WINONA, Minn. – Catholic parishioners at St. John Nepomucene Church had sensed for months that the bad news was coming. It arrived Wednesday. The Rochester-based general vicar of the Diocese, William Thompson told the church’s lay leadership that St. John would be closed. The last Mass will be in mid-June or July, he said. The vicar acknowledged that the Vatican had not finalized approval but that it was a formality expected any day. The St. John closure will reduces the number of Catholic churches in Winona four:
> St. Stan’s Basilica. 625 East Fourth Street.
> Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, 360 Main.Street, which historically had been the primary Diocesan church until the Diocese moved its headquarters to Rochester.
> St. Mary’s, 1303 West Broadway.
> St Casimir, 626 West Broadway.
About rumors that St.Casimir also was being closed, Vicar Thompson said he couldn’t comment. It was known, however that he would be back in town soon to meet with St. Casimir parishioners.
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St. John, 558 East Broadway Street. Last Mass being sung in a few weeks. Image: Steve Lunde
Changing times, dwindling brethren
The average weekly attendance at the Winona-Rochester Diocese was 20,600 in 2013 — 37% decline in four years. The Diocese has 114 parishes in 20 southern Minnesota counties with a population of 585,000. In recent years the Diocese has closed numerous churches, including Elba, Houston, Minnieska and Wilson. Among realities:
> Growing secularism in American culture
> A shortage of priests with a major decline in men aspiring to the priesthood.
> Diocesan finances that have been depleted by massive payouts for choir-boy sex scandals.
> Rural depopulation and a shift to town living.
> Personal mobility with near-universal access to automobiles and improved transportation infrastructures, diminishing traditional neighborhood identities.