Video of Bishop Richard Lennon announcing the church closings.

St. James parishioners talk about the closing.

(Lakewood) - The bells of St. James Catholic Church in Lakewood, won't be ringing much longer...it’s one of the 29 being shut down by the Diocese of Cleveland next year.

Many old ethnic parishes will be lost as part of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese downsizing plan.

Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon said Sunday their consolidation plan closes 29 parishes and requires another 41 to merge to create 18 new churches.

The downsizing is largely the result of a population flight from the inner city to the suburbs in recent years.

Several ethnic parishes, from Polish to Hungarian, are being lost.


St. James Church in Lakewood.

Parishioners say St. James on Detroit Avenue has been a Lakewood landmark for more than a hundred years and they are very sad to learn that it will close in 2010.

Parishioners at St. Hedwig on Madison Avenue in Lakewood. They say they will miss their church, but are trying to take it all in stride.

Sharon Shenod says it’s just another sign of the times...the church closings are not unlike the business closings that have been so common with today's economy.

After attending St. Hedwig for 20 years, now she's have to find a new church.

Parishioners at St. Barbara, a historically polish parish in Cleveland, were angry Saturday when they were given the news.

St. Procop, a 145-year-old Czech parish in decline for years, will also close.

Two of the city's three Hungarian Catholic Churches will close and merge with another Hungarian parish.

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