Part XXIII

The historical synopsis offered over the last few months was not meant to be comprehensive as far as every detail of the parishes that came before Archangel Gabriel Parish. I apologize if something was left out that anyone feels is important. The intention of the exercise was to allow everyone to see the roots of our faith planted among the various groups of people who settled in our area, to give a glimpse of all that came before and brought us to today. A correction was offered from a parishioner who clarified that he was in the first grade when Saint Vincent de Paul School closed in 1969, and he and a handful of students from there went to SS. Cyril and Methodius for grades 2 through 4, and then Saint Mark School for grades 5 through 8.  I had reversed the grades each building contained.

As a final thought, I offer the following article from a recent Vicariate newsletter, a reminder from our Regional Vicar, Father Campbell, about the context and purpose of On Mission for the Church Alive!

One of the continuing challenges that we face in moving forward in the On Mission process is communicating the context and reasons for this undertaking.  The context for On Mission is our current situation.  Our primary reason is to find ways, in that context, to fulfill the mission of the Church.  Both the context and the reason need to be emphasized and remembered, though at different times we may need to communicate one aspect more than the other.  The context for On Mission is the current situation of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Over the last 40 years the area that comprises the Diocese of Pittsburgh has undergone drastic demographic changes.  The population of the region has dropped considerably and will continue to decline for the foreseeable future.  Western Pennsylvania is not alone in this.  Most of the Northeastern and Upper Midwestern states have declined in population.  This is the product of many factors:  increased mobility, de-industrialization connected with the globalization of the world economy, overall population decline in the “developed” countries and other factors.  We have, over a forty year period seen a 300,000 person decrease in the number of Catholics in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.  This corresponds to an overall decrease in the number of people in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.  Of those remaining, the demographic profile is of an older population. 

Part of our continuing decline can be attributed to the passing of our older generations.  Our demographic problem is compounded by the fact that participation in religious denominations in general has been declining for a number of years.  There is a process of secularization that is occurring in the developed world, which seems to be increasing with each new rising generation.  The Catholic Church, in particular, has been grievously hurt by the revelation of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. This has had a strong impact here, in our diocese, through the release of the Grand Jury report.  Though the cases may reflect historical actions, and not present realities, the wounds, nevertheless, are felt as fresh and scandalize many, damaging their faith and their relationship with the Church.  This adds fuel to the forces of secularization.  We have also, it must be admitted, a great deal of difficulty in successfully transmitting the faith to younger generations.  While, again, there are factors at work here that go far beyond our region and our ability to address them in an easy fashion, this problem has led to a decline in the number of those identifying as Catholic and those participating in the life of the Church.  The decline in the overall number of those identifying as Catholic tells us only part of the story; we know that the number of people who attend Mass on a regular basis is even smaller.  With fewer participants at church, we have a smaller pool for vocations, and less income to support the parishes.

Many people still think that the driving force behind the consolidations of On Mission is the declining number of priests.  Some still articulate the idea that if the priesthood were “changed” to include a broader pool of possible candidates for ordination, everything would be fine.  Even though that type of solution is not in the purview of our bishop in isolation from the universal Church, a different type of presbyterate would not solve our problems.  Even if this led to a greater number of clergy there would still be fewer people to serve and less money to pay them.  Demographics is the key driver for what we are doing.  We need to communicate this again and again---these are facts!  We must have a diocesan Church that is properly sized so that our resources can be deployed to save the souls that we have and to do so more effectively.  We can’t change the demographics, so we need to “right-size” our diocesan Church to fit the real numbers we have, not try to maintain structures established for a much larger population.  If we stay in that mode, we will expend all our energies on maintenance to the neglect of our mission.  Once we tackle the reorganization of our resources, even while we are still engaged in that part of the process, we can turn our attention to using our resources and directing our energies towards more effective evangelization and catechesis.