ONE Roman Catholic church is to close in Bury and several others amalgamated in major re-organisation plans of the Salford Diocese.

St Bede's in Rochdale Old Road will shut by the end of the year and parishioners encouraged to join St Joseph's RC Church in Peter Street.

It is thought the 50-year-old church will eventually be demolished.

The parish is already served by one priest, Father Robert Morrow, instead of two and has a joint primary school in Danesmoor Drive.

But falling numbers and a lack of new priests has meant the diocese has been forced to look at the way it organises its churches.

St Bede's has a congregation of 80 and St Joseph's has 365.

In Whitefield, the parishes of St Bernadette's and St Michael's will amalgamate and St Mary's in Radcliffe will merge with St Teresa's in Little Lever, Bolton.

In time, the merged parishes will operate from both church buildings but with only one priest.

Elsewhere in the borough, churches will be "clustered", which means they will work together and co-ordinate Mass times, have priests covering for one another and organise joint parish activities.

These include Guardian Angels, Bury, clustered with St Hilda's, Tottington, and St Joseph's, Ramsbottom, which will eventually have two priests for the three parishes.

Our Lady of Grace, Prestwich, will be clustered with Our Lady of Dolours, Kersal (Servites).

St Marie's in Bury will become a "gem church", and developed as a focus for prayer and devotion within the deanery.

Spokesman for the Salford Diocese, Father Michael Walsh, said: "The changes are partly to do with fewer priests and partly changing population. It is not only happening in Bury, it is a diocesan-wide plan and

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changes are being made all over the country."

The diocese estimates that the numbers of active priests over the next 15 years will drop from the current 216 to 113 by 2018 from retirement alone. The priests are responsible for 204 church buildings which cover 189 parishes.

Father Walsh said over the last three years 42 priests had either died, retired or moved on and not been replaced while only one or two are ordained each year.

Father Walsh added: "The figures speak for themselves. It is the current trend that numbers are declining. Personally, I think it is down to changing attitudes with regards to religion and commitment. I think the reason why the number of people getting married is dropping, is that people are not prepared to commit for life. Similarly, people are not prepared to dedicate their life to the church."

Parishioners were informed of the changes over the last two weekends.

St Bede's Church, facing closure

Church closing

by end of year