March 2023 Beacons of Light Update

There has been much talk regarding Beacons of Light over the last several years. Yet there is still much confusion regarding its purpose and goal.

The goal is for a Family of Parishes to become one single canonical parish. A parish technically refers to a territory or boundary. This is set by a diocese to encompass a community of the Christian faithful, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor under the authority of the bishop. It has a geographical area, but in certain cases can include people outside that area.

Some people think that when we speak of the Beacons of Light process, we are talking about closing their church. However, that is not what Beacons of Light is about – it's about combining multiple parish territories into a larger parish territory.

A parish is not the same as a church. A church is a sacred building, and a parish can have more than one church. But a parish is far more than a church building. When we make this transition to become one canonical parish, our four existing churches will remain and function as they do currently. For example: "Holy Family Parish" will consist of four church buildings within its geographic territory: Holy Trinity, St. Ann, St. Louis, and St. Philomena. Although these four churches will become part of a larger parish territory, their buildings will remain open and their individual names will not change, and Masses will continue to take place in all four churches. The change, therefore, is more of a legal matter, with donations and collections going into a single account for the entire Holy Family Parish. Financial requirements of all four churches will come from this single account.

One of the major questions that we are currently deciding is what legal process we should choose to make this happen. The two choices to merge the parishes or to amalgamate them together:

• Merging would form a new single legal entity -- a new parish with a new name, in which all four church buildings would continue to operate. The existing legal entities for each church would, therefore, need to be closed so we can become one new parish with four churches, operating just as we are currently (a+b+c+d=E).
• With an amalgamation, three of our existing parishes would be assumed into one of the existing parishes. For example: one option might be that St. Ann, St. Louis, and St. Philomena could be assumed by Holy Trinity and it’s boundary would be enlarged to include the other three parish territories. This would simply be a legal change, and the church buildings would continue to operate as they do today (a+b+c=Big D).

In either case, donations/collections will go into a single account, and the monies collected will support the building, grounds, and activities for all four churches. The Holy Family Parish Council is currently deciding which process would be best for our Family of Parishes. This was discussed during our Town Hall meeting on January 17, 2023.

The Beacons of Light process is occurring throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, meaning that in the future the current 57 Families of Parishes will become 57 parishes. Our parish family has accomplished much of the pre-work for being one community over the past twelve years of working together. As a result, most of the hard work, which other Families of Parishes must undertake, has already been done here.

The next step for us is to make the legal transition to be one canonical parish. Given that these past twelve years of working together as a community of parishes has prepared us well for the next step, it was decided at the Holy Family Parish Council meeting in February to set a target date of July 2024 to become one parish! In my most recent meeting with the archdiocese, it was agreed that we are moving at the correct pace.

Therefore, in the next fifteen months, we will move from four separate parishes under the Family of Parishes umbrella to a single parish with four churches: either by merger or amalgamation as discussed above. Because our plan is to continue to operate much as we have been, we expect this transition will result in few visible or dramatic changes. The only factors that may impact our current situation would be from the archdiocese or outside forces; for example, taking away our weekend clergy help.

Change is certainly difficult, especially as it relates to something as personal as our parish communities. I agree the Beacons of Light process is very confusing. Many are asking why we must do this in the first place. But with the current trends showing a shortage of people coming to Sunday Mass and a decline in future priests, the archdiocese has determined there are simply too many parishes to maintain. By combining multiple parishes into larger parish territories, there will be greater synergy and more shared resources that can lead to increased long-term benefits, such as stronger and more vibrant parish communities.

Each month, we will continue to provide updates on how this process is advancing. It is natural to focus on the negatives, to complain that this won’t work, and to wonder if this is being fairly implemented. I ask that we instead look at this as an opportunity to become stronger and more unified, so to have a more vibrant Catholic community for future generations.

We have four amazing churches here at Holy Family, Clermont Co., where we get to praise and honor God. Coming together legally will not change this. I pray that you remain open and hopeful and that you will unite with me in praying for our success and fruitfulness as we move forward.

Please join me as I pray to God, asking Him to pour out His Spirit of Unity and Peace upon us as we journey through this Beacon of Light process together,

Fr. Thomas McCarthy

Pastor