A Bucks County Catholic church will close its doors Nov. 1 after the parish merged with another local church, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Sunday.
St. Joseph the Worker Church, on New Falls Road in Fallsington, will officially shut down after this month. The congregation last year had merged with St. Frances Cabrini Parish, in Fairless Hills, officials said, but the church had stayed open, sometimes celebrating Mass or opening for funerals and weddings.
The Archdiocese said St. Joseph The Worker Church needs more than $1 million in repairs, including to its roof and heating system. The school attached to the church is unused, and the annual cost of maintaining both buildings, officials said, was about $121,000. St. Frances Cabrini Parish, which absorbed St. Joseph Church, was already operating at a $240,000 deficit and could not afford to keep St. Joseph open as well, officials said.
"There have been less than 10 requests to utilize the church building for liturgical purposes in the past year," a statement from the Archdiocese read.
