Priests gather to begin discernment on archdiocesan restructuring, pastorate models

Proposals for new parish alignments will be refined, presented to faithful during more than 400 parish listening sessions in spring

DETROIT — Nearly 175 priests are gathering Jan. 14-16 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit to begin praying, discussing and discerning the future of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s 209 parishes.

The three-day working session, which gathered priests from every corner of the Archdiocese of Detroit, is the start of a process that will eventually result in new parish configurations, called “pastorates,” for southeast Michigan’s Church, which is undergoing a two-year process of restructuring announced in the fall.

The goal of the priests’ working session is to produce proposals for the new pastorates, which will be presented to the faithful for feedback this spring during a series of more than 400 parish listening sessions, said Fr. Mario Amore, executive director of the archdiocese’s Department of Parish Renewal.

“What’s important to know is that this is a process, and it’s a process that has to begin somewhere,” Fr. Amore told local media Jan. 14. “And so we’re beginning with our priests, who are the ones managing day-to-day parish life and who know the unique challenges each of our parish communities face.”

Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger announced the archdiocesan restructuring effort in November 2025, as the local Church seeks to respond to challenges presented by decades of declining Mass attendance, priestly ordinations and sacramental participation.

About 50 years ago, the Archdiocese of Detroit was home to 1.5 million Catholics; today, that number is near 900,000, with only an estimated 150,000 regularly attending Mass.

In addition, the archdiocese projects that by 2034, there will be just 134 priests available to serve in active ministry — a decline of about 40% from today — as older priests retire and fewer younger priests are ordained to replace them.

Fewer priests and fewer practicing Catholics has resulted in added strain on the local Church, the archbishop said in November, especially in caring for aging church buildings where few people attend Mass on a given Sunday.

“We have been struggling to maintain buildings, ministries, and structures that were designed for a much larger Church. The situation that unfolded in the last 50 years has left us stretched — sometimes stretched too thinly to serve as well as we want,” Archbishop Weisenburger wrote in a letter to the faithful.

The projected imbalance of priests and parishes in the coming decade means that without action, the local Church risks even greater stress on those remaining in ministry, the archbishop added.

“Moreover, as we struggle to care for buildings and parish structures where there are very few people, we are also seeking to ensure the presence of the Church as we follow the Catholic population in those areas where the Church is growing,” the archbishop said.

Before the priests' working sessions at the seminary, Archbishop Weisenburger, Fr. Amore and Fr. Timothy Birney, the archdiocese’s new vicar general and moderator of the curia, addressed and encouraged their brother priests to be bold, honest, and to keep the good of the local Church in mind as they began their discernment.

Priests gathered for Mass in the seminary’s chapel before later dividing into breakout sessions to develop proposals, discern and pray about the local Church’s future over the course of the three days.

Fr. Amore acknowledged the challenging nature of the discussions, but said ultimately, the restructuring process is one that is driven by hope for a brighter future.

“There could be a temptation to look at some of the decline we’re facing, some of the challenges we’re facing as a Church and in the world today, and it’s easy to lose hope and sight of the big picture,” Fr. Amore said. “But we believe that even though we have to engage in hard conversations and do some hard things, there is hope on the horizon.”

The restructuring will result in some parishes merging and churches closing, but the goal is ultimately to create an Archdiocese of Detroit ready to tackle the challenges of ministry in the 21st century, Fr. Amore said.

“We really envision this as setting us up as a stronger Church, so that our parishes are full, vibrant communities and places where the Lord can be encountered,” Fr. Amore said.

Though the number of parishes and churches may shrink, there will remain a Catholic presence in every square inch of the six-county archdiocese, he added.

“We want our parish communities to be ‘full service,’ not only meeting the spiritual needs of the people, but also the human needs not just of the Catholic population, but every soul who lives in a given territory,” Fr. Amore said.

Up to three “models” for proposed pastorates will be developed, refined and presented for discussion during this spring’s parish listening sessions. These models will include proposals for the number of priests and Masses for each pastorate, but will not include specific priest assignments or a list of proposed church closures, Fr. Amore said.

Every Catholic is invited to attend this spring’s listening sessions, which will be scheduled for after Easter, Fr. Amore added.

“Every parishioner, whether they’re regularly attending Mass or just come every now and then, are able to come to these meetings and share input, so that these models can be refined based on that feedback and input, if necessary,” Fr. Amore said.

The Archdiocese of Detroit is partnering with the Catholic Leadership Institute, a Philadelphia-based consulting firm that has helped facilitate similar restructuring efforts in more than two dozen dioceses.

In other parts of the country that have undergone similar processes, “anywhere between 20% and 40% of the models that emerge from these sessions with the priests change because of the feedback from parishioners,” Fr. Amore added.

In addition, the archdiocesan curia will also undergo a similar process of discernment and restructuring to better serve the needs of the archdiocese’s parishes.

Further information — including demographics, historical information, sacramental and financial trends for each of the archdiocese’s 209 parishes — will be posted on the Archdiocese of Detroit’s restructuring website, restructuring.aod.org, in March, Fr. Amore added.