Dec 15, 2019 2 min read

Three Mon Valley parishes will merge Jan. 6 to become the parish of St. Andrew the Apostle, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Saturday.

St. Andrew the Apostle will bring together the parishes of St. Damien of Molokai in Monongahela; Mary, Mother of the Church in Charleroi; and Donora’s Our Lady of the Valley. In addition, St. Mary parish in Cecil Township will merge with the Holy Child parish in Bridgeville to become the parish of Corpus Christi.

All told, 26 parishes in the Pittsburgh region are merging, which will result in eight new parishes. The diocese said there are no plans to close buildings, but decisions about which buildings the new parishes will use will be made later, “after consultation among the faithful of those parishes.”

The mergers are occurring as the Catholic Church in the Pittsburgh region and around the country has been dealing with declining attendance and the fallout from revelations of widespread sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests that was concealed over many decades. The Pittsburgh diocese said the mergers are part of a strategic planning initiative which is “designed to help parishes mobilize their resources to prioritize mission over maintenance.”

Several Catholic churches in Washington County and throughout the region have closed in recent months, with officials saying attendance and increasing maintenance costs have made it untenable for the buildings to remain open.

Bishop David Zubik said in a letter that was due to be read at this weekend’s masses, “This has not been a simple task … However, you are positioning your new parish for more effective ministry by addressing financial needs, sharing resources and allowing your clergy to focus on the spiritual work for which they were ordained.”

The mergers will bring the number of parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh from 170 to 152.