‘New vision of church’ becomes clear as Saint John Catholic diocese announces closure of 9 churches

The Saint John Diocese has announced plans to close nine of its churches by this September as part of a revitalization and realignment project.

Starting on Monday, parishes will begin clustering together to form new parishes. They’ll be declared newly merged parishes on September 1.

The decision caps off a planning process that has lasted nearly a decade and will see its 58 parishes be reduced to just 27 — but that doesn’t mean everyone is happy with the decision.

Ann Barrett, her husband and his family have worshiped at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Saint John for nearly 100 years.

But it’s one of the churches scheduled to shut down as part of realignment project.

“I just think what they’re doing now is sort of, they’re taking a few away now and then it seems to me there will probably be a few more later,” said Barret.

“I don’t know the whole setup of changing the idea of what a parish means is something I’m not very happy with either.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I don't know the whole setup of changing the idea of what a parish means is something I'm not very happy with either."

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READ MORE: Moncton’s Catholic churches face possible closures

Bishop Robert Harris say it has not been an easy decision to make.

“To do we’re doing is meant to make sure that as the years go by our Catholic Church will be revitalized,” Harris told Global News on Monday.

Many churches have been dealing with declining attendance for years, making it increasingly difficult to pay the bills and even more difficult to close some of them.

“That’s a real sad moment for them because their history, their religious experience… was part of that church,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That's a real sad moment for them because their history, their religious experience… was part of that church," he said.

Saint John is set to bear the greatest financial burden of the revitalization project. The 23 parishes in the region will merge into 13 parishes and five churches will be closed.

Those include:

• Holy Rosary Catholic Church
• Holy Trinity Church
• St. Peter’s Church
• Saint John the Baptist Church
• St. Augustine Church

In Fredericton, 19 parishes will be merged into eight and the Our Lady of Fatima Church will be closed.

In the Miramichi region 16 parishes will be merged into six. Three of the region’s churches will close as a result of the decision.

They are:

• Church of the Holy Family in Barryville
• ​Church of All Saints in Millbank
• Our Lady of Good Counsel in Millerton

WATCH: Catholic church in Moncton holds last mass on Easter Sunday

2:00 Catholic church in Moncton holds last mass on Easter Sunday

Harris is concerned that he may lose some parishioners as a result of the closures, but hopes others will stay and contribute to what he calls “this new vision of church.”

“We’re hoping to have full churches on Sunday that that incorporate inter-generational communities which means babies up to grandparents and not just grandparents,” he said.

With files from Andrew Cromwell