7 churches within the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to close in March

Seven churches in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will close next month.

These closures will impact Catholics in places like Swissvale, Turtle Creek, and Braddock, with churches in the Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, leaving St. Maurice Church in Forest Hills as the only one of those churches remaining.

The announcement came just minutes into Sunday's mass at St. Maurice as it was streamed online.

Good Shepherd Church, Madonna del Castello Church, Sacred Heart Church, St. Anselm Church, St. Colman Church, St. John Fisher Church, and St. Jude the Apostle Church are all slated to close on March 12.

KDKA-TV's Shelley Bortz first reported on the potential for closures last October. The parish said financial struggles and declining attendance were part of the problem.

"We've been expecting this, unfortunately, due to many things: population decrease, coming to church, and not enough priests. So, we have those issues that we've been dealing with," Sandi Hartman, a parishioner, said to KDKA-TV at the time.

Those sentiments were echoed on the altar on Sunday. 

The letter read to the congregation came from Bishop Mark Eckman. He said in it that he recognizes the news brings a time of big changes, along with a sense of loss, too.

Eckman wrote that the parish's mission remains unchanged and that the move will better resource the parish.

In the meantime, the church plans to take time to honor the churches that will be closing, as said on its livestream on Sunday.