St. Cloud Diocese To Merge 131 Parishes Into 48 In Central Minnesota

The St. Cloud Diocese is preparing what the Minnesota Star Tribune described as the largest reduction of Catholic parishes seen in Minnesota, with plans to merge 131 parishes into 48 across 16 central Minnesota counties.

The reorganization is expected to close several churches and affect most of the diocese’s roughly 110,000 worshippers, according to the Star Tribune.

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Brenda Kresky, the diocese’s director of pastoral planning, told the newspaper the changes are tied to long-term declines in both priests and parishioners.

“Right now, all of our 131 parishes have Mass every weekend,” Kresky said. “We’re reducing that by [about] a third and saying, even if you remain open, you won’t have Mass on the weekend.”

Read more at the Star Tribune.