Catholic parishes gather feedback for restructuring

METRO DETROIT — In recent weeks, local Catholic churches have been holding listening sessions where they seek feedback from parishioners on proposed restructuring changes — feedback that will help the Archdiocese of Detroit make some tough decisions.

Among the proposed changes are different ways that parishes can become pastorates — groupings of one or more parishes entrusted to the care of a single pastor, and often sharing resources, ministries and staff. A pastorate may include one pastor overseeing a single parish, or one pastor overseeing multiple parishes. 

Our Lady of Refuge, located at 3700 Commerce Road in Orchard Lake, held its listening sessions May 19 and May 21. Different models were shown as to how proposed pastorates would be assembled. The presentation can be seen in its entirety at restructuring.aod.org.

At press time, Our Lady of Sorrows, located at 23815 Power Road in Farmington, was to hold its own listening session June 2, while St. Fabian Catholic Church, at 32200 W. 12 Mile Road in Farmington Hills, was to hold them June 1 and June 3. Their full video and model presentations will be available June 18, at the same website, according to Mario Amore, a priest who chairs the Core Planning Team and serves as executive director of the Department of Parish Renewal.

The archdiocese requested the media not share specifics of the models but rather refer the public to the restructuring website.

The need for the restructuring comes from declining Mass attendance and a reduction in celebrating the sacraments, as well as priests retiring. 

According to Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, who oversees the ministerial and administrative functions of the Archdiocese of Detroit, Catholics are an aging population with more funerals performed than sacraments celebrated. 

In Catholicism, there are seven sacraments: baptism, communion, reconciliation and confirmation. These sacraments are typically given to Catholics as children. The sacraments of matrimony and holy orders are typically for adults, and there is sacrament of the anointing of the sick for those who are ill. 

In a letter and video to the archdiocese, the archbishop further addressed the reasons for the restructuring.

“Many of our churches were built during a time of tremendous growth, when more than 1.5 million Catholics called this archdiocese home,” Weisenburger said. “Today, our Catholic census is closer to 900,000, with a smaller number regularly attending Mass. We have been struggling to maintain buildings, ministries and structures that were designed for a much larger Church.” 

The situation is not new but has continued for decades.

“The situation that unfolded in the last 50 years has left us stretched — sometimes stretched too thinly to serve as well as we want. Moreover, as we struggle to care for buildings and parish structures where there are very few people, we are also seeking to ensure the presence of the Church as we follow the Catholic population in those areas where the Church is growing,” he said. 

According to the archbishop, the work of the restructuring is guided by three pillars: to have vibrant parishes, flourishing priests, and be “mission ready.”

“Of the 900,000 Catholics in the Archdiocese of Detroit, only 150,000 regularly attend Mass,” Amore said. “The restructuring allows for a reawakening of the necessity to return to Mass. If all the Catholics in the archdiocese were going to Mass every Sunday, there wouldn’t be a need for the restructuring.”

Currently, the listening sessions are the second phase of a four-phase process, and about 250 parishes have participated. When this phase is completed, more than 400 parishes will have had listening sessions. 

“Generally, people are happy with the transparency of the archdiocese and bringing people into the conversation, allowing them to see the proposed model and allowing them to give their feedback,” Amore said. “Obviously, these are very difficult conversations to have. People love their parish communities. Whenever there is the prospect of change, it is difficult.” 

Amore acknowledged that the conversations can get more difficult based on the proposals before each parish.

“In some instances, some communities, in some models, are proposed as having no weekend Masses. Those conversations will obviously be more difficult. Emotions can be high,” Amore said. “Right now … these are just draft models — they’re proposals. That is precisely why we are going into all the parishes so we can get this feedback, because there might be something that the priests missed in their conversations of the proposed models, and we want to know that.”

According to Amore, no weekend Masses could mean more options for that building.

“In some of those instances, that building could close, in time. Or it could be used for alternative uses, which could include weddings, funerals, baptisms, daily Masses. Or in other instances the building could remain, but it might be used as the center for religious education or other Christian service,” Amore said. “We could work with outside community partners and talk about what repurposing a campus would look like. Maybe it could be a housing development — something that would positively impact the local community.”   

If a church closes and its building is sold, the sale will first go to cover any outstanding debt, and the remainder would go to the pastorate now attended by its parishioners. 

The listening sessions are just a starting point, explained the archbishop. 

“The archdiocese is interested in analyzing all the feedback we get,” Amore said. 

When looking at other dioceses throughout the country that have gone through similar processes, the initial proposals often differed greatly from the final decision.

“It is estimated anywhere between 20-40% of the initial models will change by the time we come to a final plan,” Amore said. “I was just on a call with another archdiocese earlier today, who said that while there weren’t always drastic changes, every one of their models that originally was proposed changed by the time the final plans were announced.”

Many parishes also have schools. Amore said this restructuring is just for churches. 

“Sometimes we have instances where a parish school is actually in a better (financial) position than the church,” Amore said. “We wanted to be sure that one of those entities (the church or school) wasn’t negatively affecting the other. We wanted to separate the process.”

At press time, there were no announcements of church closures. Amore said those will take place in April 2027 during the third phase, “Prepare for Implementation.”