Timothy M Dolan talks with the press after addressing Long Island Catholics in Hicksville. (March 3, 2012)” class=”wp-image-13575618″/>Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced Thursday the New York Archdiocese will be consolidating several parishes.
About 50 churches, 14 % of the total parishes, will undergo “purgatory” under the diocese’s Making All Things New strategic pastoral planning, Dolan wrote on the diocese’s website.
Financial difficulties and dwindling attendance in the 368 churches in Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island and upstate New York, mandated the change, according to the cardinal.
“What we’re talking about is realism. Families do it, our schools have done it, corporations do it — now our parishes must do it,” he wrote.
A spokeswoman for the diocese said it doesn’t yet have a list of which churches will be affected by the consolidation.
