ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

JANUARY 2000
(Parish Release - 1/8-9/00)

CLUSTER 33 PARISHES WORK TOGETHER TO IMPLEMENT PLAN
CLUSTER 33 / PHILADELPHIA-SOUTH VICARIATE</p>

St. Agatha-St. James St. Barnabas St. Carthage St. Clement

St. Francis de Sales Good Shepherd St. Irenaeus St. Mary of Czestochowa

Most Blessed Sacrament Our Lady of Loreto Transfiguration of Our Lord

Our Lady of Loreto School to Close in June 2000 and Three Parishes to be Restructured Members of the Cluster 33 Tri-Parish Planning Committee and the Pastors of Our Lady of Loreto, St. Barnabas and St. Mary of Czestochowa parishes announce that Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, has accepted and approved the Committee's recommendations to close Our Lady of Loreto Parish School and to restructure Our Lady of Loreto Parish, St. Mary of Czestochowa Parish and St. Barnabas Parish.

These recommendations came in response to Goal # 3 of the Cluster 33 Pastoral Plan, which the Cardinal accepted in March, 1998. Goal # 3 called for the Cluster "to respond to a decrease in Catholic population and an increase in financial burdens". A specially-formed "Tri-Parish Planning Committee" (TPPC) proposed the following recommendations, accepted by the Cardinal:

• .That there be one elementary school, St. Barnabas School, 64^th Street and Buist Avenue.
  • .That Our Lady of Loreto School, 2412 South 62^nd Street, close in June of 2000. (St. Mary of Czestochowa School closed in 1994)

• .That there be one parish, St. Barnabas, with additional worship sites at Our Lady of Loreto and St. Mary of Czestochowa (a worship site is an additional sacred building [church] of the parish used for Sunday Mass and where funeral Masses could also be permitted).

• .That this new structure be evaluated on a regular basis.
  
  

A Tri-Parish Transition Team has been formed to assist in preparing for this restructuring. The Team will keep everyone informed as these preparations are made.