The Diocese of Greensburg, like so many institutions serving Southwestern Pennsylvania, is facing the challenge of operating in an area with an older population that has a shrinking number of Catholic households served by just 38 parishes.
“We need to do everything we could to strengthen our parishes, the parish communities, try to make them as viable as possible, spiritually strong and financially stable,” Bishop Larry Kulick said at a listening session that attracted about 120 priests, diocesan staff and parishioners Monday night at Our Lady of Grace Church in Hempfield.
The parishes need to be centers of welcome and evangelization for parishioners, Kulick said.
The listening session of more than two hours at Our Lady of Grace — one of seven the diocese plans to hold across Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana and Westmoreland counties — gives the leaders of the diocese the opportunity to explain to the parishioners more of what the diocese is doing and to listen to the concerns of the faithful, Kulick said. Participants had the opportunity to list questions for the bishop and discuss issues facing the diocese.
From the last time the diocese held a series of listening sessions in 2023 and 2024, Kulick said, it was ”very clear how much people loved their parishes” and how much of a role the church played in their lives.
“Parish identity is very important. Our parishes are much more than just buildings. They’re organic parts of our spiritual life, our legacy, part of the continuity,” Kulick said.
But, Kulick said he had heard from those parishioners who took their families to church every Sunday, who sent their children to Catholic school, but now see that those adult family members no longer attend church and their children are not baptized. Parishioners would ask, “who’s going to be in the pews of our parish five or 10 years?” Kulick said.
The diocese has had to close churches this century because of the drop in parishioners and fewer priests. The diocese had about 100 churches in 2000.
There are fewer Catholic households in the diocesan territory to fill those pews in the churches of the four-county diocese. Msgr. Raymond Riffle, the priest at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg, said that although there are some 98,000 Catholic households in the four counties served by the diocese, there were 49,000 more Catholic households in the diocese at the turn of the century. And of those 98,000 Catholic households, only about 49,140 are registered with a parish, Riffle said.
What gives Kulick hope for the future is he sees a “great renewal of young people wanting to learn about their faith.”
The bishop said he sees in the youth a desire to be connected to humanity, rather than “living by the gospel of the world.”
“There is a desire for connectivity and tradition and a sense of belonging to something other than themselves,” Kulick said.
David Lusardi, 68, of North Huntingdon, said the listening sessions bring about transparency in the church.
“There is a lack of trust that goes on (in the world), and I think transparency is the most important thing we can do,” Lusardi said.
Looking toward the future, Grant McDonald, 63, of Greensburg, said it is important for this generation “to take care of the church we have to make sure it is there for future generations.”
Kulick said the diocese will review responses from the listening sessions and hold three follow-up sessions to discuss the responses.
“It’s important for him (responses) as he discerns our path to the future,” Riffle said.