Beacons of light and closing/consolidating of parishes

Why change the final configuration for parish families to preserve some existing pastoral regions (e.g. Winton-Wyoming) while not others (e.g. Bridgetown)? Maybe it was as simple as the respective pastors exhorting their congregations to make known their desire to keep the existing relationships, but I doubt it.

Also as the WCPO article points out, you have some strange parish families such as S-12.

Take for instance the S-12 family of parishes in southern Hamilton County. It now includes Holy Family parish in Price Hill, St. Joseph in the West End, St. Leo the Great in North Fairmount, St. Boniface in Northside and St. Therese Little Flower in Mt. Airy.

The new parish family is expected to have three priests. To reach all five parishes in a round-trip tour, those priests would have to drive 22.7 miles and spend 47 minutes in their car, assuming no traffic jams on I-75.
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Even if the AoC had a good reason to not group the OLG parishes together, St. Therese Little Flower is 5 minutes from St. James White Oak and 7 minutes from St. Ignatius. Being in a parish family with either of those would make more sense than what was decided.

It would have been nice to get some explanation about the thought process that went into the composition of every parish family.
 
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EHS 2001 said:
Why change the final configuration for parish families to preserve some existing pastoral regions (e.g. Winton-Wyoming) while not others (e.g. Bridgetown)?
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I wondered that myself. I really wish there was a town hall or something at which we could ask questions because I cannot fathom a good reason for the configuration of the Als/Martin/OLL/Cate/Antoninus vs. Jude/OLV/Joe.
 
MickeyMantle said:
I wondered that myself. I really wish there was a town hall or something at which we could ask questions because I cannot fathom a good reason for the configuration of the Als/Martin/OLL/Cate/Antoninus vs. Jude/OLV/Joe.
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The whole process comes across as somewhat lazy on the AOC's part. In Chicago they did things very differently with their "Renew My Church" process. There they grouped parishes into larger groupings and had parishioners pick the best scenarios for what the future would look like. This process has taken 3 years and they have a full time staff working with each grouping. Here it's like they just ignored any reality on the ground and just threw things together without any consideration the real life impact of the families. For example the Als/Martin/OLL/Cate/Antoninus grouping has serious flaws that will be difficult to deal with and that a discernment process could have led to a better configuration of parishes with Jude and potentially others being considered.
 
All the flaws will be worked out because those schools/churches will be closed. There’s no point in doing this and not making a lot of closures.
 
This weekend priests are allowed to announce the leadership for the newly formed "families of parishes". On Monday February 14th beginning at noon assignments for all families of parishes will be posted on the Archdiocese's Beacons of Light website. Below is what I am aware of so far. I realize some of these families will have additional priests assigned and may have additional retired priests assist with saying masses. Those who attend masses this weekend may be able to fill-in more of the blanks.

Dominic-Victory-SVDP-St.Al's-St.Simon Family:
Pastor: Fr. Ben O'Cinnsealaigh (current pastor at Victory)
Associate: Fr. Chris Lack (current associate at Dominic)

Visitation-Jude-St.Joe's(North Bend) Family:
Pastor: Fr. Donald Sicillano (current pastor at St. Bernard Taylor Creek)
Associate: Fr. Gerard Hiland (current pastor at St. Bart/St. Vivian)
 
Prof912 said:
This weekend priests are allowed to announce the leadership for the newly formed "families of parishes". On Monday February 14th beginning at noon assignments for all families of parishes will be posted on the Archdiocese's Beacons of Light website. Below is what I am aware of so far. I realize some of these families will have additional priests assigned and may have additional retired priests assist with saying masses. Those who attend masses this weekend may be able to fill-in more of the blanks.

Dominic-Victory-SVDP-St.Al's-St.Simon Family:
Pastor: Fr. Ben O'Cinnsealaigh (current pastor at Victory)
Associate: Fr. Chris Lack (current associate at Dominic)

Visitation-Jude-St.Joe's(North Bend) Family:
Pastor: Fr. Donald Sicillano (current pastor at St. Bernard Taylor Creek)
Associate: Fr. Gerard Hiland (current pastor at St. Bart/St. Vivian)
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Where do visi and Jude pastors go?
 
ogealbhain said:
Where do visi and Jude pastors go?
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Fr. Hay who is the current pastor at St. Jude and St. Aloysius Bridgetown told everyone back in the fall that because of he turns 60 or 65 (whatever the age cutoff is) before the new pastoral assignments begin on July 1, 2022 he'll be considered a retired priest. The tone of his voice when he said that made me think he would prefer to stay on as a pastor somewhere, but that he and other priests his age weren't being given a choice in the matter.
 
EHS 2001 said:
Fr. Hay who is the current pastor at St. Jude and St. Aloysius Bridgetown told everyone back in the fall that because of he turns 60 or 65 (whatever the age cutoff is) before the new pastoral assignments begin on July 1, 2022 he'll be considered a retired priest. The tone of his voice when he said that made me think he would prefer to stay on as a pastor somewhere, but that he and other priests his age weren't being given a choice in the matter.
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Visi pastor?
 
An exerpt from the letter from Fr. Mark, current Visi pastor, to his parishioners from this week's bulletin:

1644680601300.png
 
EHS 2001 said:
Fr. Hay who is the current pastor at St. Jude and St. Aloysius Bridgetown told everyone back in the fall that because of he turns 60 or 65 (whatever the age cutoff is) before the new pastoral assignments begin on July 1, 2022 he'll be considered a retired priest. The tone of his voice when he said that made me think he would prefer to stay on as a pastor somewhere, but that he and other priests his age weren't being given a choice in the matter.
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He told us a few weeks ago that he was going somewhere in West Chester/Sharonville.
 
I wonder why Victory and Dominic get to keep their current priests. I suspect there will be some parishes that want to but will not be able to.
 
A few other things that I have heard through the "rumor mill" which have not been substantiated. Perhaps those who attend mass this weekend can verify if these are correct:
  • The new pastor for Antoninus-Lourdes-Martin-Catherine-Al's Bridgetown has some connection to the west side, perhaps Elder?
  • Two of the pastors in the aforementioned family will retire and be allowed to stay on. Not sure from which parishes (although we know it won't be St. Al's Bridgetown).
  • Fr. Jim from St. Dominic will also retire and be allowed to stay on.
 
Prof912 said:
A few other things that I have heard through the "rumor mill" which have not been substantiated. Perhaps those who attend mass this weekend can verify if these are correct:
  • The new pastor for Antoninus-Lourdes-Martin-Catherine-Al's Bridgetown has some connection to the west side, perhaps Elder?
  • Two of the pastors in the aforementioned family will retire and be allowed to stay on. Not sure from which parishes (although we know it won't be St. Al's Bridgetown).
  • Fr. Jim from St. Dominic will also retire and be allowed to stay on.
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According to a friend who works in one of the merged parishes the pastor will be Matthew Robben. Fr. Tony at St. Catharine and Fr. Terry at St. Martin will remain.
 
I'm actually happy with SW7 as much as I know. Glad Terry is sticking around. Four priests is a good number ... I was afraid we'd have two.
 
EHS 2001 said:
St. Ignatius had been unaffected by Beacons of Light, but now they’ll be getting a new pastor.
catholicaoc.org

Congratulations to Our Own Father Earl K. Fernandes, Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Columbus - Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Fr. Sean Wilson ARCHBISHOP SCHNURR’s Statement Bio VOCATION STORY PRAYER REFLECTION Curriculum vitae Bishop-elect Fernandes The Holy Father, Pope Francis, announced today that Father Earl K. Fernandes, of the Archdiocese […]
catholicaoc.org catholicaoc.org
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Happy for us in Cbus, though.
 
Prof912 said:
An exerpt from the letter from Fr. Mark, current Visi pastor, to his parishioners from this week's bulletin:

View attachment 26441
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Vintage Archdiocese Move; let's make the families of one our our largest parishes ticked off so we can flex our muscles. Catholic idiots in charge. No common sense and no caring for the people. All about their money which I know they need to survive, but this is another bone-headed move by folks in charge.
 
EHS 2001 said:
St. Ignatius had been unaffected by Beacons of Light, but now they’ll be getting a new pastor.
catholicaoc.org

Congratulations to Our Own Father Earl K. Fernandes, Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Columbus - Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Fr. Sean Wilson ARCHBISHOP SCHNURR’s Statement Bio VOCATION STORY PRAYER REFLECTION Curriculum vitae Bishop-elect Fernandes The Holy Father, Pope Francis, announced today that Father Earl K. Fernandes, of the Archdiocese […]
catholicaoc.org catholicaoc.org
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St. I's would be a perfect place for Fr. Mark Burger to land if he was willing to make the commitment.
 
JusticeLeague3 said:
Vintage Archdiocese Move; let's make the families of one our our largest parishes ticked off so we can flex our muscles. Catholic idiots in charge. No common sense and no caring for the people. All about their money which I know they need to survive, but this is another bone-headed move by folks in charge.
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I'd imagine this will do nothing to tamp down the coming Visi/Jude grudge match. That parish family could be the Hatfields and McCoys.
 
ogealbhain said:
Still baffled that they put those 2 together.
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Me too. Antoninus made more sense with Jude staying with Al's and the rest. If I had to guess, Visi dominates that trio. I wonder what Jude's Mass attendance is like. St. Al's is pretty packed for its two Masses, despite the train-wreck that is Fr. Hay.
 
So will schools have to start combining sports the same way parish families are organized? Does that have a start date? Does this blow up the structures of the current East and West side basketball and football leagues?
 
OnTheLine85 said:
So will schools have to start combining sports the same way parish families are organized? Does that have a start date? Does this blow up the structures of the current East and West side basketball and football leagues?
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Nothing happening with the schools at least into next year.
 
JusticeLeague3 said:
Vintage Archdiocese Move; let's make the families of one our our largest parishes ticked off so we can flex our muscles. Catholic idiots in charge. No common sense and no caring for the people. All about their money which I know they need to survive, but this is another bone-headed move by folks in charge.
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Why would they be "ticked off"? Priests have always rotated every five years or so. Should this young man be deprived of an opportunity to become a bishop to appease some people. I don't know about you, but regarding any priest I respect and admire, I want them to advance into a position where they can do the most good. Heck, if he is that admired by his current parish, I would like him to come back to Cincinnati as our new bishop, as I am not too happy with the current one.

Becoming a bishop should be based on merit. If it is, obviously, such a good priest will be missed by the parish that loses their ministry.
 
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