Boston Archdiocese Details Proposed Parish Clusters

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is moving ahead with its plan to cluster 290 parishes into 125 smaller groupings in an effort to deal with fewer priests, low attendance at Mass and reduced finances.

The archdiocese has posted on its website a list of proposed parish groupings (PDFs - South, North, Central, West, Merrimack Region). For instance, the archdiocese suggests putting Saint Bridget of Maynard with Saint Anselm and Our Lady of Fatima in Sudbury. They would have a pastoral service team with fewer staff.

Monsignor William Fay, co-chair of the Archdiocesan Planning Commission, says he's looking for feedback from local Catholics.

"Let us know what you think now," Fay said. "We've done the best we could from these criteria. You look at this from your perspective and work on these, get back to us, and let us know if we have things correct here, and if we don't, how should they be corrected?"

Some Catholics are critical of the plan because it takes away local control and may reassign priests.