Amid church closures, Columbus Catholic Bishop Earl Fernandes emphasizes optimism
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Columbus Catholic Bishop Earl Fernandes justified his decision this week to close 15 churches, and consolidate numerous others, during an interview with The Dispatch on Thursday, saying it will open up opportunities.
"(Today) should not be a sad day in the Diocese of Columbus. Rather, we're setting sail. It's going to be an adventure," he said. "I'm optimistic."
More: Columbus diocese to close 15 Catholic churches amid declining attendance. Here's the list
The move came after two years of consultations among clergy and parishioners about how to address the decline in church attendance and a shortage of priests in the diocese, which currently has 108 parishes across 23 counties.
The Real Presence Real Future initiative, which began in early 2021, collected 30,000 pieces of feedback from parishioners and clergy alike, according to the diocese. At the beginning of the process, 32 parishes were proposed for closure, and then a 32-member advisory commission recommended 19 parishes for closure in August last year. The bishop ultimately decided to close 15 churches in his decision Thursday, including nine in Franklin County.
More: 'Inevitable:' Columbus parishioners react to Catholic diocese closing 9 churches in city
The following interview with the bishop discussing his decision has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Today's a momentous day: You've announced the closure of 15 churches in the diocese. How are you feeling? And what do you think this means for the diocese?
A: I think it's a momentous day in the diocese not because of the closures, but because of the opportunity.
We want to be good stewards of both the material, but also especially spiritual resources God has given us. We want to make the best use of our personnel for the sake of the mission. It's much less about retraction and much more about, how do we position ourselves to carry out the mission in this territory which we call the Diocese of Columbus?
Q: Do you have a message to the people who are losing a place where they worship or a (church) that's a fixture in their community?
A: At the start of this process, the initial recommendation was for 32 parishes that were supposed to close. We've saved a bunch of parishes by being creative — by thinking about how we might keep this parish open, and how we might wait a while before making a final decision (on that one).
Change is difficult for people, and there will be a grieving process because people remember the church where they made their first communion or where they got married, or they said goodbye to a loved one. All of that's very real.
While there is sadness, there's also opportunity. And that's what I really want to emphasize is that this process has been about creating opportunities for evangelization in the Diocese of Columbus. How can the church be close to people? How can it be more present to people?
Q: I was at St. Matthias church this morning, which is one of the churches that is set to close, and a woman there said that she feels like it's the wealthy parishes that were able to push back (against closure) and stay alive, whereas poorer parishes like St. Mathias, or some of the rural parishes, were not able to. What would you say to that?
A: I would say that that's simply not true. I see the data from all the diocese. In the specific case, St. Anthony church and school are closing and that territory is being merged with St. Elizabeth. Part of it is the buildings, the physical structures, aren't very sound and financially that parish — St. Anthony — wasn't that sound.
(At St. Matthias) the church opens directly into the school. So a question of safety emerges for the students.
Even if I had a boatload of priests, and a boatload of money, I'm not sure that a priest should be allocated to a church that's relatively small, and it's so close to another church — when in rural counties, people have to drive 20 or 30 miles just to get to church.
These are the realities that I see because I have a global picture of the diocese.
Q: Several of the parishes that are closing serve new Americans like the Nigerian community, the Portuguese-speaking community and the Spanish-speaking community. What arrangements are being made to serve those communities?
A: One out of every seven people who's coming to Mass on Sunday at the Diocese of Columbus is Spanish-speaking. So churches like St. Agnes and St. Stephen's — which 10 years ago might have closed — have been completely reborn.
The original recommendations were to close (Holy Name and Santa Cruz, a parish with Spanish Mass service). And I said to Father Antonio Carvalho, the pastor, alright, 'Here's your chance — I'm not going to take that recommendation.'
The Nigerian community, and even the Portuguese (speaking) community for now will continue to worship at St. Matthias. While the recommendation is that St. Mathias be closed as a parish, it doesn't mean it happens overnight. (Father Anthony) Davis will be the pastor, and he'll have to lead the people to come to understand St. Elizabeth as their parish, but a chapel could still be a site of worship for these special communities.
As for the Ghanaian community, we are in the process of finding them a new home because they were previously worshipping at St. Anthony's.
We want everyone to find a home, a place to land. We won't abandon these communities.
Q: I've spoken with people who are still upset about losing the Paulist fathers from the St. Thomas More Newman Center. They feel that the priests were pushed out because of their LGBTQ-friendly views, and this was a loss of some priests that could be helping to resolve the priest shortage. What would you say to that?
A: The Paulist Fathers chose to leave, and it had nothing to do with LGBTQ issues or anything like that. We want a greater diocesan oversight over the Newman center for the purposes of evangelization.
This was always the original idea when the Paulist Fathers were invited to be chaplains. That's neither here nor there. But OK, we lost some priests there. But what have we gained? The same day, I got a call from Pallotines in India saying, 'I can offer you three priests next year.' The Capuchin Fathers offered us five priests. The Heralds of the Good News offered us two priests.
Sometimes, you lose priests. We also lost 10 priests to retirement this year.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
A: I think this should not be a sad day in the Diocese of Columbus. Rather, we're setting sail. It's going to be an adventure. I'm optimistic.
Some years ago, we reported there were 207,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Columbus. This year we reported 330,000. So it shows that we're on the rise — not all is lost. I really do think that a lot of these immigrant communities that are coming are going to bring a new life and new blood to our diocese.
Peter Gill covers immigration, New American communities and religion for The Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at: bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bishop Earl Fernandes optimistic amid Catholic church closures
