The Merger of St. Joseph and St. James Parishes

A short history

Beginning in the Fall of 2007, Bishop Morlino, along with the Diocesan Planning Committee, organized all of the parishes in the diocese into clusters of two, three or four parishes.  Each cluster was asked to do a needs assessment and then make a recommendation for how to best use the resources of the parishes in the cluster.  A shortage of priests has been and will continue to be a significant issue in deciding the organization of parishes in the clusters. 

In Spring, 2008, following input of parishioners, the Merger Team from the St. Joseph and St. James parishes made the recommendation to the Bishop that our two parishes should merge.

By January of 2009, the Bishop selected the name of Good Shepherd Parish, from a list of five names that parishioners recommended and prioritized.

Through 2009 and most of 2010, the Merger Team deliberated over four possible options for the merger of our two sites:

Option I:  Exclusive use of the existing St. James facilities

Option 2:  Exclusive use of the existing St. Joseph facilities

Option 3:  Mixed use of both the St. James and the St. Joseph facilities

Option 4:  Creation of a new site with new facilities

These deliberations included three parishes meetings to both gain input from parishioners and share the progress of the work of the Merger Team.  An assessment of the needs of our new parish, both in terms of personnel and building space was developed.  An architectural firm was commissioned to draw up tentative plans for each of the options with rough estimates of cost.

In August, 2010, the Merger Team met with parishioners to announce the recommendation that the Merger Team had prepared to send to the Bishop for his acceptance and approval.  This recommendation followed option 3 with additional considerations.

The Merger Team recommended continued use of both the St. James and St. Joseph facilities along with the recommendation that the two parishes, when combined, should hire a Business Manager and a full time person to be Youth Minister and Religious Education Coordinator.

Bishop Morlino responded in January 2011, with an acceptance and support for our recommendations.

We have begun the legal and canonical process for merging our two parish sites into the new parish of the Good Shepherd Parish.  This process is being completed with the help of Grant Emmel and Vicky Lamberty of the Diocesan Office of Planning.