The Roman Catholic churches in the Shenandoah area and Tamaqua will merge into a single parish in each borough in July, though two church buildings will provide worship space in both communities.
The announcements of the restructuring were made during the weekend Masses with the reading of letters from the Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown.
In Tamaqua, it was announced in a diocesan media release that St. Jerome and Ss. Peter and Paul parishes will merge and become the new St. John XXIII Parish, effective July 1. The new parish will continue to utilize both the St. Jerome and SS. Peter and Paul church buildings for divine worship. The new parish will be one of the first in the country dedicated to St. John XXIII.
The canonization of Blessed Pope John XXIII and Blessed Pope John Paul II will be celebrated on April 27, which is Divine Mercy Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, in Rome by Pope Francis.
Another media release from Allentown announced that, effective July 28, St. Mary Magdalen Parish in the West Mahanoy Township village of Lost Creek and Annunciation BVM, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Casimir, St. George, St. Stanislaus and St. Stephen parishes in Shenandoah will merge to form the new Divine Mercy Parish at what will become the former Annunciation BVM Church building, Cherry and Chestnut streets. St. Casimir Church, North Jardin Street, will also be retained and used for sacred worship.
Father Walter J. Ciszek, a Shenandoah native and native son of St. Casimir Parish, is a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic church. He was imprisoned and detained in the former Soviet Union for nearly 24 years but continued to minister to people there despite possible harmful consequences to himself. The local research and paperwork for sainthood, done by the Father Ciszek Prayer League, have been completed and forwarded to the Vatican in Rome.
The Baptismal font used for Ciszek's Baptism as an infant is still in use at his native church.
When Ciszek was released from the former Soviet Union in 1963 in a "prisoner exchange," he returned home to celebrate a solemn Mass of Thanksgiving in the church. He died Dec. 8, 1984 - the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception - and is buried at the Jesuit Novitiate in Wernersville.
The Shenandoah/Lost Creek consolidation is a continuation of the restructuring of parishes called for by the Second Synod of Allentown in 2006. Plans in sixteen regions of the Diocese went into effect in July 2008, but plans for a number of other regions, including the Shenandoah area, remained under review or were still in development at that time.
In 2008, the Allentown Diocese, then under the leadership of the Most Rev. Edward P. Cullen as bishop, consolidated 47 parishes throughout the five-county diocese, with 32 of those parishes located in Schuylkill County. However, no decision was made on some parishes the county, including Region V, which includes the three Frackville parishes, along with St. Joseph and St. Vincent de Paul in Girardville, St. Joseph and St. Mauritius in Ashland, and Our Lady of Good Counsel, Gordon; and Region IV, which includes Annunciation BVM, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Casimir, St. George, St. Stephen and St. Stanislaus, all in Shenandoah; St. Mary Magdalen in Lost Creek, St. Joseph in Sheppton and St. Mary in Ringtown.
Since that time, decisions had been made involving some parishes. In June 2013, the diocese announced the Frackville parishes of Annunciation BVM, St. Ann and St. Joseph would merge into St. Joseph the Worker Parish, though the three churches would continue to be used for worship and parish purposes.
In July 2013, the diocese announced that St. Mary Church in Ringtown and St. Joseph Church in Sheppton would remain independent parishes under the care of one pastor or administrator.
Nothing has been announced about the Ashland, Girardville and Gordon churches.
The decision in the region that consisted of Tamaqua, Brockton and Tuscarora went into effect in July 2008. That plan called for consolidating parishes in Brockton and Tuscarora into St. Jerome Parish. It also recommended a restructuring of St. Jerome and Ss. Peter and Paul parishes sometime in the future, but did not specify a time frame for its implementation. In the letter read at Mass this weekend, Barres indicated that after six years, that time has come.
"This decision has not been made easily or without deliberation," Barres said. "Throughout the process from 2005 until now, hundreds of persons have been involved in gathering and analyzing information, surveying parishioners and looking at the present and future needs of the Tamaqua parishes."
The new plan was developed after consulting with the pastors in Tamaqua, the Rev. John A. Frink (St. Jerome) and the Rev. William Linkchorst (Ss. Peter and Paul), after they had conferred with a renewed regional committee about the pastoral and temporal state of the parishes. The Council of Priests and the Diocesan Pastoral Council also recommended the merger.
The bishop closed his letter by saying, "I ask, that during the three months of preparation for the implementation of (this plan) ⦠you will join me in fervent prayer ⦠that the good work God has begun ⦠will, through His grace and your spiritual support, be brought to a successful completion."
Who would become the pastor of the merged parish was not announced. According to a published report, Linkchorst announced at Mass on Saturday that he plans to retire.
The plan announced for the Shenandoah parishes this weekend was developed in consultation with Monsignor Ronald Bocian, the pastor of all seven parishes involved. It mirrors more closely the pastoral reality that has developed over the last six years, with the sharing of one pastor among all the parishes, the consolidation of parish services, and the very limited use of some of the church buildings because of a lack of funds needed for necessary repairs or even routine maintenance. The Council of Priests and the Diocesan Pastoral Council also recommended the merger.
The bishop's letter also spoke of the similar process in the decision for the Shenandoah and Lost Creek parishes.
"You are now founding a parish to help the Catholics of Shenandoah and Lost Creek to remain vibrant in their faith and to meet the challenges of promoting the Gospel in a world much different from that which your ancestors encountered. Your faith will continue to sustain you," Barres wrote.
Bocian read the bishop's letter during the homily at weekend Masses. At 7:30 a.m., he read the letter in St. Casimir Church with about 50 people present. The letter said the decision was made in order to "provide for the spiritual care of the faithful, to address the drastically-changed pastoral situation in Shenandoah and Lost Creek, to simplify parish administration, to revive the maintenance of Catholic education and provide outreach to the Spanish-speaking immigrants, and finally, desiring the ability of the faithful to proclaim the Gospel."
The bishop stated that some of the church buildings would be closed "because of a lack of funds needed for necessary repairs, or even to carry out routine maintenance."
"The site of the new parish will be the former Annunciation BVM Church, whose title will be changed to Divine Mercy Church," Bocian said, reading from the letter. "The titular feast of the parish is the Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday. St. Casimir Church will be retained and used for sacred worship. The decree will become effective on Monday, July 28, 2014."
When he completed reading the letter, Bocian made no comments and walked to the altar, with the church so silent one could have heard a pin drop.
After Mass, Bocian declined to comment, directing the media to contact the diocese.