This Peoria church has operated for 120 years, but its future is now in doubt

St. Bernard Catholic Church, a 120-year-old staple in Peoria's East Bluff neighborhood, may be closing, leaving residents nearby wondering "what now?"

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria has proposed no longer using St. Bernard as part of a reorganization plan that would see the church close and be merged along with St. Joseph Church and Sacred Heart Church, both proposed "secondary sites," into Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception as a primary site.

St. Bernard, which sits across Kansas Avenue from the East Bluff Community Center, only averaged 71 people attending Mass in 2022, making it by far the lowest attended church in Peoria, according to diocese data.

The community center is in the old St. Bernard school building and pays rent to the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. St. Bernard school closed in 2004.

More: Unthinkable horrors: Inside the scathing report on abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria

Those in the neighborhood worry what the closure of the church would do to the surrounding area.

"If the church goes, there's really no other gathering place other than the community center," said East Bluff Community Center Director Jenny Winne. "If it closes, that's one less resource in the neighborhood."

Rick Schmelter, who has lived next door to St. Bernard since 1978, said he hopes the Diocese of Peoria changes its mind about possibly closing the church.

"I don't know what they're going to do with it — that's what worries me," Schmelter said. "Demolish it? Fly-by-night church? A lot of this is in question."

Schmelter said he has seen the number of Masses offered at St. Bernard decline over the years and also recognizes a decline in attendance at the church, but still he says the church closing would be a negative for the neighborhood.

"There's not a whole lot to attract people to this neighborhood," Schmelter said. "It's a little off the beaten path, not the most picturesque neighborhood. (The church) has been good neighbors."

Schmelter said the possible closure is particularly sad, given the building's exterior is still good shape for a building constructed so long ago.

A final decision on St. Bernard's fate is expected to come from Bishop Louis Tylka in 2024 after the diocese holds meetings with parishioners about its plans.

More: 'A beacon of light:' How the East Bluff Community Center has revitalized itself in Peoria

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria serves 26 counties in central Illinois. Declining attendance and a lack of priests to serve all the churches sparked the "Growing Disciples" initiative. Part of its goal is to restructure the church so its priests can cover Masses adequately, which means closing some churches and reverting others to "secondary sites."

A secondary site church will still hold some Masses, have some pastoral care and some sacraments, all at the determination of the assigned pastor.

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria currently has 156 parishes and just 126 priests to serve them, according to its website.

In 2022, the Diocese of Peoria said 38 priests would reach retirement age by 2032 and only 22 seminarians were on track to replace them.

Churches in smaller communities face closures, mergers

In the diocese's smaller communities, other churches face potential closures and re-classifications to "secondary sites," as well.

Immaculate Conception in Lacon and St. John XXIII in Henry will be classified as secondary sites and merged with St. Edward in Chillicothe as a primary site.

St. James in Williamsfield faces closure and, along with St. Joseph in Brimfield — a proposed secondary site —would be merged with St. Mary of the Woods in Princeville.

St. Patrick in Elmwood would become a secondary site in a merger with St. Mary in Kickapoo, a designated primary site.

Diocese of Peoria reports low attendance, launches plan to grow

Mass attendance is down across the board at churches in the Peoria area between 2015 and 2022, according to the Diocese of Peoria's release on its "Growing Disciples" website.

Between 2015 and 2022, the following Catholic churches in Peoria experienced these declines in attendance:

• Holy Family: Down 38%

• Cathedral of St. Mary: Down 44%

• St. Bernard: Down 55%

• St. Ann/St. Boniface: Down 26%

• St. Mark: Down 46%

• St. Philomena: Down 13%

• St. Thomas the Apostle: Down 51%

• Sacred Heart/St. Joseph: Down 31%

• St. Jude: Down 21%

• St. Vincent de Paul: Down 44%

To combat the lower attendance, the Diocese of Peoria is conducting its "growing disciples" program, aimed at bringing new people into the Catholic Church.

"We certainly look to the early apostles and their commitment to go out and preach the gospel as disciples of Jesus to bring others into an encounter with the Lord's love and mercy so that their lives can be transformed," Tylka said in a video.

Evangelization, or trying to recruit people into the Catholic Church, is the number one "pillar" of the diocese's plan to grow the church.

More: 2 Peoria homeless camps have virtually disappeared. What happened?

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria's St. Bernard's Church faces closure due to low attendance