News Release

Some took place July 21. The majority will take effect August 25

Catholic schools in the Diocese of Allentown also will have virtual learning as an option when schools reopen this year.

Students will return to in-person classes when Catholic schools in the Diocese of Allentown reopen in late August.

The former Immaculate Conception church building in Saint Clair, now being maintained by Saint Clare of Assisi Parish, will be closed because of declining use and rising maintenance costs. Since 2008, the building has been used for Mass only one day per year, and for funerals of former Immaculate Conception parishioners.

The two Catholic congregations in Jim Thorpe will come together as one when St. Joseph Parish is consolidated into Immaculate Conception Parish. Both church buildings will remain open and will use the existing Mass schedule.

Two parishes in Minersville are merging to create a stronger, more unified Catholic presence in the community. The newly created parish will be named Holy Family Parish of Minersville. Both the St. Matthew and the St. Michael church buildings will remain open, and the merged congregation will use both churches for worship. .

The Diocese of Allentown will hold a prayer service for reconciliation in our nation this Friday, June 19 at 7 PM at the Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena in Allentown. People from throughout the Diocese are invited to participate in prayers for healing the wounds of all the divisions present in our society.

With declining enrollments and financial losses made insurmountable by the economic effects of the pandemic, two elementary schools in the Diocese of Allentown are closing at the end of this school year. Parents of students at Sacred Heart School in Bath and St. Francis Academy in Bally were notified today.

Attendance remains voluntary for now; health precautions will be in place

With continuing uncertainty about how the Coronavirus will affect the usual return to classrooms in the fall, the leader of the Diocese’s Catholic school system has reassured parents that schools will adapt and be ready.