After a long study, the Diocese of Davenport has decided to close one of its parishes in Davenport. As of July 1st, St. Mary Parish will merge with St. Anthony Parish, downtown.
Director of Planning for the Diocese, Dan Ebener, says it's due to a combination of declining numbers of people attending services and fewer priests to serve them.
"So we're looking at the totality of Scott County with 13 Catholic parishes and wondering if we came into Scott County today to establish the Catholic Church here - first of all how many churches would you establish and where would you put them. And quite frankly, it's not where they are right now and it's not by that number."
In addition St. Mary's is not in very good condition compared to other churches in the diocese.
Ebener says the church does host large numbers of people from all over the Quad Cities for weekly masses in Latin and Spanish, and it should be more convenient for them to transfer to St. Anthony Parish.
