By Brenda Kresky, Director of Pastoral Planning | Diocese of St. Cloud
As we move into the next milestone of our diocesan pastoral planning initiative, All Things New: Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future, we are announcing the projected diocesan-wide plan. Please keep in mind that this is a working plan and is subject to change.
Over the past year, the All Things New committees in each Area Catholic Community have devoted countless hours to prayer, thoughtful dialogue and careful analysis as together we discern a sustainable and Spirit-led future for our diocese. I am deeply grateful for their commitment, generosity and love for the Church.
is the director of planning
for the Diocese of St. Cloud.
In the last few months, each ACC submitted the plans they developed within their communities for diocesan review. Representatives from each ACC then met with the diocesan Committee for the Affirmation of Plans, where every proposal was discussed in detail. When a plan met the established parameters and was understood by the CAP to contribute to the common good of the whole diocese, it was affirmed and moved forward to the next stage.
Following this, the Presbyteral Council, (a council of priests representing the presbyterate of the Diocese of St. Cloud), met and voted on the proposed parish mergers. Please keep in mind that a merged parish is formed by taking the churches, territories, other assets, rights and obligations of two or more parishes and putting them all together into an existing or new parish corporation (“juridic person” in Canon Law). As we move through the canonical and legal processes, the Presbyteral Council will continue to provide consultative votes whenever Canon Law requires it.
Current projections indicate that these proposed mergers would bring us from 131 parishes to approximately 48 parish corporations. Though some of the submitted plans include church closures, the merging of parishes and the closing of churches are separate questions which must be dealt with through distinct processes. The bishop intends to study each request to close a church over the next months and years, consulting with appropriate persons before making any decision that closes a church.
Bishop Patrick Neary anticipates issuing parish merger decrees in April and May. These decrees will not all be issued at once. Your pastor and ACC planning team will keep you informed about the process for your specific ACC, and updates will be available at stcdio.org/planning.
In addition to these mergers — one important step in the broader planning process — many of our churches will not be used for Mass on a regular basis. This does not mean they are closed. The timelines and processes for each site will be shaped locally within each Area Catholic Community. A map and list of churches expected to be impacted appears below.
It is important to remember that pastoral planning is ongoing. This is the first major milestone with more to follow. While this pivotal moment represents a significant structural shift, it is not the end of our discernment. Your prayers, patience and steadfast commitment to the Church sustain us as we walk together in faith, trusting that God indeed makes all things new. We can already see how these changes, if enacted, will improve clergy health and longevity, streamline the use of church resources for seeking and saving lost generations and open new possibilities for responding to the challenges of the present moment.
Proposed churches that will be used on an infrequent basis:
Bertha, St. Joseph
Braham, Sts. Peter and Paul
Brandon, St. Ann
Brennyville, St. Elizabeth
Bluffton, St. John the Baptist
Brooten, St. Donatus
Flensburg, Sacred Heart
Foreston, St. Louis Bertrand
Greenwald, St. Andrew
Harding, Holy Cross
Kent, St. Thomas
Kimball, St. Anne
Lastrup, St. John Nepomuk
Lake Henry, St. Margaret
Menagha, Assumption of Our Lady
Minden Township, St. Patrick
Morrill, St. Joseph
North Prairie, Holy Cross
Ogilvie, St. Kathryn
Opole, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
Pearl Lake, Holy Cross
Roscoe, St. Agnes
St. Anthony, St. Anthony
St. Cloud, Christ Church Newman Center
St. Cloud, St. John Cantius
St. Cloud, St. Peter
St. Francis, St. Francis
St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas
St. Wendel, St. Columbkille
Sauk Centre, Our Lady of the Angels
Sobieski, St. Stanislaus
Spring Hill, St. Michael
Urbank, Sacred Heart
Verndale, St. Frederick
Waite Park, St. Joseph
West Union, St. Alexius
Closing the church located on a college campus is a BIG mistake. I do not know how much we are being led by the spirit here. Praying that the spirit fills the ones involved.
There is no easy path forward. We are part of a 2000-year-old tradition and organization, and as such, we are more adept at hanging on to the past than leaning in to the future. We should not be surprised about people’s attitude a the parish level, especially when they are modeled at the top, starting with The Vatican.
Vatican-II was over 60 years ago, roughly 3 generations, and still a huge portion of PIPs (People In the Pews) still clutch to the English version of pre-Vatican-II mentality. We do it to ourselves, at every level.
I’ve said from the beginning that a more realistic starting point for this process would be to ask: “What does Catholic Church Life look like in fifty (50) years, not 5. Looking to the near-future just makes it that much easier to cling to the past rather than venture into the future.
I suppose it’s easier for me, even at age 77, to deal with all this, because “I started early.” As a high school freshman at a Benedictine seminary in 1963-64, I was right in the middle of the changes. Before Christmas, everything was still traditional Latin. After Christmas break, everything went English and current practices. No break-in period. I’ve also lived in 10 states and done music ministry for 10 dioceses and 16 parishes. At this point, I think I can comfortably say that the least difficult path-forward is to succumb to the inevitable. That’s Acceptance, which isn’t the same as giving up….. more like “the opposite of Denial.”
…we can do this. …we can do better…
why would anybody with a brain keep a church open even if in frequently use schedule . Just close it . You will still have to heat and clean it and make sure bathrooms are working and whatever it takes just to use it a couple of times . The costs are still there . DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL . Sounds like you just want to use up the MONEY the parish has left THEN you will decide to CLOSE it later on down the road . OH ! we don’t have the money . I can see that coming already . People are leaving the church and talking to GOD from home . We do not need a church . Is that what you want ? We are upset how this ran . The elderly will not drive to church any distant in the fall and winter here in Minnesota . They are confined at homes and nursing homes . Do you care about them? Not at all . LET the priests get married and/or let women become priests . They would have better common sense about this whole things . If we are so short of priests why are you sending them to Canada . Keep them here ..You do not need my name .
“LET the priests get married and/or let women become priests.”
They do that already with the Episcopalians, Methodist, Lutherans, and all other mainline Protestant denominations and they are congregations are shrinking faster than Catholics.
What parishes have requested to close the Bishop Neary needs to review? I do think any would have requested that, without being first TOLD todo so.
“The bishop intends to study each request to close a church over the next months and years, consulting with appropriate persons before making any decision that closes a church.”
Blessing to all
Then why has Christ Church Newman Center already been told it will be closing in July of 2027?
I am 60 years old, raised in the Catholic Church, and attended Catholic school through 8th grade. I have never belonged to a parish that feels more like home than Christ Church Newman Center.
If there is concern about the decline of younger parishioners, why would we close the one location situated on a college campus—where young adults have the opportunity to continue and grow in their faith during such a formative time in their lives?
At Newman Center, my grandchildren are not just welcomed—they are celebrated. That matters more than words can express.
At other parishes, when a child makes even the slightest noise, we are met with turned heads and disapproving looks. That kind of quiet judgment creates a sense of alienation, and it is one of the simplest and most damaging reasons people stop feeling comfortable in church.
We are truly heartbroken.