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February 5, 2009

Church changes by cluster

Here are the decisions announced at Luzerne County churches, listed by “cluster.”

South Cluster 1: St. Frances Cabrini, Carverton will close by July 2011 and consolidate with St. Therese, Dallas. Gate of Heaven will link with Our Lady of Victory at Harveys Lake, sharing one pastor. Blessed Sacrament in Center Moreland will close by July and consolidate at Gate of Heaven. Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Lake Silkworth will partner with the consolidated parish at Gate of Heaven.

South Cluster 2: St. Mary Annunciation, Kingston, will close by 2012 and consolidate with St. Ignatius, Kingston. St. Ann’s Chapel in Kingston will remain open for services as needed, but that status will be reviewed after two years. Holy Name/St. Mary and Holy Trinity in Swoyersville will link and then consolidate at Holy Trinity, with St. Mary closing by 2012.

South Cluster 3: By July 2010, St. Boniface and Holy Rosary in Wilkes-Barre will close and consolidate at St. Patrick’s, Wilkes-Barre. Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Trinity and St. Joseph in Wilkes-Barre Township will consolidate at Maternity Blessed Virgin Mary.

South Cluster 4: St. Joseph, St. Mary the Immaculate Conception and St. Therese, all in Wilkes-Barre, will consolidate by July 2011 at St. Mary the Immaculate Conception, with the other two churches closing. St. Casimir, Wilkes-Barre, will close by July 2011 and consolidate at St. Aloysius, Wilkes-Barre, pending a meeting with diocesan officials to determine if renovations at St. Aloysius are affordable. St. Nicholas will remain open.

South Cluster 5: Blessed Sacrament, St. Francis, and St. John the Baptist, all in Wilkes-Barre, are to close by July 2010 and consolidate at St. Dominic, Wilkes-Barre.

South Cluster 6: Sacred Heart/St. John the Evangelist and Holy Savior, Wilkes-Barre will close by July 2010, as will the Sacred Heart Mission Church of St. Christopher in Bear Creek. They will consolidate at St. Stanislaus Kostka Wilkes-Barre.

South Cluster 7: Our Lady Help of Christians, Dorrance, St. Jude, Mountaintop, and St. Patrick, White Haven will link, sharing one pastor and priest staff but remaining open.

South Cluster 8: In Nanticoke, St. Stanislaus, St. Mary Czestochowa, St. Francis, St. Joseph and Holy Child will all close and consolidate at Holy Trinity, though St. Mary will remain open for two years as a “secondary worship site” for possible weekend masses, weddings and funerals as needed.

South Cluster 9: Holy Redeemer in Harding will close and consolidate with Immaculate Conception in West Pittston, but Holy Redeemer will remain available for services as needed. Similarly, St. Cecelia in Exeter will be available for services as needed but otherwise consolidate, along with St. John the Baptist, Exeter, at St. Anthony Padua. St. John will close. Our Lady of Sorrows in West Wyoming will consolidate at St. Joseph, Wyoming, but remain available for services as needed.

South Cluster 10: St. Rocco, Pittston, will close and consolidate with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Pittston. Blessed Sacrament, Hughestown and St. Mary Assumption, Pittston, will close and consolidate with St. Mary Help of Christians, Pittston. St. John the Evangelist will remain open but partner with the other parishes.

South Cluster 11: Ascension Church in Mocanaqua will close by July 2011. St. Martha, Fairmont Springs, St. Mary, Mocanaqua, and Corpus Christi in Glen Lyon will remain open.

South Cluster 12: St. Charles Borromeo in Sugar Notch will close. Holy Family Sugar Notch and St Leo Ashley will remain open. Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Hanover Township, which had been listed as belonging to Cluster 12, was included in Cluster 4, remaining open but linked to St. Aloysius in Wilkes-Barre.

South Cluster 13: Sacred Heart and St. Joseph in Duryea will close and consolidate with Holy Rosary in Duryea. SS. Peter and Paul in Avoca will close and consolidate with St. Mary Avoca. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Dupont, will remain open.

South Cluster 14: St. Maria Goretti in Laflin and St. Mark in Inkerman will consolidate by July this year with St. Mark closing. Sacred Heart in Plains and St. Joseph in Hudson will close and consolidate at SS. Peter and Paul in Plains by July 2010.

South Cluster 15: All Saints in Plymouth and St. John the Baptist in Larksville will remain open but will work in partnership. Their status will be re-evaluated in three years.

East Cluster 1: By July 2010, St. Nazarius in Pardeesville, St. Mary in Lattimer and Sacred Heart in Harleigh will close and consolidate at Our Lady of Grace in Hazleton. Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, Freeland, will remain open.

East Cluster 2: Holy Trinity (Slovak) and St. Stanislaus in Hazleton will close within two years, consolidating with St. Joseph’s, though St. Stanislaus will initially remain open and link with St. Joseph. Most Precious Blood will remain open and partner with St. Joseph. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel will close. Holy Rosary and St. Gabriel will partner.

East Cluster 3: SS. Peter and Paul in Hazleton and St. Francis in West Hazleton will close and consolidate at Transfiguration Church in West Hazleton.

East Cluster 4: St. John Bosco in Conyngham, Good Shepherd in the Drums section of Butler Township, and Sacred Heart in Weston will partner but remain open. The three may link by 2012, which would mean sharing a pastor and staff. St. Joseph in Nuremberg will close.

North Cluster 5: By July 2009 Holy Family will consolidate with St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton; Holy Family will close by July 2010.

North Cluster 7: St. Mary of Mt. Carmel, St. Casimir and All Saints in Dunmore will consolidate by July 2009. St Casmir and All Saints will close by July 2011. St. Anthony of Padua and St. Rocco in Dunmore will consolidate by July 2009. St. Rocco will close by July 2011






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