Facing declining membership and attendance, the Diocese of Scranton is merging two Lackawanna County parishes and closing a church in Jermyn. Meanwhile, church officials are considering shuttering another church in West Scranton.
The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, bishop of Scranton, signed a decree last month consolidating SS. Anthony and Rocco and Our Lady of Mount Carmel parishes in Dunmore into St. John Paul II Parish, effective July 1. He also signed a decree earlier this year closing Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Jermyn; the last Mass will be celebrated June 7.
Officials and parishioners at St. Patrick’s Parish in West Scranton are discussing the future of one of their churches, Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel — a discussion that includes possibly closing the building.
The changes are part of the 11-county diocese’s Vision 2030 restructuring process, which launched in January 2022 as a revision to the diocese’s previous Vision 2020. Vision 2030 attributes the restructuring plans to “significant challenges” faced by the diocese due to changing demographics, including fewer parishioners, financial challenges and parish infrastructure needs, and diminishing numbers as retiring priests outpace ordained priests.
New traditions at new parish
In his decree consolidating the two Dunmore parishes, Bambera said over the last seven years they have experienced “a serious reduction” of the Christian faithful participating in the liturgical and sacrificial life of both parishes. From 2018 to 2025, the number of registered parishioners declined 37%, from 5,980 to 3,780, and Mass attendance decreased 34%, from 1,646 to 1,090. The number of baptisms, weddings and individuals enrolled in religious education also fell during that time period, Bambera said.
The new parish will be the only one in Dunmore, which at one point had six parishes. The diocese consolidated St. Mary of Mount Carmel, St. Casimir’s and All Saints parishes in 2009 to form Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, which uses St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church, built in 1874. Also in 2009, St. Anthony’s and St. Rocco’s parishes consolidated to become SS. Anthony and Rocco Parish, which uses St. Anthony’s Church, dedicated in 1894 with the current building constructed in 1949, as its primary worship site, and St. Rocco’s Church, dedicated in 1920, as a secondary site. Christ the King Parish consolidated with Immaculate Conception Parish in Scranton’s Hill Section.
The two parishes were linked in 2023, sharing the same pastor, the Rev. David Cappelloni.
St. John Paul II Parish will use St. Anthony of Padua Church as its principal church, with St. Mary of Mount Carmel and St. Rocco churches as secondary churches. The Mass schedule will not change.
Cappelloni said Mass at both parishes is well attended, with around 1,000 to 1,200 people at weekend Masses, but having a consolidated parish means there will be more people for the parish to do ministries, activities and services.
“It’s just much easier to function as a larger congregation with more people to draw from, and to do all kinds of ministry and activities and services,” he said. “I’m looking forward to starting new traditions and to be uniting as one and have the whole town of Dunmore be under one parish name and working together to promote our faith and to live the Gospel values that Jesus Christ calls us to live and to help people to live their faith.”
Existing activities at both parishes will still occur, Cappelloni said, but they will now be done under one parish. The most notable activity is the annual festival each summer, which will take place Aug. 7-9.
He said parishioners are excited the parish will be named in honor of St. John Paul II, who served as pope from 1978 until his death in 2005.
“He was a very important pope and there’s a lot of teachings that he gave so there’s a lot that we could use from his papacy to inform us and to guide us,” Cappelloni said.
The Rev. David Cappelloni conducts Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Dunmore Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (Times-Tribune file photo)
St. Patrick Parish’s IHM Chapel on Oram Street in West Scranton on Thursday, July 20, 2023. (Times-Tribune file photo)
The Rev. James J. Walsh blesses a new sign with holy water at Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Jermyn in 1999. (Times-Tribune file photo)
St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church on Chestnut St. in Dunmore Monday, May 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Show Caption
1 of 4
The Rev. David Cappelloni conducts Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Dunmore Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (Times-Tribune file photo)
Expand
‘Center of so many Catholics’ lives’
The Rev. Ryan Glenn, pastor of Christ the King Parish, which includes Sacred Heart of Mary Church, as well as St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Archbald and St. Mary of Czestochowa Church in the Eynon section of Archbald, said closing the church was hard and sad but the parish felt it was the prudent thing to do.
“It’s not easy but it’s come after a lot of time of fact-finding and prayer,” he said.
The decision to close the church, which was dedicated in 1908, came after a long period of exploring the parish facilities, population and financial realities, Glenn said. The parish brought its recommendation to Bambera and the diocese’s Presbyteral Council earlier this year and Bambera issued the decree in February.
From 2018 to 2025, weekend Mass attendance at all three churches in Christ the King Parish declined nearly 45%, from 1,238 to 685, according to the parish. Glenn said the COVID-19 pandemic and the declining population of Jermyn affected attendance. As a result, the parish reduced the number of weekend Masses in recent years from nine to four, which he said are well attended.
In addition, a facility analysis in 2024 found it would cost the parish nearly $450,000 to address infrastructure repairs needed at the church, including roof repairs and a boiler replacement, according to the decree.
“They’re major financial commitments in the very near future that we just don’t think that the parish can necessarily afford to do,” Glenn said.
Mass is currently celebrated once a week on Sundays at 9 a.m. at Sacred Heart of Mary. Once the church closes, that Mass will be moved to St. Thomas Aquinas Church, he said. The parish’s Heritage Committee is working to plan the final Mass.
Glenn said the parish is working to honor the building and its legacy, including offering an architectural tour and opportunities for prayer in the church. They also hope to collect pictures, memories and written reflections from parishioners about the church and what it has meant for them.
He said the parish has been a part of many parishioners’ lives for generations, some of whom still regularly attend Mass at the church.
“So many parishioners grew up there, went to school, we used to have a parochial school there, they received their sacraments there, they were married there,” he said. “It really was the center of so many Catholics’ lives in Mayfield and Jermyn.”
Eric Deabill, spokesman for the diocese, said once any church building is closed, the future of the church property will be determined by the parish, in consultation with the Diocese of Scranton, but will conform with Catholic faith and morals and with its dignity as a former place of divine worship.
Glenn said the parish will look to sell the property after the June 7 Mass. He hopes whoever purchases the building will respect and remember what it means to the community.
Parishioners who attend Sacred Heart will be welcome and encouraged to attend Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church or any other nearby church.
Glenn said the bishop recognized the difficulty in closing the church while celebrating Mass there last Sunday, likening the period of anxiety leading to the church’s closure to the Apostles waiting for Pentecost and when the Holy Spirit comes and leads the church in unexpected ways.
Examining a chapel’s future
The Rev. Richard Fox, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, said in a letter to parishioners the Oram Street chapel has served many faithful Catholics since it was first built in the early 1950s, but said its use has gradually declined over the years. The chapel is a secondary worship site for St. Patrick Parish, whose primary church is on Jackson Street.
Between 2017 and 2025, the average Mass attendance at the chapel has declined 65%, from 157 to 54, according to figures from the parish. Fox said it costs $27,920 annually to operate the chapel, and with the Mass collection approximately $24,000 a year, the chapel operates at a loss of nearly $4,000 a year.
Fox said Mass went from being celebrated at the chapel daily to only once a week, with occasional funerals and a few weddings.
“Like many parishes in our region, we are facing ongoing financial challenges and changing demographics,” he wrote. “These realities require us to carefully evaluate how we utilize our buildings and resources. Maintaining multiple worship sites — especially those with limited use — places an increasing burden on the parish as a whole.”
A parishwide information session on the future of the chapel took place last Saturday. Deabill said this closure has not been brought before the Presbyteral Council or approved by the bishop.