(LifeSiteNews) — The Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, under Bishop Andrew Cozzens, citing a massive shortage of priests and a substantial decrease in parishioners, announced that it plans to end the celebration of Sunday Mass at seven of its parishes.
In June 13 and July 18 statements, Cozzens announced that St. Philip in Falun, St. Mary in Badger, St. Mary in Euclid, St. Francis Xavier in Oklee, St. Francis of Assisi in Fisher, St. Joseph in Oslo, and St. Ann in Goodridge will cease to offer Sunday Masses in late summer and early fall, shrinking the number of Sunday Masses in the diocese from 65 to 58.
The bishop explained that the diocese made the difficult decision after months of prayer and discernment due to both a shortage of priests and a decline in vocations to the priesthood as well as declining attendance at each of the parishes.
“The decision to cease celebrating Sunday Mass at a church is among the most difficult decisions a bishop must make,” Cozzens said in one of the statements.
“Our parish churches are not simply buildings. They are sacred places where generations have gathered to celebrate the Eucharist, the source and summit of our life,” he added. “They are places where families have celebrated central moments in their lives like baptisms, weddings, confirmations, funerals, anniversaries and countless Sundays gathered to hear his Word and to share in his Life.”
Cozzens then delved into the reasons for the closures, namely the declining population of faithful in the diocese, lack of priests available to serve these parish communities, and some of the parishes having few or even no young people in religious formation, and some even struggling to find musicians for Masses.
“Throughout this whole area of our diocese the population has been decreasing. Fewer people means schools have been combined, and civic resources are being shared throughout. And the demographers tell us this trend will continue with as much as a 40-60% decline in population in these counties in the next two decades,” he wrote.
“Some of these small parishes have no young people in religious formation, or at least very few. Some have trouble finding volunteers to keep the parish going. Some have trouble finding quality musicians to support the worship of God,” he added.
Cozzens continued:
We also continue to experience a shortage of priests. While our priests serve generously, there are limits to the number and locations of Masses they can celebrate on any given weekend. We must ensure that they can provide sustainable pastoral care and remain true spiritual fathers to the communities entrusted to them.
Cozzens also told local media that 32 of the diocese’s current active priests will be eligible to retire within the next decade. In his statement, the bishop further stressed that the diocese has yet to decide what it plans to do with the parish properties.
Several parishioners from the impacted parishes expressed disappointment to the North Dakota-based news site InForum.
“I think everybody is shocked,” Ashley Solem, a parishioner of St. Joseph’s in Oslo, told the outlet.
“The church is supposed to be the soul of the community; it’s supposed to bring people together and make the community a better place to live,” she added.
Another parishioner from St. Mary’s Church in Euclid lamented the fact that “when they built the church at St. Mary’s, it was a full house. It was packed,” he said. “When they built the church in 1967, I believe, they built it because they needed the room; the farming community was that big and that strong back then.”
In recent years, several Catholic churches across the United States and indeed the entire world have been forced to not only end their Sunday Masses but shut down their parishes completely for a variety of reasons. In some cases, dioceses have sold the property to Muslims who plan to convert the former sacred spaces into mosques, and in some cases, even sold former churches to secular owners who converted the space into a pro-LGBT nightclub.
The Diocese of Crookston did not respond to LifeSite’s request for comment by publication time.
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