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WARREN -- Youngstown Bishop David J. Bonnar has announced the names of parish mergers in Trumbull County, which will take effect July 1.
St. Stephen Parish and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Niles will merge under the name of St. Pope John XXIII.
Blessed Sacrament Parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish and SS. Mary and Joseph Parish in Warren will merge under the name St. Teresa of Calcutta.
On Jan. 12, the Diocesan Presbyteral Council met to review the progress of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, which was promulgated by the late Bishop George Murry in 2019 and has continued to be developed since the 2021 installation of Bishop Bonnar. The regional plan for the six-county Diocese of Youngstown has resulted in structural changes aimed at developing effective ministries and supporting missionary activity.
Criteria include the number of parishioners and worshipers, parish finances, population shifts within the region, effective use of buildings and effective use of a limited number of priests and lay ecclesial ministers. As a result of the pastoral plan, almost all of the diocese's 80 parishes are now part of a collaborative unit or exist as a multi-site parish.
Since 2021, as a result of recommendations to Bonnar, there have been five instances of mergers between parishes (where two or more parishes become one parish community).
At the Jan. 12 meeting, the Diocesan Presbyteral Council formally recommended that Bonnar merge additional parishes throughout the diocese who are already working together in ministry partnerships -- sharing priests, deacons, diocesan pastoral associates, additional personnel, Mass schedules, and various parish programs and activities. This recommendation is in line with continuing the efforts of the Diocesan Regionalization Plan that began several years ago.
Since January, pastors and parishes have developed plans for parish mergers. These newly merged parishes will be aligned with the structure of other multi-site parishes in the diocese, with Masses and other parish activities continuing to be offered in multiple churches and campuses while ensuring more efficient operations.
New parish merger names in Ashtabula and Mahoning counties will be released later this year. Parish names for merged parishes in Portage and Stark counties also will take effect July 1.