The city’s Roman Catholic churches will soon undergo a major transition in order to better serve their followers, utilize facilities, and manage debt, Rev. Peter Wehrle said late last week
during an interview with the Bayonne Community News.
The news from Rev. Wehrle, the St. Andrew the Apostle parish administrator, followed talks regarding the finances of his own parish, as well as those of the other Catholic churches in the city, during his sermons at Masses at St. Andrew on Sunday, Oct. 12.
That transition may include the merging or “linking” of certain Bayonne parishes if that is deemed to be the answer to moving Bayonne’s churches forward.
Rev. Wehrle is administrator of the linked St. Andrew and St. Mary, Star of the Sea, churches, which were combined in July of last year in an austerity move.
During the Oct. 12 Masses, Rev. Wehrle outlined four options that are being considered, most of which include merging or linking some of the existing seven parishes.
Wehrle said that part of the effort is to address the parishes’ combined, cumulative debt of $3 million. He said the city’s churches and the diocese were seeking the public’s input into how the changes would best work.
The city’s other Catholic parishes are Assumption, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, St. Henry’s, St. Michael’s/St. Joseph’s, and St. Vincent’s. St. Joseph’s was previously incorporated into St. Michael’s church building.
Though linked, St. Andrew’s and St. Mary’s retain their own structures and Masses but share administrative services.
“The diocese saw an opportunity to bring things together, so they did,” Wehrle said.
St. Mary’s parish is also the home of All Saints Academy, the city’s Catholic grammar school, combined several years ago from four separate ones after it became evident all would not survive on their own.
An ongoing trend of low church attendance has affected the remaining parishes, according to Wehrle.
“Under 6,000 people attend Catholic services on any given weekend [in Bayonne],” Wehrle said.
This trend affects both the need for the houses of worship, as well as the structures related to them, like parish offices, rectories, and community centers.
The decreased number of attendees also affects the churches financially; lower attendance means lower donations, and fewer funds to maintain the churches.
“Although a lot of the people who do go are very generous,” Wehrle said, a gap in what is taken in and what is needed to pay the bills still exists. “It’s a hard thing, because people still see the need for churches and what they provide.”
As an example, St. Andrew’s four underutilized buildings (church, school, rectory, and convent) cost $95,000 a year to maintain and keep open, according to Wehrle.
Another factor that is working against keeping all of Bayonne’s parishes open and separate is the decades-long trend of fewer people being attracted to religious vocations. Whereas Catholic parishes in the 1970s had as many as four regular priests and an associate priest or deacon, churches throughout the state now have only two, or even one priest. This translates into less staff to minister to congregants.
“What the diocese has been saying is that they want the people to decide what has to be done,” Wehrle said. “What’s been hard is the people who are saying, ‘Will you have to close my parish?’ People in Bayonne have a strong emotional tie to their church.”
Wehrle has asked Catholics in the city to contact their local church, church board, or the diocese to voice their opinions on how they believe the consolidation of churches should go. Wehrle said the Newark Archdiocese wants recommendations submitted to it by Dec. 8 of this year, so the input from parishioners should begin right now.
E-mail joepass@hudsonreporter.com.