Delaware County’s three Roman Catholic parishes in Springfield will be permitted to remain open and free-standing but must devise a collaborative plan of operation, officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Sunday afternoon.
St. Kevin parish on Sproul Road, whose grade school was closed in 2011, will remain open for now as will Holy Cross on Springfield Road and St. Francis of Assisi on Saxer Avenue, both of which still have operating parish grade schools.
According to the statement released by the archdiocese, the parishes will remain open and independent but must continue to look at ways they can address “ the challenges they face.” A parish planning committee comprised of pastors and representatives from each of the parishes will be required to submit a survival plan to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by July 1.
“This proposal should elaborate upon the specific steps that the parishes will be taking to address financial concerns. It should also determine specific ways in which the parishes will collaborate and establish a time line for implementation for each element of the plan,” according to the statement.
The Springfield parishes’ committee will be asked to provide an update on the implementation of the plan in December.
The parish planning committee includes lay representatives and pastors from each of the parishes, a facilitator from the archdiocese and the Rev. Joseph Corley, pastor of Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Darby, who is dean for the area.
They met for several months to draft a viability and sustainability recommendation that was then submitted to the archdiocesan strategic planning committee which oversees pastoral planning in the archdiocese.
“The recommendation from the parishes noted the complexity of various issues, outlined how the parishes could improve their financial conditions, and noted general areas in which the parishes could collaborate by possibly sharing some resources and staff,” said archdiocesan officials in Sunday’s statement.
After considering the plan, the archdiocesan strategic planning committee made a recommendation to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput who determined that the parishes could remain open and independent but must “better collaborate with each other”.
Last October archdiocesan officials announced that the Delaware County parishes under study in “Parish Planning Area 330” as part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Parish Planning Initiative were 91-year-old St. Francis of Assisi Church, 66-year-old Holy Cross Church and 59-year-old St. Kevin Church. St. Kevin’s parish grade school was closed in 2011 because of declining enrollment and increasing debt, according to archdiocesan officials.
According to the 2013 Report to Pastor for each parish, the number of parishioners for St. Francis of Assisi was 7,080 in 2013, down from 7,364 in 2009. For Holy Cross, the number was 5,575 in 2013, down from 5,988 in 2009 and for St. Kevin, there were 4,132 parishioners in 2013, down from 4,178 in 2009.
One persistent rumor for the 54-year-old St. Kevin’s school closure was that archdiocesan officials wanted to sell or lease the property to Crozer-Keystone Health System, which owns the neighboring Springfield Hospital and Healthplex exercise facility on busy Route 320.
“It is a rumor and there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to substantiate it. There have been no discussions or meetings regarding the sale and/or rental of the building and/or property at all. This issue is not on the table, “ said archdiocesan spokesman Kenneth Gavin in June 2011.
St. Kevin students were directed by archdiocesan officials to attend St. Francis of Assisi Grade School.
Forty-seven out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 266 parishes in its five-county region have closed in the four years since the parish sustainability self-studies began as a result of a 2010 proposal by former Philadelphia Archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali. Eight Delaware County parishes have been closed and merged with others since 2013.
“It involves a review of information related to demographic, financial and spiritual activity followed by consultation with parish leadership, parishioners and the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee. Finally, recommendations are made for the future. In some cases these recommendations may involve parish mergers. In other cases there may be no change in parish structures but would include a plan to assure future sustainability and pastoral vibrancy,” according to an earlier statement from archdiocesan officials.
Since 2013 Delaware County parishes that serve nearly 208,600 Roman Catholics have been reduced from 46 to 38. For now, Chaput is allowing the church buildings to be used as worship sites, but the former parishes’ assets, debts, property and sacramental records are being managed by the parishes with which they merged.
Parishes that Chaput directed to be closed as of July 1, 2013 were 85-year-old St. Louis Church in Yeadon, 91-year-old St. Alice Church in Upper Darby, 85-year-old St. Cyril of Alexandria Church in East Lansdowne, 96-year-old Immaculate Conception of Lourdes Church in Marcus Hook and 99-year-old Holy Saviour Church in Lower Chichester. Chaput directed St. Louis to merge with 100-year-old Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Darby 1.5 miles away, St. Alice with 96-year-old St. Laurence Parish in Upper Darby 1.5 miles away, St Cyril of Alexandria with 115-year-old St. Philomena Parish in Lansdowne .86 of a mile away and Holy Saviour and Immaculate Conception with 42-year-old St. John Fisher Parish in Upper Chichester, 2.88 miles away.
Parishes closed as of last July 1 were: 55-year-old Notre Dame de Lourdes in Ridley Township whose member were directed to attend 92-year-old Our Lady of Peace Church 1.4 miles away in the Milmont Park section of Ridley Township; 93-year-old St. Margaret Mary Alacoque parish in Tinicum whose members were sent to 123-year-old St. Gabriel Church two miles away in Norwood; and 122-year-old Holy Spirit parish in Sharon Hill whose members were sent 1.3 miles away to 91-year-old St. George Church in Glenolden.
Chaput delivered his decision on the parishes’ fates this year almost a month earlier than in the previous two years. Unlike in previous years, all of the parishes under study in Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, have been given a reprieve to formulate collaborative plans or further study their viability.
In Montgomery County Holy Martyrs in Oreland, St. Alphonsus in Marple Glen, St. Catherine of Siena in Horsham, St. Genevieve in Flourtown and St. Anthony of Padua and St. Joseph, both in Ambler, have all been deemed “financially and pastorally viable and should remain free-standing” . In Philadelphia, the parishes that are being permitted to stay independent while they study ways they can collaborate are Mother of Divine Providence, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady Help of Christians, St. Adalbert and St. George.
Factors considered include shifts in Catholic populations, concentrated density of parishes in a limited geographic area, history of declining Mass attendance and receiving of the sacraments, economic challenges , facilities and availability of clergy.
“It is hoped that the end result will be the strongest possible parishes that are poised for stability, growth and service to God’s people now and far into the future throughout the five-county archdiocese,” archdiocesan officials have said in the past.
Members of Notre Dame Church have appealed the closure of their 3,527-member parish to the Vatican, citing the facts that, unlike Our Lady of Peace, the parish is financially solvent and has a thriving grade school. Also, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Catholic Social Services built and opened a Don Guanella residence for eight developmentally disabled men on the Notre Dame campus in June. In the summer archdiocesan officials had proposed tearing down the Notre Dame rectory and building three more Don Guanella residences on the property but apparently abandoned the idea when they met resistance from Ridley Township commissioners.
The closures of Holy Saviour and Immaculate Conception at the end of June 2013 eliminated the remaining industrial riverfront parishes between Chester and the Delaware state line.
“As much as we need to evangelize, when we pull-up stakes in perceived low socio-economic areas, it doesn’t help the church,” said Immaculate Conception parishioner Michael Petrillo in June 2013.
Members of both Immaculate Conception and Holy Saviour appealed to Chaput to keep their parishes open, but he stood by his decision that they should close and merge with St. John Fisher. Friends of Holy Saviour and Friends of Immaculate Conception, with the assistance of a canon lawyer, unsuccessfully appealed the archbishop’s decision to the Vatican via Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the U.S. liaison to the Holy See based at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.
Changing demographics have been blamed for the closure or merger of 25 Delaware County parish grade schools in the last 40 years, with five regional Catholic elementary schools established in 2012 as a result of sustainability recommendations from an archdiocesan Blue Ribbon Commission. Archdiocesan high schools have also been affected. Notre Dame Catholic Girls High School in the Moylan section of Nether Providence closed in 1981 and St. James Catholic Boys High School in Chester closed in 1993.
