May 31, 2023 | articles, priest shortage
The Diocese of Columbus is closing 15 parishes this year, nine of them within the City of Columbus itself. That represents 14 percent of the total number of parishes — 108 — in the Diocese. Most Rev. Earl Fernandes, bishop of Columbus, has been leading a process...
Nov 4, 2022 | General, priest shortage, reasons and responses
The Diocese of Columbus plans to close 20 percent, one out of every five, of its parishes next summer. The 23-county Diocese of Columbus plans to close nearly 20% of its churches—19 of 105. Eleven of them are in Franklin County, which has about half of the...
Oct 24, 2022 | mass attendance, population, priest shortage, reasons and responses
This is a simple post because the claim is so puzzling. Bishop Monforton cited declining Mass attendance as a reason to merge the Diocese of Steubenville into Columbus. The numbers I’ve been able to see, however, show that while the number of Catholics who come...
Oct 19, 2022 | population, priest shortage, reasons and responses
Bishop Monforton cited a priest shortage in the Diocese of Steubenville as one of the reasons for the proposed extinctive merger. While we would love to have more priests to help in our parishes, Steubenville is actually in much better shape on this score than any...
