Five Washington County parishes to merge
Five Roman Catholic parishes in southeastern Washington County will merge to form St. Katharine Drexel parish, the Diocese of Pittsburgh announced in a news release Saturday evening.
The merger will take effect Jan. 8.
The five churches are: Ave Maria, Bentleyville; Saint Agnes, Richeyville; Saint Joseph, Roscoe; Saint Oliver Plunkett, Fredericktown; and Saint Thomas Aquinas, California. All parishioners will become St. Katharine Drexel members.
The parish church and offices will be located at Ave Maria, the diocese said. The other five church buildings will be used for occasional worship.
Bishop David A. Zubik said in a prepared statement: “I know that this has not been easy for you. Jesus never promised that it would be easy to carry his message of love and mercy to others. He was clear that sacrifice would be necessary. But your sacrifices position your parish for more effective ministry by addressing serious financial problems, sharing resources and allowing your clergy to focus on the spiritual work for which they were ordained.”
In July 2015, Zubik appointed Revs. Edward Yuhas and Paul Grunebach to serve the five parishes and form a team that would seek input and recommendations from parishioners about future parish life. The planning team met throughout the next year, and in October, the priests and pastoral and finance councils of the five parishes forwarded to Zubik a recommendation to merge.
The diocese is working on a major restructuring – “On Mission for the Church Alive!” – in response to declining Catholic populations and Mass and sacramental participation, including confirmations and marriages. That plan involves all parishes of the diocese, comprising six counties: Washington, Greene, Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence.
Work on this merger began before that process was implemented, Zubik said.