CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2025 /
15:37 pm
The Diocese of Albany, New York, will undertake a planning initiative in response to a diocesan “financial and maintenance crisis” that the bishop says could result in the closure of “perhaps one-third” of the diocese’s 126 parish churches.
Bishop Edward Scharfenberger in an April 7 letter informed the faithful that “clergy health and well-being, quality sacramental ministry, consistent attendance, participation and volunteerism, well-maintained properties and assets have been heading in the wrong direction” in the upstate New York diocese.
The bishop said the planning initiative is focused on evangelization and better stewardship of the Church’s assets.
“If we are to have a solid, long-term future, we cannot NOT act. We are now launching a process in an effort to implement a newly envisioned future for long-term growth and the formation of mission-focused disciples,” Scharfenberger wrote.
“It is a challenge and an opportunity to rechannel our efforts and resources toward a healthier Church focused on service, growth in our relationship with Jesus Christ, personally and communally, and sustainable for the needs we have inside and outside our walls. Through a prayerful, comprehensive and participatory evaluation process, we can ensure that the mission of the Church is carried forward, not left to decline.”
Scharfenberger said the main objective of the process is that every parish in the diocese will take part in a transparent and honest decision-making process over several months of discernment, taking care to listen especially to the voices of youth and young adults, about “the mission and resources of each parish toward a realistic vision for its future.” The bishop described it as “a process to focus each parish on its mission as the Church, making best use of its personal and material resources.”
Reconfiguration or merging of parishes and the repurposing, closing, or sale of some churches, rectories, and schools “must surely be anticipated” as part of the outcome, he noted, saying they may ultimately need to “realign or relinquish perhaps one-third of 126 parish churches and other buildings, even some of our remaining parish schools.”
“Every resource or asset — buildings, personnel, services, holdings, and expenses — must point to fulfilling the mission Christ entrusts to us,” Scharfenberger continued.
“The faith and trust of so many have been shaken. We need to focus now on re-evangelization, reeducation, and becoming the mission Church we long for and know we can be. My prayers for you now are for a fruitful and richly blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter season.”
The details of the process in Albany will be “unfolded in weeks to come and launched on Pentecost Sunday,” which is June 8, the prelate concluded.
Albany is the latest U.S. diocese to announce such a pastoral planning process, joining numerous major dioceses that have announced and completed the processes in recent years including Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.
The Diocese of Albany previously launched and completed a pastoral planning process beginning in 2006 and concluding in 2011 dubbed “Called to Be Church,” which resulted in the diocese implementing nearly a dozen parish mergers in response to changing demographics and a shortage of priests.
Scharfenberger had previously announced in 2023 his decision that the Albany Diocese would declare bankruptcy, in part due to a flood of more than 400 lawsuits filed during a two-year period under New York’s Child Victims Act of 2019. Nearly all of New York’s dioceses filed for bankruptcy following the passage of the act, which opened up a “look back” window during which alleged abuse victims could file lawsuits long after the statute of limitations had expired.
Further difficulties arose when Albany’s longtime former bishop, Howard Hubbard, who led the diocese from 1977 to 2014, made headlines three years ago when he admitted under oath that he did not report several instances of alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests, instead choosing to keep the allegations quiet and to refer the priests for treatment.
Later on, in 2023, not long after an accusation of abuse against Hubbard himself came to light, Hubbard announced he had contracted a civil marriage with a woman. He later died in August 2023 at age 84.
Jonah McKeown is a staff writer and podcast producer for Catholic News Agency. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has worked as a writer, as a producer for public radio, and as a videographer. He is based in St. Louis.
