Staff Report

Mission parishes in Springfield Center, Edmeston and Sharon Springs will close this year in a reorganization of the Albany Diocese.

St. Thomas in Cherry Valley will become a mission of St. Mary’s `Our Lady of the Lake’ in Cooperstown, and both will remain open, according to a plan announced this weekend by Bishop Howard Hubbard of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

The Rev. John P. Rosson, pastor of St. Mary’s Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church in Cooperstown, said the changes are a massive realignment within the diocese and carry a risk of alienating parishioners.

``They will vote with their feet,’’ Rosson said. Some of those who attend services at mission parishes — which are nonautonomous subsidiaries of parishes — could opt to join other denominations that are closer to where they live, Rosson said.

Others could opt out of attending services altogether, Rosson said.

``The ramifications will become manifest,’’ he said. Thomas Armstrong of Springfield Center said he has attended services at Blessed Sacrament in Springfield Center since about 1930.

The Catholic church is ``one of the nicest old churches in the area,’’ he said, and was the site of his baptism and marriage and the baptisms and confirmation of his five children.

However, the church is a mission of St. Thomas in Cherry Valley, and attendance has been mostly travelers and campers during the tourist season, Armstrong said.

The decision by the bishop of the Albany Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church to close the site, among others, wasn’t a surprise, he said.

``It doesn’t really bother me,’’ said Armstrong, the Springfield town supervisor.

``It should have been closed.’’

Other area Catholic churches and congregations are being directed to work on strengthening ties with other specified churches. Hubbard released decisions for priests to share details during Masses Saturday and Sunday.

Local churches generated recommendations during the 30-month project, and Hubbard emphasized the role of laity in the ``Call to BE Church’’ study and reorganization effort. The church body faces a declining number of priests and aims to better use its resources. The Albany Diocese has 124 active diocesan priests for an estimated 400,000 Catholics, though churches also are served by priests from religious orders or retired clergy, officials said.

In the 1960s, the diocese had about 400 priests, and the projection is there will be fewer than 100 diocesan priests in 2020.

The reorganization, which started in mid-2006, involved Catholics on 38 planning groups from 165 parishes throughout the 14-county diocese.

In total, 33 worship sites in the Albany Diocese will close through the end of 2011. Almost all of the recommendations from local

planning groups with respect to their local churches were adopted, a news release from the Diocese said.

Planning for the future of parishes is happening across the state and the Northeast. The dioceses of Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo have closed between 20 percent and 30 percent of their churches. Through its plan, the Albany Diocese will close less than 20 percent of its worship sites.

According to the plan:

- In Otsego County Planning Group No. 1, the three-parish Planning Group that includes Oneonta, Sidney and Morris will lose a mission church. Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary in Edmeston, a mission of the Morris church, will close by July 1. St. Mary’s in Oneonta, Sacred Heart in Sidney and Holy Cross in Morris will continue to deepen linkages, as recommended to the diocese. Parishes are asked for continued support for quality Catholic School education.

- In Otsego County Planning Group No. 2, with four parishes, will close two of its two missions. St. Mary’s in Cooperstown and St. Thomas in Cherry Valley will remain open, but St. Thomas’ mission churches will close — St. Mary’s in Sharon Springs by Dec. 31 and Blessed Sacrament in Springfield Center by Oct. 18.