LE MARS, Iowa (AP) - A recent shortage of priests is affecting Plymouth County Catholic parishes.
The Le Mars Daily Sentinel (https://bit.ly/1NGEGpe ) reports that the pastor for St. Joseph Church in Struble, St. Joseph Church in Ellendale and Our Lady of Assumption in Merril has been reassigned within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City.
According to the Rev. Kevin Richter, who is responsible for those sites, Our Lady of Assumption will have to close in July. St. Joseph’s in Struble will also close in July, but may have the option of becoming a worship site and holding service once or twice a month.
“There is still a commitment and cost to maintaining the site when there’s not weekly masses there,” Richter explained.
The St. Joseph Church in Ellendale will become a mission church covered by priests in Le Mars.
Richter says that a shortage of priests and the small size of congregations in the rural churches have led to the closures and changes. The parishioners have known about their church’s fate for quite some time. The diocese informed the parishioners two years ago about what could happen if their pastor, Msgr. Mark Duchaine, retired or was reassigned.
According to Richter, the diocese is looking at other ways to serve people despite the shortage, like relying on lay people to do administrative and pastoral work.
“We have to think differently about what the priests are doing,” he said.
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Information from: Daily Sentinel, https://www.lemarssentinel.com
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