This was supposed to be a festive year at St. Stephen Catholic Church. After weathering pandemic-spurred periods of financial strain and declining attendance, this small parish nestled along a residential hillside just south of downtown Walnut Creek had plenty to celebrate: a milestone anniversary, a fruitful partnership with a nearby church, a steadily growing congregation.
Yet, there associate pastor Lee Chompoochan was toward the end of Sunday morning Mass, encouraging churchgoers to pick up a copy of a recent letter detailing the once-unthinkable: St. Stephen will soon shutter. As the Diocese of Oakland tries to climb out of a fiscal crisis hastened by costly sexual abuse lawsuits, even its more profitable parishes are at risk of closure.
- Related:Oakland Catholic Diocese to close 13 East Bay churches
St. Stephen, which sits in an affluent neighborhood where homes often sell in the seven figures, now finds itself among the 13 East Bay churches slated to cease operations. Making matters worse: Its roughly 300 parishioners know almost nothing beyond the vague explanation Bishop Michael Barber provided in a now-infamous letter posted to the diocese website Tuesday.
“We’re all just stunned,” said Father Paulson Mundanmani, St. Stephen’s lead pastor.
In Tuesday’s letter, Barber explained that mounting financial woes — the diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2023 — have made continuing to staff 80 parishes unsustainable. The decision to shutter more than a dozen of those parishes followed “deep and extensive” conversations with church leaders, Barber added, as well as data analysis pinpointing which churches were struggling most…