The Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, is ending Sunday Mass for seven parishes amid declining attendance and a shortage of priests.
The Grand Forks Herald reported on Tuesday that Bishop Andrew Cozzens called it one of the most difficult decisions he has ever had to make. Last fall, Cozzens began speaking to parishes to strategize a solution to this problem, but to no avail.
The total number of parishes will go from 65 to 58.
The National Catholic Register gave a timeline for when those locations would be holding their last services.
St. Francis Xavier in Oklee, St. Ann in Goodridge, St. Mary in Badger, and St. Philip in Falun will be having their final Masses in August and September. In October, St. Mary in Euclid, St. Joseph in Oslo, and St. Francis of Assisi in Fisher will hold their final Masses.
In his letter to the diocese, the bishop wrote about the problems that led to the decision.
“Some of these small parishes have no young people in religious formation, or at least very few. Some have trouble finding volunteers and rely on only a few dedicated people to keep the parish going. We also continue to experience a shortage of priests,” he wrote.
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“While our priests serve generously, there are limits to the number and locations of Masses they can celebrate on any given weekend. We must ensure that they can provide sustainable pastoral care and remain true spiritual fathers to the communities entrusted to them.”
According to the Grand Forks Herald, Cozzens noted half of the 32 priests in the diocese are eligible for retirement in the next decade. He further noted a contrast between the northern and southern parts of the diocese, with the closings happening in the north as the south sees some growth.
“We have places in the southern part of the diocese that are growing, we have places where we will probably have to add a priest to help deal with those needs, and then when you get to the northern part of the diocese, some of those counties are going to experience pretty dramatic demographic decline over the next 20 years, some of them as much as 40 or 60%,” he said.
It’s a sad development. Young people should be turning toward Jesus Christ and flocking to churches, not away from them.
We cannot overlook that this is happening in a place like Minnesota.
This is a state that’s seen a rise in Islam through an influx of Somali migrants. As Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s constituents flock to the mosques, Americans aren’t showing the same enthusiasm in this diocese for Christ.
Should the church speak more openly and boldly about the current evils of our day in hopes of a revival?
Great moral issues — like self-delusion that leads to body mutilation in the name of transgender ideology — plague our culture. A godless leftist perspective that replaces Christ’s teachings with social constructivist and materialist worldviews has become popular along with a current of anti-Semitism.
Church leaders must be bold.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV used a visit to Turkey and Lebanon to encourage a more accepting relationship between Christians and Muslims.
On his flight back to Rome, Catholic News reported in December that he commented specifically on the topic of Muslim migration: “I know that in Europe there are many times fears that are present but oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race.”
Leo said that in his talks in those countries, the conversations “were precisely concentrated on the topic of peace and respect for people of different religions.”
But peace and respect will only flow one way.
The current state of Europe and its history with the Islamic world prove that Islam does not want either.
When disillusioned Americans hear statements like this, they lose confidence in the Roman Catholic Church.
To see them return, they must be led by bold champions of Christ, not doormats who refuse to address our current problems.
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