The Oakland Diocese of the Catholic Church will close 13 churches — 7 in Oakland — due to declining participation and an ongoing financial crisis linked to sexual abuse cases dating between 1960 and 1990, some of which resulted in lawsuits and multi-million dollar jury verdicts.
In a letter dated April 28, released to its parishioners and the media, Oakland Bishop Michael C. Barber wrote that attendance at masses across the diocese’s region — Alameda and Contra Costa counties — has fallen since the early 2010s, meaning less participation in the sacraments and lower Catholic school enrollment. “We are also at an all-time low of priests assigned to our 80 parishes, and the average age of our priests continues to climb,” he wrote.
The list of closures includes churches in Oakland, including Our Lady of Lourdes across the street from Lake Merritt. Parishioners from the church gathered last September to organize ways to save the church from closing. At the time, parishioners told The Oaklandside that the diocese had said little to them about its final decision…