CNA Staff, Jun 3, 2020 / 15:01 pm
The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced a major restructuring process that could combine over 200 parishes into "family" groupings that aim to alter and, perhaps, avoid, aspects of the parish merger model.
"Even before the pandemic, we knew God wanted to renew our parishes. The structures we inherited served our mission well in the past, but they need to be renewed and aligned for mission," Archbishop Allen Vigneron said in a May 31 announcement.
"And so, in prayer and in consultation with others, I've discerned that this is the time to respond in faith to our new reality and to better equip our parish communities for mission," he said.
The changes envision groupings of three to six parishes, in what the archdiocese is presenting as a "family of parishes" model. The archdiocese expects about 60 to 80 "family" groupings to be formed from its 218 parishes. These parishes serve about 1.4 million Catholics.