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Archdiocese of Cincinnati announces priest assignments as part of Beacons of Light

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Parishioners can now find out who their priest will be as part of the Beacons of Light reorganization.

The Archdiocese released the information on Monday.

As part of Beacons of Light , 208 parishes are coming together as 57 Parish Families. The groupings range from one to as many as eight different churches.

The assignment plan also includes pastors and parochial vicars.

Priests provided input about where they'd like to be and how their skills would fit for each Family. The Archdiocese also took into consideration staffing and pastoral leadership needs for each Family of Parishes, and the determination of best fit between priest candidates and various Families.

Recommended assignments were submitted to Archbishop Dennis Schnurr for final approval.

For six months, there will be training, workshops and other resources for priests, deacons and parish staff, according to the Archdiocese.

Priest assignments will take effect on July 1.

Click HERE for the assignments

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Archdiocese announce priest assignments, families of parishes as part of Beacons of Light project

Immaculate Conception Church Immaculate Conception Church, a Catholic parish, located on 2300 S. Smithville Rd. in Dayton's Belmont neighborhood was recently decorated for Christmas Advent Masses such as Fourth Sunday in Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Feast of the Holy Family and Solemnity of Mary - Holy Day of Obligation. The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1966 and is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. For more information about Masses, community outreach programs and events, visit icparishdayton.org. Photo taken on December 20, 2018. PHOTO / TOM GILLIAM (Tom Gilliam)

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has completed its assignment plan for pastors and parochial vicars for the Families of Parishes that were announced late last year.

The priest assignments, which are available to view on the Beacons of Light website , will take effect July 1.

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“This announcement is the culmination of the Priests’ Personnel Board’s many months of discernment and work,” the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said in a statement. “The assignments announcement aids leaders who are preparing for the implementation of Families of Parishes.”

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati said the restructuring was needed to “garner stability and position the diocese for growth.”

“Our current infrastructure and schedules were built for a different era. In many cases, our church buildings are grossly underutilized,” the Archdiocese said. " In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the average Sunday Mass is about one-third full.”

Another reason for the moves was because the Archdiocese said priests are stretched to the limit and fewer priests are expected to be able to serve as pastors in the coming years.

The Archdiocese projects that the number of priests available for assignment will decline by about 20 percent over the next five years.

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Beacons of Light: Archdiocese of Cincinnati reveals final parish reconfiguration plan

CINCINNATI — The Archdiocese of Cincinnati on Sunday released the final details of its reconfiguration plan that will consolidate its 208 existing parishes into 57 “families of parishes.” The changes will also affect the distribution of priests and other diocesan staff and could, down the road, impact the future of some local Catholic schools.

What You Need To Know

The move consolidates 208 parishes into 57 'families of parishes' the move will also affect priest and staff distribution and potentially operations at local catholic schools the archdiocese initiated the beacons of light two years ago to address mounting challenges changes start to go into effect this summer.

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr announced the final Beacons of Light plan in person to the faithful attending the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass at Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati. He also recorded a message that played at all Masses across the Archdiocese this weekend.

He's "convinced" that this process "born of great hope, will enable us to form stronger parishes, centered on the Eucharist, that radiate the love of Christ and joy of the Gospel in a world that is frequently indifferent or even hostile."

In his comments, Schnurr stressed an understanding that the moves may be "difficult" for some to accept given years-old connections to specific churches and related traditions. But he believes in the end the moves will have a "powerful and positive impact" on the future of this Archdiocese.

The changes are a byproduct of a long-term planning initiative the Archdiocese initiated two years ago called Beacons of Light. The goal was to look at the current status of the local Catholic Church and come up with a realistic plan for moving forward given ongoing challenges.

Issues range from decreased Mass attendance to fewer kids enrolled in diocesan schools to a rapidly declining number of priests. The Archdiocese said the existing number of priests, many of whom are at or over retirement age, are already stretched too thin.

Beyond its more than 200 churches, the Archdiocese has 112 primary and secondary schools and other facilities spread across its 19-country area in southwestern and southern Ohio.

How it will work

There are six regional quadrants across the 19-county Archdiocese. Each quadrant contains several parish families. The size of each family stems from a combination of factors, including geography, the listed number of Roman Catholic households in a specific parish and average Mass attendance at each church.

The largest parish families include six churches. An example is the family labeled South 7, which is made up of St. Bartholomew, Assumption, St. Vivian, St. Clare, Mother of Christ and St. Bernard (Spring Grove Village). It has two priests assigned to it.

The neighboring parish family, South 4, has four churches and three priests. St. Gertrude in Madeira is the only parish in South 13. It has two priests.

Schnurr told the congregants this weekend that he's "convinced" the reconfiguration will allow the Archdiocese to "form stronger parishes" centered around the church teachings.

In spring 2022, the Archdiocese will outline priest assignments. The implementation of families of parishes will formally begin July 1, 2022. 

You can see the map of the new configuration below.

The need for change

Schnurr said much of the existing infrastructure was built or purchased to accommodate a different era. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati celebrated its bicentennial earlier this year.

Today, across the Archdiocese there are about 160,000 registered Catholic households, housing about 442,000 people. Those numbers may seem high, but they're really small compared to historic highs of nearly 600,000.

For perspective, while Philadelphia and Detroit have roughly the same number of parishes as Cincinnati, those dioceses each have more than 1 million Catholics.

Religious practice has been declining in both the United States and in the Cincinnati region.

From 2010 to 2019, local sacramental practice — things like baptisms, first communions and weddings — dropped by roughly 23%, per the Archdiocese. They said school enrollment fell 14% over that same period.

The Archdiocese said their facilities are "grossly underutilized."

The average Sunday Mass is about one-third full, per the Archdiocese. While still one of the largest Catholic school systems in the country, the numbers have dropped significantly over the years. In 1970, there were 105,000 students in Catholic schools in Cincinnati, while today it's closer to 44,000, a nearly 60% drop.

There are only 140 active priests available for assignment across the 200-plus parishes in the Archdiocese; 26 of them are over the age of 70. Projections call for that number to decline by 20% over the next five years.

"We have a responsibility to make the best use of all the means which God has provided us to pursue this sacred mission. The purpose of Beacons of Light is to ensure that all our resources – human, physical and financial – are properly ordered to missionary discipleship," Schnurr wrote in a letter to parishioners.

For the past two years, the Archdiocese has collected data from its schools and churches. Working with a consulting group, they came up with several rounds of modeling of possible configurations.

In October, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati presented a draft of the plan to parishioners for their review and feedback. The open comment period elicited nearly 8,000 comments and has resulted in several changes to the configuration.

"Thank you to the thousands of Catholics in the archdiocese who have been engaged in this initiative over the last several months. Your thoughtful feedback has significantly shaped this phase of our pastoral planning and for that I am deeply grateful," Schnurr said.

More information about Beacons of Light, including frequently asked questions and downloadable resources are available at BeaconsAOC.org . 

Families of Parishes by Lydia Taylor on Scribd

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Archdiocese announces priest assignments under reorganization plan

CINCINNATI — The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has announced priest assignments as part of its reorganization plan, known as Beacons of Light.

On Monday, priest assignments for new parish configurations was announced to Greater Cincinnati in a press release.

Beacons of Light was initially announced in October 2021 , but after feedback from parishioners and priests, the plan was revised in December to streamline consolidation between parishes in the city.

The final “Families of Parishes” map saw “a considerable number of changes, but collectively they’re changes that resulted in a stronger configuration,” said archdiocese spokesperson Jennifer Schack.

The Archdiocese received roughly 7,800 comments from local Catholics about the Beacons of Light restructuring plan, which assigned parishes to groups that will be asked to consolidate operations in the next five years. Schack said about 25% of the public comments involved "local considerations."

“Although we had conceptually these ideas of the existing relationships, hearing it from the people that are in the parishes of their hopes for the future or success stories of how they’re working together already, those local considerations were definitely highlighted and made for some edits that are hopefully very strong for the final arrangement,” Schack said.

The reconfiguring of parishes happened in response to a decline in membership and in overall priests over the years.

Priest assignments were a result of the Priests' Personnel Board's work over several months. The process of placing priests in Families of Parishes took into consideration input from each priest on skills, personal choice and retirement plans where applicable.

View the Families of Parishes and priest assignments below:

Archdiocese Priest Assignments by WCPO 9 News on Scribd

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Catholics will see new priests in the pulpit this weekend in Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Thousands of Catholics will see a new priest in the pulpit this weekend as a major reorganization of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati moves forward.

Almost all of the archdiocese's 150 priests will be affected in some way by the reorganization, known as Beacons of Light , and at least half of them will begin new roles at new parishes on July 1. To see the full list, scroll to the bottom of the story.

The shuffling of jobs is the latest step in a process that is remaking the archdiocese's parishes and schools in response to changing demographics, shrinking church attendance and a continuing priest shortage.

Under Beacons of Light, the archdiocese's 208 parishes now are part of 5760 "families of parishes" that will share priests, schools and resources. In the next few years, the new parish families will rework Mass schedules, create new parish councils and decide whether to close churches and schools.

The reorganization is one of the largest in the region's history and will in some way impact every Catholic priest, parishioner and student in the archdiocese, which stretches across 19 counties in western and southern Ohio.

Before this weekend, most of the coming changes have been visible only on spreadsheets and color-coded maps circulated by the archdiocese. Now, with the new parish families model officially in place, Catholics will see those changes in the pulpit as their new priests begin work .

"I think it's fair to say you have a chance to see a new face this weekend," said Jennifer Schack, the archdiocese's spokeswoman.

The changes are unlikely to shock many Catholics. Priests learned of their new assignments several months ago and most parishioners found out soon after. Schack said Catholics have been saying goodbye to departing priests and welcoming new ones for weeks, even if they don't begin their new roles until July 1.

Still, the movement of so many priests in such a short time is unusual. And some now are in roles that didn't exist until Beacons of Light created them.

Archbishop Dennis Schnurr acknowledged so much change in such a short period of time might be difficult for some Catholics, especially as the new parish families consider how to consolidate or close churches and schools.

"There will undoubtedly be hard decisions involving sacrifice and loss," Schnurr wrote in a June 5 letter to Catholics. "As we move forward into an unsure and sometimes confusing future, let us stay united as the Body of Christ."

Schnurr said he believes the coming changes will "bear great fruit in the future."

Catholics generally have greeted the Beacons of Light effort with a mix of apprehension and optimism. Parishes are the center of religious life for Catholics, binding families together, sometimes across generations, through worship, festivals, fish fries, bingo nights, schools and sports.

The planning process for Beacons of Light began more than two years ago with a report outlining the many challenges facing the archdiocese. The report estimated the total number of priests will fall to 125 over the next decade and it determined that many parishes and schools no longer were located where large numbers of Catholics live.

The priests who begin work this weekend in their new roles will help decide how to address those challenges in the years to come.

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The Priest Assignments As Announced For The Implementation Of Beacons Of Light, Can Be Found Here:

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17 priests named pastors of parishes seventeen priests have been appointed pastors of parishes in the archdiocese, the cardinal’s office has announced.

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