The final recommendations regarding the consolidation of several Roman Catholic parishes within the Diocese of Scranton have been presented to Bishop Joseph F. Martino, according to officials from the diocese.
In the Valley area, the project focuses on the consolidation of Epiphany Roman Catholic Church in Sayre, St. Ann’s Parish in Bentley Creek, St. John’s Catholic Church in South Waverly and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Athens Borough.
In its preliminary recommendation document, the Diocesan Planning Commission is recommending that the consolidated parish site be located at the Epiphany Roman Catholic Church, “pending the facility assessment results,” with an additional worship site at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ridgebury, “which will be reviewed after two years.”
This recommendation is part of the Scranton Diocese’s “Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Scranton” project which began in January of this year. The project focuses on the effective revitalization of all parishes within the Diocese, which covers 11 counties within Pennsylvania.
According to Diocese officials, the planning commission has studied the responses from the local Parish Core and Cluster Teams to the commission’s preliminary recommendations and made final recommendations to Bishop Martino.
“The conversation phase, which took approximately eight months and offered ample opportunities for discussion at the parish level, has thus concluded,” said Diocese officials. “The public also had access to the preliminary recommendations through the Diocesan Web site and local media reports.”
Bishop Martino will communicate to all of the core teams and people within the Diocese by the end of January regarding his decisions. The final phase of this process — which consists of the implementation of those decisions — will begin in July of 2009.