The Catholic Diocese of Peoria is presenting to the public a possible roadmap for consolidating and restructuring parishes.
The Round 2 Parish Models were rolled out Sunday. The diocese calls them an effort to gather feedback and get conversations going during a "challenging, yet helpful moment."
It's part of the ongoing Growing Disciples process. The diocese says there are too few priests to staff the 156 parishes that currently exist. That problem's only expected to get worse. Within the next decade, almost a third of the priests in the diocese will be age 70 or older.
Attendence at individual Peoria-area parishes declined from 11% to 69% between 2015 and 2022. Only St. Anthony of Padua in Bartonville (8%), St. John in Benson (23%), and St. Mary in El Paso (12%) saw attendence gains over that timespan.
The plan for Peoria involves making the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception a primary site for a new merged parish. St. Joseph and Sacred Heart would become secondary sites, and St. Bernard would fall out of use.
St. Ann and St. Mark would continue largely as is, though St. Mark would drop ministry at Bradley University's Newman Center.
The diocese said the goal is to require parishoners and priest to travel no further than 30 minutes to attend Mass.
Outside of Peoria, St. James in Williamsfield, St. John in Benson, St. Luke in Eureka, and St. Patrick in Havana are also recommended to be not in use.
No final decisions are made yet. Bishop Lou Tylka is set to make a formal announcement on Pentecost, May 14, 2023.
