Drastic Parish closings/mergers in Cleveland

A tragic but increasing phenomenon:

More than 50 churches in the Diocese of Cleveland were being informed Saturday that their churches would be closing or merging as part of a Diocese-wide consolidation and reconfiguration.

Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon on Saturday announced a sweeping reconfiguration of the Diocese, which will result in a net reduction of 52 parishes by June 30, 2010.

Twenty-nine of the Diocese's 224 parishes will close outright, while another 41 have been instructed to merge with one or more neighboring parishes. The reconfiguration will result in the creation of 18 new, combined parishes, which will likely be re-named. (WKYC)

Local WKYC also has a spreadsheet and map of church closings/mergers.

Have you recently been impacted by this process? What are your thoughts about it?