As much as people probably want me to focus on the Thanksgiving Holiday in this note, I really need to focus on the recently announced recommendation that all parishes in Whatcom County be merged into one canonical parish by July 2027.
What is Partners in the Gospel?
Seriously, there is so much information about this on the Archdiocesan website (https://archseattle.org/partners/). You can find all kinds of introductions, explanations, and FAQs.
Very generally, it is a major consolidation of parishes across the Archdiocese of Seattle. Remember, a parish is an administrative unit, while a church is a worship location. So this initiative forces neighboring parishes to work together as one unit under one pastor, but does not necessarily require closing church buildings.
What Recently Changed?
It was originally proposed that Whatcom County be divided into two families, generally “Bellingham” and “North County”. It is now being proposed that Whatcom County be combined into one family, encompassing the entire county. Previously, we the county would have had two pastors, likely based out of Bellingham and Ferndale, each with one assistant priest. The new recommendation is that we only have one pastor, likely based out of Bellingham, with three assistant priests.
Who Recommended This?
Three groups were assembled together to process the input from parishioners and make a final recommendation to the Archbishop. They were:
- Presbyteral Council: The Archbishop’s senate of priests, consisting of the 10 regional deans (of which I am one) and another 10 – 12 priests chosen by him, most of whom have some responsibility at the chancery.
- Oversight Committee: A group assembled specifically for Partners in the Gospel, to give feedback on the direction of the program and any major decisions that need to be made.
- Priest Placement Board: The group of priests who help the Archbishop determine where to assign priests.
Why Did They Recommend This?
There was serious concern about the resource imbalance between Bellingham and North County. With the Church continuing to shrink, there was a worry that the North County parishes would quickly find themselves with too few people and too few dollars to support themselves or to carry out effective ministry. The thinking was that if we did not combine everyone now, we might have to do so in 5 – 10 years, so why not take the long view and do it now?
A Look at the Data
The recommendation group was provided with parish data, some of which I have replicated here. I think it is helpful to quantify where the concern came from.
| Weekend Mass Attendance (May 2023) | Collection Revenue (FY23) | Employees (including priests) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph (Ferndale) | 217 | $248,044 | 3FT / 3PT |
| St. Anne (Blaine) | 93 | $142,008 | |
| St. Joachim (Lummi) | 71 | $46,166 | |
| St. Joseph (Lynden) | 506 | $226,249 | 3FT / 1PT |
| St. Peter (Deming) | 142 | $88,949 | |
| Total | 1,029 | $751,416 | 6FT / 4PT |
| Weekend Mass Attendance (May 2023) | Collection Revenue (FY23) | Employees (including priests) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assumption (Bellingham) | 1,033 | $1,062,607 | 6FT / 8PT (School: 13FT / 22PT) |
| Sacred Heart + Newman Center (Bellingham) | 442 | $578,654 | 4FT / 5PT |
| Total | 1,475 | $1,641,261 | 10FT / 13PT |
| Weekend Mass Attendance (May 2023) | Collection Revenue (FY23) | Employees (including priests) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combined Total | 2,504 | $2,392,677 | 16FT / 17PT |
You can see that the Bellingham parishes have 60% of the county parishioners and 69% of the county financial resources. Additionally, considering that maybe 50% of Lynden’s parishioners are from the Spanish Mass (compared to 25% at Assumption), none of the North County parishes seem robust enough to serve as an administrative hub.
Feedback Requested
All of this said, the Archdiocese wants to make sure that people have the chance to be heard about this recommended change. Ultimately, the Presbyteral Council, Oversight Committee, and Priest Placement Board have made their recommendation, and that recommendation will not change. However, the Archbishop makes the final decision, and parishioner feedback will be given to him before he does.
Please provide your feedback in English, Spanish, or Vietnamese. Please make sure to provide your feedback even and especially if you like the change. Most of the time, only people who are upset provide feedback. But for the Archbishop to make an informed decision, he needs to hear from everybody.
Fr. Moore 