CV NEWS FEED // Nationwide priest shortages have been the principal cause for numerous diocesan reorganization plans across the US. In California, the phenomenon has given rise to “a Catholic megachurch,” according to a recent report.
St. Charles Borromeo Church in Central California, an Aug. 13 CBS News report explains, is “[t]he largest Catholic parish church in North America.” It has 3,200 seats, “sprawls nearly an acre and cost $21 million to build.”
According to the Diocese’s website, St Charles Borromeo consists of parishioners from Good Shepherd Catholic Parish in Visalia, which is a consolidation of Catholic communities of Visalia and Goshen, California.
“This is a Catholic megachurch,” Bishop Joseph Brennan of Fresno said of St Charles Borromeo, which comprises four parishes in the wake of diocesan reorganization, according to CBS.
The situation, Bishop Brennon admitted in the report, is “complicated,” and comes with “all kinds of issues.”
One of the parish’s recently ordained priests, Fr Joseph Klinge, told CBS that the clergy sex scandal has “marred the image of the priesthood,” significantly contributing to the major decline in vocations.
“I’ve had people call me a pedophile, just for wanting to become a priest. There’s wounds or scars, because that’s a horrible thing,” he said.
Ultimately, Fr Klinge noted that while the size of St Charles Borromeo is not ideal—with 8,000 parishioners flocking to the Church every Sunday across three Masses—the parish is “responding to a very real need.”
“So Jesus would walk through the door and say, ‘Well it’s not what I had in mind, but way to go, guys. It’s a creative approach,'” he concluded.
