July 25, 2026

The Diocese of Crookston is pulling the plug on Sunday Mass at seven parishes as a painful reorganization slams a region hit by falling attendance, shifting demographics and a priest shortage. Bishop Andrew Cozzens says the move is among the hardest a bishop can make, but the reality is brutal: three churches in the northwest deanery will hold their final Sunday Masses in October, and four in the northeast will go dark in August and September. For generations, these were the places of baptisms, weddings, funerals and weekly worship — now they’re another sign of a shrinking Church under pressure.

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