Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, will celebrate the opening Mass for a new parish in West Philadelphia which will be named Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. The Mass will take place on Sunday, July 3, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. The new parish will be formed, as previously reported, by the consolidation of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish and Our Lady of Victory Parish, and will be located at 63rd and Callowhill Streets, using the buildings of the present Our Lady of the Rosary site. The founding date of the new parish will be July 1, 2005.

Reverend Thomas P. Kletzel, Pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish and Our Lady of Victory Parish, announced the new name to parishioners at Holy Week Services and the official decrees were published in parish bulletins on April 17, 2005. The name was chosen by Cardinal Rigali following a survey of parishioners who indicated they wished to be under the patronage of the Blessed Mother and also wanted to honor the Year of the Eucharist, currently underway in the Archdiocese.

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish School
The new parish school will also be located in the present buildings of Our Lady of the Rosary. The school held an Open House on Sunday, April 10, 2005 and began registration on Wednesday, April 13, 2005. The new school will open in September 2005.

Background
A Steering Committee, made up of the pastor, the principal and lay representatives of each parish, made the recommendation for consolidation after much prayer, discussion and deliberation. Our Lady of the Rosary Parish and Our Lady of Victory Parish have faced declining numbers of registered parishioners in recent years. The number of parishioners of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish has decreased from 1,045 in 1990 to 400 in 2004. During that same time period, the number of parishioners of Our Lady of Victory has decreased from 1,347 to 537.

The schools' enrollments have also been steadily decreasing and the costs to educate each student increasing. In the 2004-2005 school year, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish School enrollment is 162 students and Our Lady of Victory Parish School is 190.

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Editor's Note: For addition background information, please visit Pastoral Planning ~ Cluster 21.

Contact
Donna Farrell
Director of Communications
215-587-3747