All change in the Windy City

The Archdiocese of Chicago has announced a major reorganisation of its 351 parishes in light of the expected shortfall in the number of clergy in coming years.

Chicago was the last major United States Catholic archdiocese to resist parish restructuring. Boston, Philadelphia and New York have already undergone or begun the painful process in recent decades.

“I would be less than honest if I did not acknowledge that by the time this consultative process is complete, we will mourn together the loss of some parishes,” wrote Archbishop Blase Cupich (pictured) in the archdiocesan newspaper. “But that will not be the final word. By having the boldness to leave behind familiar ways of doing things, we can seize this season as one that is not simply of loss, but rather of renewal.”

The Windy City’s parishes were carved out in the late nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century to serve the immigrant populations flooding to Chicago. But changing demographics, and the increased cost of maintaining infrastructure, as well as declining vocations, have taken their toll. Cupich began consulting his priests about the need for restructuring at his now frequent meetings with the clergy. The archdiocese has also consulted with other dioceses that have weathered the process.

“The archbishop is talking survival and working together to be of better service,” commented Fr Michael Pfleger of St Sabina parish. “You can’t serve people if you are on life support. But we can’t let the poor be forgotten in this. We can’t abandon them.”