AUBURN – Members of the city’s three Catholic churches learned this week that consolidation plans may go into effect as early as next July.

About 200 parishioners met at St. Dominic Regional High School for progress reports on the future structure of Cluster 16 under guidelines of the Diocese of Portland that provide for creation of 29 clusters throughout Maine.

In addition to consolidation of budgets and parish activities, the plan calls for establishing an Auburn Catholic community endowment fund.

Parishioners heard several reports during the evening in what the Rev. Frank Murray called “commencement exercises” for the parishes of Sacred Heart Church, Saint Louis Church and Saint Philip Church. The Auburn churches will be the eastern parish of Cluster 16. The consolidation also will create a western parish comprising St. Catherine Church, Norway, Our Lady of Ransom Church, Mechanic Falls, and St. Mary’s Church, Oxford.

Each of the clusters has one pastor. Murray is pastor of these six churches.

The transition to Cluster 16 has been in the planning stages for about two years. Joint services have been held and the churches have maintained a group called the Auburn Catholic Community over the past seven years.

“The three parishes have shared leadership, and they have shared staffing and pastoring,” Murray said. “In recent times, we have shared responsibilities for the new Trinity Catholic School, along with the Lewiston cluster.”

He told parishioners, “Many good things have happened over the past seven years. Tonight we are gathered to recognize and acknowledge these accomplishments, and more importantly, to commence this final period in preparation for becoming one parish.”

The transition in Auburn and in the Oxford Hills area will result in “two new, dynamic parishes coming from six great churches,” he said. In recent weeks, parishioners cast votes for a single parish name. The final selection will be made by Bishop Richard J. Malone.

The three names from which a choice will be made for the Auburn group are Holy Church of the Faithful, Disciples of Christ and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Possible names for the western churches include Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, which Murray said was a first choice, followed by ties for Saint Francis of Assisi, Christ the King, Corpus Christi and John Paul II.

Parishioners also heard a report on the first year of a consolidated parish budget for the three Auburn churches. Phil Morrisette, a cluster finance council member from Sacred Heart, said the budget anticipates total income of about $829,000 and expenses of about $798,500.

“If we meet this target, we’re basically going to have a little over $30,000 to contribute to our future.”

Morrisette told the church members that a unified budget eliminates “a lot of duplication of effort.”

The capital campaign for the new endowment fund is just beginning and it will run through November.