Major changes are coming to the Diocese of Saint John with a restructuring announced which will see parishes begin clustering to become 27 new parishes with 70 churches.
At the beginning of September, 14 clusters will be declared and that means 9 churches will be closed. The Saint John region will see 23 parishes merge into 13 and five churches will close.
Bishop Robert Harris tells CHSJ News this plan has taken a number of years to achieve and he recognizes it may be a blow to some people, but he hopes something new will come out of it as well.
“I don’t take pleasure in closing churches, it’s a sign that the community that was is no longer the community that is,” says Bishop Harris. “A smaller group of people, we’re still very much here and we want to grow our community.”
Bishop Harris says the goal is to start fresh, bring more people together to create new communities, and it will be done, carefully and respectfully.
“I want to make sure that all of those people who have lovingly cared for our community, who have participated…all of them should feel that they are not being lost in this particular merger,” says Bishop, “we went to make sure that they know that we know they’re there.”
In the Fredericton Region, 19 parishes will be merged into 8 and one church will close, and the Miramichi Region will see 16 parishes merge into 6 with three churches closing.
Tune into Pulse NB this Sunday after the 9 am news or again at 9 pm to hear the full interview with Bishop Harris.
The churches that will close include:
In Saint John:
Holy Trinity Church
St. Peter’s Catholic Church
Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church
St. Augustine Catholic Church in Grand Bay-Westfield
Holy Rosary Catholic Church in St. Stephen
In Fredericton:
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Parish Church
In Miramichi:
Church of the Holy Family in Barryville
Church of All Saints in Millbank
Our Lady of Good Counsel in Millerton
