The Diocese of Crookston has announced that seven parishes will cease celebrating Sunday Mass in the coming months as it embarks on a reorganisation prompted by declining Mass attendance, demographic change and a shortage of priests.
“The decision to cease celebrating Sunday Mass at a church is among the most difficult decisions a bishop must make,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens said in a July 18 statement announcing the changes affecting the diocese's north-west deanery.
Three parishes in the north-west deanery will celebrate their final Sunday Masses in October, while four parishes in the north-east deanery will celebrate their final Sunday Masses in August and September.
