Montco Church To Shut Down

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA -- The Saints Cosmas and Damian Church will be shut down for financial reasons on March 16, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Sunday.

This formal, canonical designation means that the church will no longer serve as worship site and will close as a Roman Catholic Church, according to the Archdiocese.

This information was shared with Saint Matthew parishioners at Masses over the weekend. A copy of the official canonical decree regarding this matter can be found here:

Saint Matthew Parish has endeavored to keep the Saints Cosmas and Damian Church complex in good repair since the merger and is currently able to meet those expenses. However, the growing pastoral needs of the parish have required a commitment to renovate space adjacent to the Saint Matthew Parish Church for pastoral, educational, and administrative purposes as well as general parish usage. The commitment to this capital project precludes the ability of the parish to further maintain Saints Cosmas and Damian Church without negatively impacting the ministries of the parish. Additionally, there have been very few requests to use Saints Cosmas and Damian Church for public worship. Those requests have declined in number since the church became a worship site of Saint Matthew Parish in July 2014.

The relegation of the property to “to profane but not sordid use” is due to the annual maintenance costs of $42,000, plus a variety of other construction issues which would cost an additional $36,500, the Archdiocese said.