Dorchester's nine remaining Catholic parishes will be bundled into five different "pastoral collaboratives" in a proposal laid out on Friday during a meeting of clergy at St. Peter's Church on Bowdoin Street. The reorganization —part of a larger, Archdiocesan-wide effort— will be reviewed over the next two months by local parish councils and would likely be phased into effect in the next three to five years.

Under the proposal, released to the Reporter, St. Brendan and St. Ann parishes in Neponset would be paired together; St. Mark and St. Ambrose parishes would form a new, separate collaborative; St. Gregory's in Lower Mills would be grouped with St. Matthew in Dorchester and Mattapan's St. Angela church.

St. Christopher's parish on Columbia Point would be part of a grouping that includes four South Boston churches.

Church leaders have stressed that no churches will close as part of this process, which could take as many as five years to complete. A recommendation is expected to be made on a final plan later this year.

Dorchester is already home to one "tri-parish" which was created in 2009. Under that structure, Holy Family, Blessed Mother Teresa and St. Peter's churches all share one pastor, Fr. Jack Ahern, who manages the finances, clergy, schedules and facilities at all three churches. The tri-parish would remain intact under the proposal unveiled today.

Fr. Ahern— who discussed his pioneering role as the tri-parish pastor in a 2009 interview with the Reporter— has been instrumental in planning for this re-organization of Boston's other parishes.

In a document shared with the Reporter, the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission describes the groupings as "proposed pastoral collaboratives."
"These are posted so that pastoral staffs, councils and parishioners can discuss these and offer their insights and recommendations. Please note these are proposals. The APPC needs and encourages your feedback and input," the document begins.

According to sources who have been briefed on the re-organization's goals, the Archdiocese hopes that by pooling resources — including donations and personnel— each individual church will be able to stay open in the coming years.

Meetings to discuss changes that could be triggered by these collaboratives will be discussed at the parish level next month. In March, parish councils from across the city have been invited to a March 13 meeting in West Roxbury to offer input into the proposed changes.

More information on the pastoral plan will be linked under Boston Pastoral Planning at www.bostoncatholic.org later today.