Churches survive parish merger

In the face of rising costs and fewer priests, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has merged six south Queens parishes into three - and combined two into a single parish in Brooklyn.
Saint Catherine of Sienna Church, at 118-22 Riverton Street, and Saint Pascal of Babylon Church, at 112-43 198th Street, have been merged in Saint Albans.
Saint Virgilius Church, 210 Noel Road in Broad Channel, has merged with Saint Camillus Church, 99-15 Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Rockaway Park.
The oldest parish in the diocese, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, located at 19-20 New Haven Avenue, was merged with Saint Gertrude, the fifth oldest parish, located at 336 Beach 38th Street, both in Far Rockaway.
The mergers, which officially took effect on Monday, September 1, are the fourth wave in a sea of changes instituted by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, dating back to early last year.
Financial reasons have been cited for the changes by the Diocese, which has closed or merged several catholic schools.
According to Reverend Kieran Harrington, the vicar of communications for the Diocese, “We really connected with the folks in each of the parishes and explained the reason why the mergers were necessary.”
Harrington was careful to point out that the churches themselves would remain open and that few changes are expected in religious education and church senior programs. He admitted however, that the number of Masses at the churches in the merged parishes may have to be cut.
“People’s lives won’t be disrupted because the houses of worship are still open,” Harrington said, explaining that much of the savings will be realized by combining the church bulletins and office operations.
Since the urban diocese has so many working-class and new-arrival families, Harrington explained, they are facing great challenges. These are complicated by a declining number of men entering the priesthood, leading to a shortage of priests, he said.
Harrington said that the Diocese decided not to close any churches, explaining, “Anytime a person’s house of worship closes, it’s a difficult situation, and we didn’t want to do that here.”
Instead, “We wanted to bring people into the process and let them take ownership,” Harrington said.
“People understand the reality because of the shortage of vocations,” Reverend Jim Cunningham said at Saint Gertrude recently, speaking of the number of available priests.
Cunningham has led both the Saint Mary Star of the Sea and Saint Gertrude parishes for over a year, after the popular pastor of Saint Gertrude succumbed to cancer in July of 2007. They will continue to refer to the churches separately. “We didn’t want to change the names of the churches because of all the history down here,” he said.
Parishioners in Saint Albans took another view. They embraced a new identity as a single parish - Our Lady of Light.
“It was a decision of the entire parish to change the name,” said Reverend William Smith. “For us, it’s a merger of equals, he said.
Smith explained that the merger has built a stronger community- with the faithful from the two churches, which are roughly a mile from each other, interacting much more than they did before the merger.
Reverend Richard Ahlemeyer, a Broad Channel native, said his first Mass at Saint Virgilius, his home parish. Now his flock extends across the waters to Saint Camillus in Rockaway Beach, on the far side of the Cross Bay Bridge.
He gives thanks, among other things, for EZ-Pass.