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Dear Friends,
The diocese of Oakland has been working hard on the Mission Alignment Process for the past couple of years, in which 100% of the parishes participated with individual responses exceeding 20,000. After the survey in which over 600 Christ the King and St. Stephen parishioners participated, we have had two meetings with members of our leadership teams engaging with good will with the representatives of the diocese. Recently, all the priests of our deanery met with Bishop Barber and his team in the chancery. The discussions centered on restructuring the diocese with parish mergers as well as collaboration among deanery parishes with regard to Faith Formation and other aspects of parish life.
What exactly is a deanery? Under canon law, the bishop has the ability to group parishes into regional areas within a diocese, according to their geographic location. These regions are called deaneries. The dean is, in a way, the representative for the bishop on coordinating regional collaboration of priests. A dean’s main task is to first and foremost provide support to the faithful and priests of his deanery, but also to act as a liaison between the activities of his deanery and the bishop. We belong to Deanery 9 which encompasses Martinez, Concord and Pleasant Hill parishes including St. Stephen Community. Currently, I am the Dean, and Helen Christian coordinates the meetings on my behalf. We are working on a number of areas of collaboration right now including creating a master calendar for Faith Formation.
Parish restructuring has become a reality for many US dioceses. In dioceses across the country, Catholics are grappling with feelings of confusion, anger, and sadness as their parishes are restructured. Whether through a merger or a decision to partner with one or more parishes, restructuring impacts parish life, identity, and sometimes beloved church property. I give credit to Bishop Barber for his continued consultation with priests and the leadership councils of parishes.
Parish restructuring reflects the reality of fewer practicing Catholics and the lack of vocations to the priesthood. You may have noticed the space in church pews widening between you and your fellow Catholics attending Sunday Mass in recent years. It is not your imagination. Since 1955, there has been a slow but steady decline in regular church attendance among older Catholics, leading to the current situation where no more than 49% of Catholics in any age category report attending church. Restructuring may also be necessary because a parish no longer serves large immigrant congregations of another era.
In 2019, the US Church had just under 36,000 priests, a decline of almost 40% from 1970, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. During the same period, the number of US parishes declined by about 7%, according to CARA.
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