Three area Episcopal churches are spreading the word that they have merged to spread the Word.
Trinity Church of New Castle, The Church of the Redeemer of Hermitage and St. Clements of Greenville have combined their congregations, priests and resources to form St. Jude Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Canon Dennis Blauser, vicar and executive pastor, will lead a clergy team of priests and deacons for the new merger. Bishop Sean Rowe said the diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania is embracing the merger.
I’ll give ’em five years, and then they’ll close.
All three are near Youngstown, Ohio.
Speaking of mergers, it is obvious that the Dio of NW PA should be making further plans. In 2009, it only had 34 churches and 30 (88 percent) of them had Plate & Pledge of less than $150K. The diocese had a tough time during 2002 through 2009 with Members down 28.3 percent, ASA down 23.7 percent, and Plate & Pledge (adjusted for inflation) down 9.0 percent. The combined Members in these 3 churches fell from about 920 in 2002 to 360 in 2009. But the worst of all is that Infant Baptisms in the diocese fell from 124 in 2002 to 68 (two per church) in 2009 which is a decline of 45.2 percent! Repeating this decline for another 7 years would reduce Infant Baptisms to about ONE per church! What an awful prospect. Kyrie eleison. Statmann
Statmann — your biased rhetoric is about the most divisive that I have ever seen!
Can you not sing a happier song, with fewer cold and black-and-white rigid facts???
Sarah: I confess to the bias. When I attended a parish of Russian heritage, they were rather strict. When we went forward to receive the Holy Myteries, they would line up all the little ones with their arms properly folded across their chests. Then, they would allow us old duffers to go first. On that awful day of judgement, I plan to sneak into the children’s line. I KNOW where they are going. Statmann
Very, very strange. I was born and raised in this area (although I was RC, at the time) so I know it well. First off, it’s not like Greenville, Hermitage and New Castle are right next door to each other. It’s probably a good hour’s drive from Greenville to New Castle, maybe more.
There is a thriving and beloved Episcopal parish (St. John’s) in my hometown of Sharon, which is right next to Hermitage. Why wouldn’t the Hermitage and Greenville churches work with St. John’s, instead? Very curious.
St. John’s is a fixture in the Shenango Valley. Large gothic church right downtown, very high church in its worship. One of my mother’s good friends told me that when her parents moved to the area (Italian immigrants, strict Catholics), they joined and attended St. John’s for about a year before knowing it wasn’t RC and it took someone telling them, lol.
The church holds a special place in many hearts because it also had wonderful recreational facilities that were open to all. Kids like myself and my sister whose families couldn’t afford to belong to the Country Club or even the Buhl Club learned to swim at St. John’s indoor pool and could use their facilities.
Anyhoo, I’m really wondering what’s going on there now and why St. John’s isn’t involved. I hope it’s not in trouble! I last visited and worshiped there about 7 years ago and it was vibrant, beautiful and bustling with activity.
Hi Teatime — I checked the stats on St. John’s Sharon — looks as if it is doing okay. They held pretty steady at around 220 ASA, then began a steady decline in 2004 [predictably] to their current state of around 150 ASA.
Maybe the other parishes were afraid of being “subsumed” by a significantly larger parish — that could be it.
Hi Sarah, thanks for the info! I haven’t been there since “the TEC Troubles” and, with the folks now deceased, probably won’t have occasion to return. St. John’s has such a good, rich history in that area and I pray they will thrive. From their website intro, it looks like they’re reaching out for new members.
Perhaps those other churches don’t have such a clear mission, shall we say, and a different agenda.
FYI: Pastor Johanna Baker is the Rev. Canon Dennis Blauser’s daughter.