BALTIMORE — The Archdiocese of Baltimore could soon be closing down a large portion of their historic parishes.
It's part of an ongoing proposal the church calls "The Seek the City to Come."
Under the plan, dozens of active houses of worship would close and be merged with others before being divided into geographic sections throughout Baltimore City and County.
Eventually the goal is to condense the number of parishes from 61 to 21.
According to the Archdiocese attendance for mass has continually dropped, so much that there are now more funerals being held at area Catholic churches than baptisms.
Although reorganization efforts have been underway for nearly two years, the move comes as the Archdiocese goes through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy that was declared in response to lawsuits stemming from historic child sexual abuse allegations.
Here is a tentative list of proposed mergers:
- St. Ann and St. Wenceslaus would close and merge with St. Francis Xavier
- St. Patrick and St. Vincent de Paul would close and merge with St. Leo the Great
- St. Elizabeth of Hungary would close and merge with St. Casimir
- Holy Rosary and Our Lady of Pompei would merge with Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Sacred Heart of Mary, St. Luke and St. Rita would close and merge with Our Lady of Hope
- St. Clare would close and merge with Our Lady of Mount Carmel
- St. Michael the Archangel and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer would merge with Church of the Annunciation
- St. Thomas More would close and merge with Immaculate Heart of Mary
- Shrine of the Sacred Heart, St. Pius X, and St. Thomas Aquinas would all merge with Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
- Blessed Sacrament, Most Precious Blood, Shrine of the Little Flower, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Mary of the Assumption would all close and merge with St. Matthew.
- Corpus Christi would close and merge with Ss. Philip and James
- St. Cecilia and Immaculate Conception would close and merge with New All Saints
- St. Peter Claver, St. Edward, St. Gregory the Great, St. Pius V would eventually close and merge with St. Bernardine
- Our Lady of Victory, St. Benedict, St. Joseph’s Monastery, St. William of York will close and merge with St. Agnes
- St. Mary Star of the Sea and Our Lady of Good Counsel would close and merge with Holy Cross
- St. Athanasius and St. Veronica would close and merge with St. Rose of Lima
There are two public forums scheduled to discuss future plans, on April 25 at Archbishop Curley High School and April 30 at Mount St. Joseph High School. Both begin at 6:30pm.
A final plan will be released in mid-June, at which time pastoral leadership decisions will also be considered.
