More parishioners and fewer priests are forcing local Catholic churches to spend $8 million in new construction and move the largest congregation in Idaho.
"We have to do this to continue to serve the needs of the people," said Jim Bowen, chancellor at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise. The number of Catholics in Ada County has grown to 18,000, an increase of 16 percent since 1990.Catholics are the second-largest denomination in the state after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are 7 percent of Idaho's population, but they are finding fewer priests to serve them.
Idaho will lose four this year, bringing the statewide total to 56. A new priest is not expected in Idaho until 2000. In response, the diocese is moving to churches that seat 1,200 people, but with only one priest.
Churches will rely on more help from lay members so priests can perform Mass and other religious functions.
"We're trying to free the priests up," Bishop Tod Brown said. "We're asking others to assume those responsibilities."
Projects in Ada County include building a new St. Mark's Catholic Church that is double the size of the present building, for $4 million. St. Mark's is the largest congregation in the state.
Churches in Eagle and Meridian will be combined into Holy Apostles Catholic Church midway between both cities, for $2 million. And a new 15,000-square-foot sanctuary at Our Lady of the Rosary in Boise will be completed for $2 million.
Bishop Brown said he expects construction at St. Mark's and Holy Apostles to be completed in the next four years.