Archdiocese to shut 4 black churches

Declaring it can no longer subsidize financially struggling congregations, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago announced Thursday that it will shutter four predominantly black parishes this summer and that more closures may follow.

The archdiocese plans to end all operating grants to parishes without schools at the conclusion of the fiscal year in June. Saddled with the high costs of maintaining aging buildings, the small South Side parishes simply could not survive without the money, officials said.

The decision represents the largest single closure of African-American parishes in more than a decade. Slated for closure are Assumption B.V.M./St. Catherine of Genoa, 640 W. 118th St., St. Gelasius, 6415 S. Woodlawn Ave., St. Laurence, 7140 S. Dorchester Ave., and St. Leo the Great, 7747 S. Emerald Ave.

“In a perfect world, no Catholic parish or school would close,” said Bishop Joseph N. Perry, the highest ranking African-American in the archdiocese. “It’s upsetting, but the Catholic Church believes these parishes have little prospect for long-term viability.”

Registered membership at the four parishes has remained at about 500 families total since the 1970s, officials said. After the churches close June 30, parishioners are being encouraged to switch to other Catholic churches.

Perry, who was part of a task force that provided Cardinal Francis George with snapshots of the parishes’ financial condition, said each church needs about $3 million in repairs that neither the congregation nor the archdiocese can afford. Shutting them down was the only option, he said.

George, who approved the closures, said in a statement that “the decisions are sound and necessary.”

The archdiocese suggested more parishes may be closed in the future, given the reality that more and more churches are being asked to shoulder their full expenses. In all, about 15 percent of the archdiocese’s parishes cannot meet their financial obligations from Sunday collections, according to finance director Tom Brennan.

$5 million in subsidies

In this fiscal year, the archdiocese gave out $22 million to help operate Catholic parishes and schools. Of that, $5 million went to subsidize parishes’ non-school ministries. The archdiocese will continue to provide money to boost some struggling Catholic schools but wants to cap those grants at $6 million a year beginning in fiscal 2003.

The archdiocese said its review of the viability of area parishes started with Perry’s vicariate because officials could draw on the expertise of an existing group, the Archdiocesan Black Catholic Convocation Implementation Committee. The committee assists the archdiocese in planning for the needs of African-American Catholics.

Talks about the future of these particular parishes have been ongoing for several years, Perry said.

But the archdiocese’s research and planning office also is evaluating parishes throughout Cook and Lake Counties, looking at church attendance, location, condition of facilities and financial status.

The number of parish closures announced Thursday is the largest since 1990, when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin approved changes that shrank the archdiocese by 32 parishes and 25 schools. Before that, 14 black parishes were shuttered in the late 1980s.

Also Friday, the archdiocese announced the closure of two more Catholic elementary schools, St. Denis on the South Side and St. James in south suburban Sauk Village. The archdiocese had announced in January that 14 schools would close at the end of the school year.

The schools added to the list are among the system’s most ethnically diverse. But poor prospects for new enrollment, made worse by a sagging local economy, forced the archdiocese to pull the plug, officials said.

At St. Gelasius, in the Woodlawn neighborhood, the small congregation has known for two weeks that this day was coming. Still, the news hit hard for parishioners, who have known church closings before. St. Gelasius was the result of a 1990 merger of Holy Cross and St. Clara/St. Cyril, a parish that itself merged back in 1969.

“One of their fears is, `Are we just going to keep going from closing church to closing church?’ Some of these people have been together for 40 years or more,” said Rev. Michael Mulhall, pastor of St. Gelasius for three years.

Pastor’s new challenges

When St. Gelasius closes, Mulhall will become pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle in Hyde Park. His remaining challenges, he said, are to preserve the St. Gelasius food bank and clothing pantry, and to make sure his parishioners find new churches.

He hopes to see at least some of the faithful at St. Thomas the Apostle, which is eight blocks away, and two other Catholic churches can be found within 17 blocks. But the priest is concerned about the parish’s occasional churchgoers, especially shut-ins, and wants to make sure everyone finds “a faith community that will sustain them and nourish them.”

“They’re faithful people. They’re wonderful people,” he said of his flock.

Some parishioners said the closures present the church with a larger set of issues, namely, how can the archdiocese purport to want more African-American members and at the same time close four predominantly black churches?

More Top Picks Best Side Sleeper Pillows For Your Head

`Given lives to church’

“Many of these parishioners were born into the church, married in the church and expect to be buried in the church,” said Alice Johnson, a member of St. Gelasius for 31 years. “They have given their whole lives to the church.”

If black parishes dwindle in numbers, “How are you going to tell people you want more African-Americans in the church?” she asked.

Helen Shannon, a parishioner at St. Leo the Great, said she was disheartened to hear her church of 40 years would close. The last thing the neighborhood needs, she said, is another empty building, especially at a time when the Auburn-Gresham community is starting to gentrify.

Perhaps what is needed, she added, is a little more patience from George and other church leaders.

“I really wish it could stay open as a church. It’s very serviceable,” Shannon said. “What does this do to a community that’s trying to revitalize?”

Joan Neal, who chaired the Archdiocesan Black Catholic Convocation Implementation Committee’s task force, encouraged parishioners to attend other nearby Catholic churches. No one should feel shut out, she said.

“A parish that is more financially stable means new life for them,” said Neal.