These Somerset and Swansea churches are looking at merging. What parishioners need to know.

SOMERSET — There are changes ahead at Somerset and Swansea churches.

But the Rev. David A. Costa said he is hopeful about what these changes will mean for the future of the local parish community.

Come fall, Somerset's St. Thomas More Church and St. Patrick's Church as well as St. Louis de France Church in Swansea may be joining forces.

In a June 14 Facebook post on the The Catholic Community of Somerset and Swansea Facebook page, Costa laid out his pastoral plan to merge the trio of Fall River diocese churches.

"I think it offers us a great opportunity to strengthen our commitment to the Lord and his church, to share gifts and talents, to build up parish ministries," said Costa, who has overseen all three churches as pastor since 2019, in his Facebook video message.

Costa assured that all church buildings will stay open, Mass schedules are not changing and parish organizations will remain the same, "hopefully growing." But changes behind the scenes will make it easier for them to focus on one new, common identity.

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This merger, Costa said, will not negate each church's long, rich history, but will take their legacy of faith with them into "a new reality."

Costa said his churches — along with many across the country — have faced many obstacles in recent years: from a changing town, to an aging church population, to an indifference to organized religion and church participation to the impacts of the COVID pandemic.

A few weeks ago, Costa said he presented the statistics for his three churches, as well as statistics from the Diocese of Fall River about its parishes and the clergy shortage they are facing.

According to Costa, this past year his churches baptized 39 infants, but buried 101 parishioners.

"There's a big difference between those two important numbers. That's indicative of the challenge that's before us," said Costa, a native of Taunton.

The town and church community are changing and so to survive they have to change with it, Costa said, so they got proactive as they looked toward the future.

"I tend to look at things not as a glass that is half empty but more as a glass that is half full," Costa said in the video. "I tend to be a little more optimistic and positive in my approach."

In January, Costa called together a group of parishioners from each of three separate parishes to start looking at their situation, discuss options and plot their future.

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From this meeting, three options were presented: to keep things status quo, to merge all three into one and close two church buildings, or to combine the three parishes while keeping them all open.

They vetoed the status quo from the beginning because "when you stay the same, you die," Costa said in the video message.

He said they have the "priest power," which also includes weekend assistants Rev. Kenneth Sicard, Rev. Gabriel Pivarnik, Rev. James Quigley and Rev. James Butler, along with the advantage of combining the unique uses of all three properties - from the hall at St. Patrick's with a commercial kitchen, to daily masses offered at St. Louis de France, to the classroom space at St. Thomas More.

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They instead are requesting that Fall River diocese Bishop Edgar da Cunha merge St. Patrick's, St. Louis de France and St. Thomas More into one and for now — and into the foreseeable future — keep them all open. According to the plan, the name of each church building would stay the same, but the name for the parish would change.

And he said parishioners will play an important part of their positive path forward. He is asking for their input on a name for the new parish.

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When the bishop establishes a new parish, Costa said he'll ask the planning committee to submit three names along with their request. Costa said he has presented the name Our Lady of Peace, but welcomes other suggestions for their new parish family.

Over the summer, Costa said the planning committee will present a formal letter to the bishop asking for the merger, and he will then go before a pastoral council and seek their advice. After that, the bishop would present a formal decree of establishment.

Costa, noting the parish community has expressed its overwhelming support for the plan, said he doesn't expect that would happen until sometime in September, but no date has been set.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Somerset, Swansea churches expected to become one parish this fall