YOUNGSTOWN — Bishop David Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown has named the most recent parish mergers in the Trumbull and Mahoning deaneries, effective Jan. 1.

On Sept. 15, the Diocesan Presbyteral Council (a council of priests) met to review the progress of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, which was promulgated by the late Bishop George Murry in 2019 and has continued to be developed since the 2021 installation of Bonnar.

Officials said the council formally recommended that Bonnar merge additional parishes that are already working together in ministry partnerships by sharing priests, deacons, diocesan pastoral associates, additional personnel, Mass schedules, and various parish programs and activities.

After an administrative parish merger, church buildings retain their canonical names. This recommendation continues the strategic efforts of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan to maintain a focus on ministry as demographics change.

“As a Diocese we must live in reality. That is, we must embrace our time with its challenges and difficulties and adjust to the realities before us even as painful as they may be. The Church is more than bricks and mortar. The Church is the people of God living out their faith as a community of believers in Jesus Christ continuing his mission of love and mercy,” Bonnar stated in a news release.

Parish mergers effective Jan. 1 are:

• Trumbull Deanery — Our Lady of Perpetual Help (McDonald) and St. Mary (Mineral Ridge). New merger name: Queen of Heaven Parish.

• Mahoning Deanery — St. Brendan, St. Christine and Our Lady of Sorrows (Youngstown). New merger name: St. Mary Magdalene Parish.

Secondary site designation and building closures include:

• Mahoning Deanery — In the newly merged St. Mary Magdalene Parish, St. Brendan Church and St. Matthias Church will become secondary worship sites, with all weekly Masses taking place at St. Christine Church as the primary worship site. The other sites can still be used for baptisms, weddings, funerals, the patronal feast and Day of Dedication.

• Also in Youngstown, upon petition by the pastoral and finance councils of St. Columba Cathedral Parish, the Presbyteral Council recommended that SS. Peter and Paul Church be relegated to a secondary site within the parish because of decreased attendance. The site can still be used for baptisms, weddings, funerals, the patronal feast and Day of Dedication. Sunday and weekday Mass will cease as of Nov. 2.

As part of this decision, the 4 p.m. vigil Mass at St. Edward Church will be discontinued, leaving only a 9 a.m. Sunday Mass there. The 4 p.m. Sunday Mass at St. Columba will move to 5 p.m. to better accommodate Youngstown State University students who attend the Newman Center there and for those who work on Sundays.

Bonnar said during his First Friday Club presentation on Thursday that the Diocese of Youngstown has 44 active diocesan priests with 50 others retired.

He said canon law states priests are to perform no more than three Masses on any given weekend.

“We have cut Masses and are doing the best we can with the resources we have. We do not have enough priests so we respond to the challenges of our time,” Bonnar said.