By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – Leaders from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the authority over all of Maine’s Catholic churches, unveiled plans Tuesday to undergo its most sweeping changes in 80 years.

Among them is a strategy for handling an expected drought in the number of priests. By 2010, their number is forecast to drop from its current 97 priests to 61. But Maine has 135 Catholic parishes.

For instance, in the Lewiston area, which includes Sabattus and Lisbon Falls, the diocese expects the number of priests to drop from eight to three.

“It’s impossible for life to go on as it was,” Bishop Richard Malone said Tuesday. “You can either have planned change or you can just let things unfold. Then, you face the possibility of chaos.”

Malone knows there will be some anger, he said. People are attached to the one church, one priest notion they once knew. “We got spoiled for a while,” he said.

The bishop’s decision followed months of analysis and debate within the diocese. Last fall, only a few months after Malone’s installation in Portland, a committee of 18 people from across the state began their analysis of the Maine’s Catholic churches.

They found that the state’s Catholic population – estimated at about 234,000 – seems to be drifting to the coast.

Other findings included the need for greater cooperation within regional clusters of churches, the group said.

And they found that the number of priests was about to fall drastically.

Priests’ average age is rising so fast that by 2010, only 61 of the current 97 will be younger than 70 years old, which is retirement age for priests. This year, seven or eight Maine priests plan to retire.

Some new ones will be added, but it’s hit or miss, Malone said.

This year, he expects to ordain one priest. In 2006, there will be none. And in 2007, there may be as many as five, he said. Such numbers are tough to count on, though.

The committee submitted its report to Malone in January. Since then, the bishop has been working on his mandates. They include cuts in almost every region of Maine.

“This is not something we want to do,” said Denis Fortier of Lewiston. One of the committee’s 12 lay members, Fortier believes the bishop had no choice but to prepare for cuts.

Meanwhile, regions will decide much of their own fate.

Working with a hired consultant, each of Maine’s 27 newly designated clusters will decide how to divide priests’ time. Some may even decide to close churches, though the diocese won’t force it upon them.

“Those decisions will not be made from on high on Ocean Avenue,” Malone said, referring to his chancery’s Portland address. “There are no recommendations for closures.”

It’s likely to be discussed in Lewiston, said Bob Gilbert, a Eucharistic minister who attends Saints Peter and Paul Basilica.

After all, downtown Lewiston has three Catholic churches within the space of a short walk. They are Saints Peter and Paul, St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s.

And however many priests remain, their work is likely to increase.

Malone hopes lay leaders can pick up some of the administrative jobs that priests have traditionally done, dealing with such issues as budgets and infrastructure needs.

The priests’ remaining work – Masses, baptisms, marriages, sick visits and funerals – will keep them busy enough.

“It’s a lonely job,” said Gilbert.

It will be an adjustment for parishioners though, as Malone knows.

The situation left few choices, he said. However, any attachment to one priest can never be permanent. The church routinely reassigns priests every few years to different parishes.

“The first thing I would ask for is understanding,” Malone said.