Reconfiguration of Pittsfield parishes announced
Changes to be implemented by July 1st

By Terence Hegarty

PITTSFIELD – The Diocese of Springfield announced Feb. 11, at a 10 a.m. press conference at St. Joseph Church here, that Catholics in the City of Pittsfield will be served by four parishes and four priests beginning later this year.

That is in contrast to the nine parishes, one mission church and seven priests that currently serve the area. The changes are part of a pastoral plan for the reconfiguration of the area parishes that was approved by Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell last week.

Sacred Heart, St. Charles, St. Joseph, and St. Mark churches will remain open, with a pastor for each parish, according to the pastoral plan.

The remaining parishes, St. Francis Xavier, St. Mary the Morningstar, St. Teresa, Holy Family and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, along with its mission church of All Souls, will close.

In the Dalton/Hinsdale area, both St. Agnes and St. Patrick Chapel will remain open and be served by one priest.

Monsignor John J. Bonzagni, director of the Diocese of Springfield’s Pastoral Planning Office, facilitated the press conference and detailed the Pittsfield area pastoral plan for the media and the dozens of local parishioners who also attended.

“The current infrastructure of the Catholic Community of Pittsfield is not sustainable,” Msgr. Bonzagni told those gathered.

Bishop McDonnell notified Pittsfield-area parishioners of the planned changes via a letter that was read at all Masses last weekend. The changes are to be implemented by July 1, the bishop stated in his letter.
Some present at the press conference were from parishes that are slated to close. In general, their sentiments were that they knew this was coming and, while it is sad, it is something that they felt needed to be done.

“I sat in church and cried,” said Peggy Taylor recalling her reaction last Saturday to hearing the details of the pastoral plan for Pittsfield read from the pulpit at her parish of St. Teresa’s.

“However, I was not shocked,” Taylor told iObserve. “Those of us, especially at St. Teresa’s, have had a gut feeling for several years that it (closing of the parish) was coming.”

“I personally feel as if someone I loved has been very sick, and we’ve sort of known that person would be dying, but the doctor didn’t officially state ‘this person’s going to die.’”

Taylor said she felt, with the bishop’s letter, “that we have been told that St. Teresa’s ---it’s a death---is going to close.”

But, Taylor also said she is excited about the future, after the pain of the loss of her parish. “I’m very excited because I like a mix; and I think once we start mixing things up, we’re going to have much more exciting liturgies, stronger social justice programs, (and) we’re going to be able to offer something enticing to young people.”

The proposal was formulated by the Diocese of Springfield’s 12-member Pastoral Planning Committee following input from more than 100 area lay people, all of the priests in the area, and many deacons and pastoral ministers.

After seeking input from the diocesan Presbyteral Council, Bishop McDonnell accepted the recommendations of the committee.

“In keeping with the recommendations made,” Bishop McDonnell said in his letter, “and given the need to ensure that fair and equitable access to the Eucharist is available to every Catholic in western Massachusetts, given also the reality that there are fewer priests to serve and given the decline in Catholic population, the City of Pittsfield will be served by four parishes.”

The diocesan-wide pastoral planning process began in earnest with the release of the Mullin Report in March, 2006. The report considered every parish and mission in the diocese and divided the diocese into ten “regions.”

The Pittsfield Region (Region 2) comprises the parishes within the City of Pittsfield, the Town of Dalton and the chapel in the town of Hinsdale. This planning region also includes the towns of Hancock, Peru, Richmond, Washington and Windsor, which do not have Catholic church buildings.

Region 2 is the first in the diocese to have the planning phase of this pastoral planning initiative completed.

Bishop McDonnell stipulated in his letter that a fifth priest may be available to serve in Pittsfield. The letter further stated that that will not be determined until the pastoral planning process takes place in other regions of the diocese.

According to diocesan officials, if a fifth priest were made available, he would likely be assigned to help at any of the four parishes as needed.
Referring to the four parishes slated to remain in the City of Pittsfield, the committee’s plan states, “These parishes are fairly evenly distributed around the city and are the church buildings with the highest seating accommodation.”

In the five-page report, the committee also concludes that, “The resulting savings in operating expenses as well as any revenue from the sale of property would put the remaining parishes in a secure financial state, allowing them to fund programs and personnel, individually or jointly.”

Monsignor Bonzagni said that both the clergy and the laity of the region expressed a clear desire to move forward quickly and to have the changes implemented at the same time.

He told those gathered that the parishes must now begin to plan how they will come together as “The Catholic Community of Pittsfield” and said his office will assist them.

He also said that many of the diocesan priests in the area have merged and closed parishes recently and they are willing to help parishioners through this painful process. “You won’t be alone,” Msgr. Bonzagni assured one parishioner who asked about what the near future would involve.

“Our faith is what we practice in buildings,” said Msgr. Bonzagni as he concluded the press conference. “Our faith is not in buildings, it’s in people.”

Additional listening sessions are being conducted in other regions of the diocese. To view the complete Pastoral Planning Committee report for Region 2, log onto www.diospringfield.org and click on the “Full Report on Region 2” hyperlink on the main page.