{"id":108961,"date":"2026-02-09T10:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T10:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/108961\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T10:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T10:27:11","slug":"diocese-of-pittsburgh-bishop-approves-plan-to-close-all-but-one-of-a-local-parishs-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/108961\/","title":{"rendered":"Diocese of Pittsburgh bishop approves plan to close all but one of a local parish\u2019s churches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c1a007fe9bbbe5d8b6453755a8a7bed8.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has given his approval to the closing of multiple local churches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Sunday, the diocese confirmed to Channel 11 that seven churches in Saint Joseph the Worker Parish will be consolidated into St. Maurice in Forest Hills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Effective March 12, St. John Fisher, Sacred Heart, St. Anselm, Madonna Del Castello, Good Shepherd, St. Jude the Apostle and St. Colman churches will be permanently closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Bishop Mark Eckman made the decision based on the parish pastor\u2019s recommendation, a diocesan spokesperson says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThis follows a thorough, prayerful, and consultative process led by the parish clergy team and parish leadership,\u201d the spokesperson says. \u201cThis decision reflects careful consideration of pastoral needs, financial realities, and the long-term vitality of the parish. The Bishop is grateful for the dedication shown by Father Michael Stumpf, Father Nick Clinton, the advisory councils, and the Facilities Mission Team throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The diocese is \u201ccommitted to walking with the parish\u201d during this time of change, the spokesperson says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE &gt;&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/pittsburgh-area-catholic-parish-close-nearly-all-its-church-buildings\/GLDW3SPE5ZG7NBT6NFC334KOFU\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Pittsburgh-area Catholic parish to close nearly all of its church buildings;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Pittsburgh-area Catholic parish to close nearly all of its church buildings<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Talk of closing the churches started last year. The parish said the churches are losing younger members, and maintenance needs are putting a significant financial strain on the parish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:FREE WPXI News app;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Twitter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Watch WPXI NOW;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has given his approval to the closing of multiple local&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[46861,11353,52308,52311,52309,52310,73,75,74,52307],"class_list":{"0":"post-108961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-catholic-diocese-of-pittsburgh","9":"tag-channel-11","10":"tag-madonna-del-castello","11":"tag-mark-eckman","12":"tag-parish-clergy","13":"tag-parish-leadership","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","16":"tag-pittsburgh-news","17":"tag-st-john-fisher"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}