Citing a dire shortage of priests, the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg will close 14 parishes and merge or partner 28 others, reducing the total from 100 to 85. Just 45 will remain freestanding parishes with a pastor to call their own.

After three years of consultation with more than 9,000 parishioners and clergy, "there is a consensus in this diocese about what we need to do in the future," said Bishop Lawrence Brandt. Catholic Charities will offer free counseling for grief and loss to affected parishioners, he said.

"We want to believe that the parish in which we were baptized and where we received the sacraments will be there until the day we die. That is a guarantee I cannot make," he said.

"I can guarantee, however, that with prayer, trust in God and trust in each other, we can ... help each other through these changes knowing that these decisions are being made to ensure that the faith we embrace will continue to be passed on to future generations."

Changes in priest assignments and Mass times will be announced soon, he said at a news conference yesterday. All changes take effect Oct. 30.

All assets, records and cemeteries of closed parishes will be given to "successor" parishes that the parishioners are assigned to, he said.

One of the most affected areas is Mount Pleasant, where Forty Martyrs in Trauger and St. Stanislaus in Calumet will close, with St. Florian in United as the successor parish. The three churches are within a mile and a half of one another. They are already partners, sharing a pastor, office and other services.

Although it was no secret that consolidation was coming, parishioners could not be sure it would affect them until this weekend's announcements at Mass.

"I'm sure there were people who expected it. But on an emotional level, did they really feel prepared for it? Probably not," said parish secretary Pat Lucas.

The reduction was prompted by retirements and deaths of active priests and a slower decline in Catholic population. In 1990, the diocese had 129 active diocesan priests for 212,000 parishioners. This year it has 83 priests for 160,000 parishioners. Even accounting for ordinations, the diocese projects it will have 49 priests in 2018 and just 27 in 2025.

Parishioners in the parishes slated for closure account for 2.5 percent of the diocese, but the priests who serve them make up 20 percent of those available, Bishop Brandt said.

"I cannot in good conscience continue to justify this disproportionate use of our resources," he said.

In addition to reallocating diocesan priests, religious order priests will be assigned according to "pastoral need," rather than always going to parishes where they have served historically, he said.

Bishop Brandt said he would offer a Mass of Remembrance and Welcome for those from closed parishes who had entered new ones.

"I will try to help them get through the grieving process," he said. Losing a parish "is like a death in the family."