Catholic Family ‘K’ announces preliminary plan for parishes

Plans are still preliminary at this point, but Catholic churches in the Boone and Antelope County area are working toward forming family groups of parishes in the coming months.
The Journey of Faith planning process has been underway since late 2021 due to a shrinking number of priests, lower Mass attendance and rural population declines. These are factors impacting mainline Protestant churches as well.
A planning letter was recently sent to all parishioners by Father John Norman, convenor of Rural Family K, which includes St. John the Baptist of Petersburg and St. Bonaventure, Raeville.
The preliminary plan calls for St. John the Baptist and St. Bonaventure to be linked in a canonical merger with St. Boniface Parish of Elgin along Highway 14.
Forming a separate canonical merger will be five parishes along Highway 275 — St. Peter de Alcantara (Ewing), St. John the Baptist (Deloit), St. Theresa (Clearwater), St. Francis (Neligh) and Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Tilden).
All eight of these parishes would be linked as Family K. The Journey of Faith process has allocated two priests (a pastor and associate pastor) to serve this family of parishes.
Changes will be effective in July 2023, according to the Omaha Archdiocese.