Fourteen groupings of parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, including three groupings in Butler County, will merge Jan. 4 to create fourteen new parishes, Bishop David Zubik announced Saturday in a letter to parishioners Forty parishes will be part of the mergers, including those in Chicora, Prospect, Boyers, Slippery Rock, Cabot and Herman..

The mergers are part of the ongoing On Mission for The Church Alive! strategic planning initiative, which is designed to help parishes mobilize their resources to prioritize mission over maintenance.

The mergers of Jan. 4. will bring the number of parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh from 107 to 81.

This an excerpt from a story that appears in Mionday's Butler Eagle.