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Archdiocese of Chicago to consolidate two Little Village parishes, but both churches to remain open

The latest round of consolidations at the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Thursday it will unite two West Side parishes this summer, bringing a new name, but still offering Masses at both church buildings as reorganization of area parishes accelerates because of the pandemic, officials said.

The melding of the Epiphany and Good Shepherd parishes in the city’s Little Village neighborhood, which is effective July 1, will create one parish with one pastor and one pastoral team, Archdiocese of Chicago spokesman Manny Gonzales said.

The Rev. Orlando Flores Orea, currently pastor of St. Paul in Chicago Heights, another parish whose merger was announced this week, will be pastor of the newly united parish, which will eventually have a new name to be decided by the two communities, Gonzales said.

There will be no changes to Epiphany School, and a third Catholic church in the neighborhood, St. Agnes of Bohemia, will remain a separate parish with its own school, Gonzales said.

The announcement of the merging of the Little Village parishes arrives just days after archdiocese officials said several South Side and south suburban Catholic parishes are slated for consolidation this summer, and another round of announcements is expected late Friday, Gonzales said.

Indeed, the pandemic has fueled an urgency to expedite the reorganization phase of the archdiocese’s Renew My Church initiative launched in 2015, which is now expected to wrap up in 2022, a year earlier than had been anticipated, Bishop Robert Casey, the archdiocese’s vicar general, said Friday.

“We’re grateful to have a head start in the spiritual renewal of the church, and that we’ll be coming out of the pandemic a step ahead,” Casey said.

The planning for reorganization of parishes, known as “discernment,” involves church members who are assigned to a committee making difficult and often painful decisions about their preferred way to consolidate and close parishes and schools because of financial hardships — a process that was expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, Casey said. Cardinal Blase Cupich makes the final decision, after recommendations from advisers and a Renew My Church panel that reviews local recommendations.

From what began in 2015 as 344 parishes in Cook and Lake counties, as of Friday, 143 parishes had been part of consolidations, forming 58 parishes. Of these, 44 churches will no longer be used on a regular basis for Mass and 41 parishes remain unchanged.

“Collections are down 25% across the board, but it’s not just finances,” Casey said, adding that the pandemic has forced officials to become more aware of the realities the church has been facing for years, including declining attendance — a challenge facing many religious organizations due to an increasingly secular society, Casey said.

“After the reorganization, we’ll move to spiritual renewal, building a new reality, engaging the parish … and being at peace,” Casey said.

“The church of today is not the church of my youth,” Casey said, adding, “Our reality is changing, and we need to wrap our minds and hearts around it.”

The reorganization “is difficult, and stirs up anger and grief, but at the same time, it’s exciting, and an opportunity,” Casey added.

kcullotta@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kcullotta