Possible Reprive for St. Stephen Church After Bishop Issues New Decree

| December 16, 2019

OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – The plan for the merger of Oil City’s two catholic parishes is seeing some changes following a new decree from Bishop Lawrence T. Persico.

(Photo by Bryce Dunham)

According to a diocesan press release issued on December 14, Connie Schwabenbauer, a parishioner of St. Stephen Parish, serving as procurator for numerous other parishioners, presented a remonstratio — a written petition asking the bishop to revoke or amend his decision to reduce St. Stephen Church building to secondary status without mission status.

According to the release, although the diocese found numerous canonical errors in the remonstratio, it did recognize the need to address the situation in Oil City from a pastoral perspective. For that reason, Bishop Persico has revoked the November 15th decree and replaced it with a new one. Parishioners were informed of the new decree at weekend Masses on Saturday, December 14.

Both decrees can be found at www.ErieRCD.org/bishop/decrees.html.

The most significant changes in the decree can be found in its introduction, as well as in the fifth and sixth provisions it contains.

The decision to merge St. Stephen Parish into St. Joseph Parish remains in effect, but St. Stephen Church will now become a secondary church of St. Joseph Parish, with mission status. This means Masses may be celebrated there on Sundays or holy days of obligation or the evenings preceding them.

Under the prior November 12 decree, St. Stephen church building would have been reduced to secondary status without mission status, meaning that after December 31, the church would have remained available only for occasional use, such as weddings, funerals, and personal devotion, without holding regular Masses.

The decree also granted the petition’s request that the assets of St. Stephen be sequestered (separated from other funds). In the decree, the bishop has specified that even after the merger, the “patrimonial assets” of St. Stephen Church remain set aside. The decree specifically states that the sequestered assets can be used only for the maintenance of St. Stephen Church, St. Stephen Rectory, St. Stephen School, and St. Venantius Church (which currently belong to St. Stephen Parish).

Though not expressly stated in the decree, this would mean the money could not be used for St. Joseph buildings or for any other buildings that the owned by the Oil City Catholic Community.

The terms of the new decree otherwise remain the same as the previous decree concerning the parish merger. The name of the merged parish will still be St. Joseph, all sacramental records from both parishes will be moved to and maintained at St. Joseph, and “all of the assets, responsibilities, and liabilities of St. Stephen Parish shall be transferred to St. Joseph Parish,” though they will be sequestered.

According to the decree, the sequestration will continue, “pending the outcome of a potential recourse or the establishment after further study of some other provision according to the norm of law” in response to the remonstratio.

In the decree, the bishop also offered some background, as well as some of his own observations about the current situation in the Oil City parishes.

“Following the issuance of the decree of November 15, 2019, and the subsequent reception of the Procurator’s remonstratio, I remain convinced of the inevitable need for a single parish in Oil City, as supported unanimously by the members of the Presbyteral Council. At the same time, I recognize the pastoral need for further review regarding the status of Saint Stephen Church,” the bishop stated in the decree.

He went on to note the decree won’t alter who administers the parish’s assets or who provides pastoral care, but it will provide “more effective pastoral care by uniting the community under a single parish.”

He states the combination of personnel and ministerial resources through the merger will also “enhance parochial life and to aid in evangelization efforts.”

Background

St. Stephen Parish was actually originally part of St. Joseph Parish, which was established in 1864 in response to the population grown resulting from the oil boom in the region. The current St. Joseph Church was dedicated on June 26, 1894.

Four years after the current church was dedicated, in 1898, the territory of the parish was divided in half with St. Stephen Parish being erected on the south side of the Allegheny River and St. Joseph Parish remaining on the north side.

The split was due to overcrowding at St. Joseph, according to the Oil City Catholic website.

St. Stephen was formed in 1898, and a new church was dedicated on December 22, 1907, and was rededicated on June 1, 1952, following substantial renovation, according to the website.

However, the most recent decree notes a population decline began in the Oil City area around 1940. According to the decree, the population of Oil City in 1930 numbered more than 22,000, whereas the US Census Bureau estimates the 2018 population of Oil City to be fewer than 10,000. The population decrease is recently averaging slightly less than 1% per year, and the demographic decrease is far more striking in the Oil City parishes than in the area’s general population as a whole.

The decree notes that taking into account adjustments for households merged into these parishes in 2017, parish census figures show an annual decrease of 4.4% at Saint Joseph Parish, and 5.5% at Saint Stephen Parish. Currently, Saint Joseph Parish lists 335 households while Saint Stephen Parish lists 398 households. At the current pace, Saint Joseph will soon be the larger of the two parishes. The Catholic community of Oil City now numbers fewer than 750 households, which is approximately the equivalent of an average mid-sized parish.

In August 2018, it was discovered that the towers of St. Stephen Church needed emergency repair work when stones fell from the towers. Temporary emergency measures were put in place to prevent other stones from dislodging. However, parish leaders found that major decisions would soon need to be made regarding the building’s deteriorating condition.

Reverend John Miller, pastor of both Saint Joseph Parish and Saint Stephen Parish, formed an ad hoc committee in May of 2019 to look at the present situation of the parishes, the buildings, and the future of the Catholic community in Oil City as a whole. The committee met with the combined pastoral council of both parishes and with other parishioners, studied the available data, and then obtained the approval of the combined pastoral council to publicized a proposed plan for Oil City. The committee then asked all parishioners for feedback.

Following a review of the feedback received, the committee believed that the majority of the suggestions and concerns could be satisfactorily met by to merging Saint Stephen Parish into Saint Joseph Parish. This proposal was then passed on to Bishop Persico, who in turn brought the matter before the the Presbyteral Council on November 7.

Following a discussion of the situation, the members of the Presbyteral Council expressed their unanimous support for the proposal to merge Saint Stephen Parish into Saint Joseph Parish, with Saint Joseph Church retaining its status as the parochial church, and the initial decree was issued on November 15.


Copyright © 2024 EYT Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of EYT Media Group, Inc. is expressly prohibited.

Category: Community, Local News, News