Pittsburgh, Pa., May 20, 2019 / 13:35 pm
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has announced the first results of a sweeping reorganization of its parishes, creating five new parishes and designating five former parish churches as shrines.
These changes are the first results of the "On Mission for The Church Alive" initiative, charged with reordering the parochial landscape of the diocese to accommodate fewer priests and shifting parish attendance. The plan, first announced in 2018, will eventually see the 188 parishes of the diocese consolidated into 58 new groupings.
The announced changes will go into effect on July 1, 2019.
In a letter to the clergy and parishioners of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop David A. Zubik credited the soon-to-be-merged parishes for working "extremely hard" since October of last year to create strong relationships between the communities.