [to serve] the needs of the people."

She noted that a combined parish community would be strong enough to look at meeting new needs in the area, such as the growing Hispanic population. If the parishes didn't consolidate, she added, each one could survive for a while but would eventually have to close.

NUMBERS

* Parishes in the Albany Diocese in 2004: 175

* Priests available to serve by 2011: 100

* Average age of priests serving in Watervliet/Green Island: 69

* Baptisms in six Watervliet/Green Island parishes in 2003: 97 (1.8 per week)

* Funerals in six Watervliet/Green Island parishes in 2003: 152 (three per week)

* Catholic population of Albany County: 47 percent

* Increase in Hispanic population in Albany County, 1990-2000: 66 percent

(1/27/05)