PITTSBURGH — Butler County churches that fall under the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh may see changes soon.

Bishop David Zubik Friday morning unveiled plans for parish mergers to address decreasing Mass attendance in Pittsburgh area churches through the diocese's On Mission for the Church Alive! campaign.

“We must redesign and mobilize our parishes for today's mission, not the mission of 100 years ago, for which most of our churches were built,” Zubik said in a speech Friday morning.

On Mission for The Church Alive! is a proposed diocesanwide initiative that focuses on Mass attendance, financial struggles and Catholic school attendance.

A news release from the diocese states there has been a 40 percent decline in sacramental participation from 2000 to 2015. Along with that, the decrease in overall participation and rising costs has led to the number of parishes running operational deficits rising from 32 percent to 50 percent in three years.

Consultations have been held across the 21 districts and 188 parishes of the diocese to review the possibilities and discuss the best ways for parishes to come together. Nearly 30,000 people participated in these gatherings and provided feedback for models created by the diocese.

The 188 current parishes will be placed in 49 proposed groupings of new parishes.

“A parish is a neighborhood, a community or a group of communities,” Zubik said in his speech. “It is not a church building.”

Parishes will be merged between 2018 and 2023, according to a release from the diocese.

One proposed grouping involving churches in Butler County would bring together the parishes of St. Ferdinand in Cranberry Township, St. Gregory in Zelienople, St. Matthias in Evans City and Holy Redeemer in Ellwood City, Beaver County. St. Gregory and St. Matthias merged last year into one parish.

Three campuses is the amount proposed and three priests are expected to serve by 2025 rather than the five currently serving. Diocese figures state these four parishes had 4,900 parishioners in 2016.

Another proposed grouping involving Butler County churches includes merging the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Conrad, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Paul and St. Peter in Butler, and St. Stanislaus Kostka in Lyndora.

These parishes had a total of 3,500 weekly Mass attendees in 2016, according to diocese estimates. These parishes would merge from six campuses to two and have two priests assigned by 2025, a decrease from the four who currently serve.

It is unknown exactly when these proposed mergers would take place, diocese spokesman Bob DeWitt said.

“We just don't know yet,” DeWitt said. “We can say that the largest number will be done in the second phase within one to three years, but we haven't assigned them to particular time frames yet.”

Each parish grouping would have anywhere from one to five years to create a plan for how best to become one parish, and to submit that plan to Zubik for final approval.

Clergy would be put in place to build relationships with parishioners and assess each parish's needs.

“The key here is to use the word 'proposed,'” DeWitt said. “It's not definite. We're trying to get people a handle on what we're thinking about.”

Zubik said success has already been seen with four churches in south Pittsburgh merging into one parish and experiencing renewed growth in Mass attendance and community engagement.

Recommendations for parish models will be given to Zubik in late 2017, with implementation decisions expected to be made in 2018.

Proposed groupings of parishes and campus maps can be found at OnMissionChurchAlive.org.

Along with parish mergers, changes in staff and roles within parishes could also change with the On Mission initiative.

Zubik said the diocese's priests are “stretched too thinly,” and will be stretched thinner in 10 years, when “half of them will be in retirement.”

“We put far too much of the money given for God's use into maintaining stone, mortar and boilers,” he said. “We currently pay for redundant staff positions, rather than hiring the new specialists we need for ministry today.”

The diocese predicts that the amount of priests will decrease from 210 currently serving in active ministry to a projected 112 priests by 2025.

“By redeploying our clergy, redirecting our money and raising up lay leaders trained and commissioned to serve in our mission fields, we will create opportunities for the Holy Spirit to inspire vibrant parishes and effective ministries,” Zubik said.

Priests are not the only concern in terms of staffing, however. Zubik outlined examples of how parish staff may be laid out in the On Mission initiative.

For example, instead of a parish having five secretaries, transitioning parishes may have one secretary, a communications director and a safe environment coordinator.