Bishop sets out stakes for future of Steubenville diocese

Bishop Edward Lohse did not rule out the prospect of a merger in the near future.

The bishop temporarily leading the Diocese of Steubenville said Tuesday that the diocese is financially stable, has a relatively high number of priests, but still faces a declining population in years to come.

Bishop Edward Lohse, the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Steubenville, presents his report on March 11, 2025. Screenshot from the Diocese of Steubenville’s Facebook page.

While the bishop offered a generally healthy picture of the diocese, apostolic administrator Bishop Edward Lohse of Kalamazoo did not rule out the prospect of a merger for the Steubenville diocese in the near future, and suggested that it might even be a demographic inevitability.

Instead of announcing a decision on the prospect of merging the Steubenville diocese with its neighboring Diocese of Columbus — which has been publicly under consideration for several years — Bishop Lohse asked whether a merger would possibly help “the faith to flourish in southeastern Ohio,” and whether a merger would be in the best interest of the Steubenville diocese sooner rather than decades in the future, “after the diocese is no longer viable.”

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“The most significant issue facing the Diocese of Steubenville in the next 5 to 10 years, and indeed in the next 30 years, is the projected decrease in population. The general population has declined noticeably, and the Catholic population even more so, with no reversal of this trend in sight. This reality is troubling and the challenge it will present to the future viability of the diocese will be significant,” Lohse wrote in a report on the diocese, published on the Steubenville diocesan website March 11.

Lohse noted that Steubenville was established as a missionary diocese in 1944 but had struggled with a lack of resources in its 81 years of existence. He said that a 2018 financial scandal and “dilapidation” at the Holy Name Cathedral in the city of Steubenville had dented confidence in the diocesan authorities.

The bishop also argued that economic decline in the Appalachia region, in which the diocese is situated, had bred a distrust of institutions also shared by Catholics.

“The prospect of the diocese itself being merged into another is seen by some as one more institution now abandoning them as well,” he wrote.

But the bishop also highlighted positive elements in the diocese’s history, citing its missionary spirit, lively centers such as Franciscan University, the loyalty of clergy, and financial reforms.

Lohse suggested that the proposed merger with the Columbus diocese was not communicated properly when it was first announced in October 2022 by the then-Steubenville Bishop Jeff Monforton.

Since that time the prospect of a merger has been continually met with hostility and criticism from among some sections of local clergy and laity.

“Many people believed from the announcement of a proposed merger that it had already been decided, even though in truth no decision had actually been made,” the bishop said.

While Lohse’s report appeared to aim for a balance between positive and pragmatic assessments of the diocese’s circumstances, some local priests told The Pillar that they felt Lohse’s report suggested a kind of fatalism over the future of the diocese, weighing demography over the prospect of evangelization — especially as priests in the diocese have long suggested that a new evangelization could be fruitful under the leadership of a proactive bishop.

Bishop Jeffrey Monforton preaches. Credit: Diocese of Steubenville.

The diocese has experienced more than two years of turmoil since Montforton’s 2022 announcement of the merger proposal at a meeting of priests. Diocesan clergy and laity pushed back, arguing that they had not been consulted, writing to the U.S. bishops’ conference to oppose the prospective merger, and holding rosary rallies outside the Steubenville diocesan chancery.

Priests and laity argued that the Diocese of Steubenville has significantly more priests per capita than any other diocese in Ohio, had a higher share of Catholics attending Mass than other Ohio dioceses, had more participation in the global synod on synodality, and had both a stable population and continued prospects for priestly vocations.

That advocacy was a partial success. It saw a planned consultative USCCB vote on the issue, which had been scheduled for November 2022, shelved, with the prospective merger at least temporarily on pause.

In September 2023, Monforton, who was also facing Vatican-ordered Vos estis lux mundi investigations, received an unusual new appointment, becoming an auxiliary bishop in Detroit, a rare assignment for someone already leading a diocese.

The Vatican appointed retired Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley as the diocese’s apostolic administrator. He won praise from local clergy, who said the bishop listened to them, was attentive to their needs, and did not seem to regard an extinctive merger for the diocese as a foregone conclusion.

Bishop Paul Bradley. Credit: Diocese of Steubenville.

Bradley confirmed to local Catholics that talks of a prospective merger were ongoing, at the direction of the Vatican.

In December 2023, Bradley said that he and Columbus’ Bishop Earl Fernandes had begun, at the Vatican’s request, a series of meetings to talk through the prospect of merging. A joint statement emphasized that no decision had been made, and the pope would make the final call.

But while Bradley was not the decision-maker, he made his opinion known.

In a February 2024 interview, he told Crux that “while there are some who think that the Diocese of Steubenville is not able to survive, that is not what I’ve found so far.”

But in June 2024, the diocese announced that Bradley would be replaced by Lohse, the current Bishop of Kalamazoo, after serving just nine months as apostolic administrator.

Several sources told The Pillar at the time that the move was not Bradley's choice but was triggered by his reservations about a merger with the Columbus diocese — a plan reportedly supported by Cardinal Christoph Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S.

In his report, Lohse noted that “The more than two years since the announcement of the proposed merger have been hard on both faithful and clergy alike.”

Lohse suggested that the “sudden replacement” of Bradley “exacerbated the situation” in the Steubenville diocese.

In his report, Lohse said the diocese was beginning to “rebound” from its financial difficulties, “at least modestly” — with priests in the diocese attributing the “rebound” especially to Bradley, who won plaudits from clergy during his time at the helm of the diocese.

Total diocesan net assets and liabilities from $18.2 million in 2023 to $19.8 million in 2024.

The priests’ pension fund will receive a significant boost in 2025 from assets stored in a trust.

But Lohse said the diocesan cathedral had “deteriorated to the point that the most likely solution is to tear it down.”

Holy Name Cathedral, Diocese of Steubenville. Pillar file photo.

The Steubenville diocese serves more than 29,000 Catholics, who comprise 6% of the local population. All 13 counties covered by the diocese are predicted to decline over the next 25 years, according to the State of Ohio.

“Given that there are presently only around 29,000 Catholics in the diocese, and that in recent decades the Catholic population has been decreasing at a rate more than three times that of the general population, these figures suggest a very problematic road ahead,” Lohse wrote.

The diocese currently has 10 seminarians, which Lohse said give it one of the highest ratios of seminarians to Catholics among U.S. dioceses.

Although no priestly ordinations are forecast in 2025 or 2027, two are expected in 2026 and 2028 respectively.

The Steubenville diocese currently has 33 priests actively assigned to pastoral ministry, excluding Franciscan University, a juridically separate entity. Despite the relatively small number of clergy, the ratio of priests to Catholics — 1 to 997 — is better than in other Ohio dioceses.

Lohse set out the resources he believed would be necessary for the Church in southeastern Ohio to thrive, if the diocese remains intact, undergoes a merger, or relies on external sources such as grants.

He said that in all three scenarios, the Church would need to revitalize its evangelization efforts, reorganize parishes, cut Masses, and increase the activities of local deans.

The bishop suggested that if the diocese was merged with another, it was essential to “take the time to make sure that things are done well.”

Lohse added that if no merger took place, the diocese would need to appoint a development director, “strengthen diocesan identity and bonds with the counties farther from Steubenville,” and designate a new cathedral.

“If nothing is done and diocesan and parish structures and services remain unchanged, the decreased donor base will eventually lead to deficit spending and financial instability,” Lohse said.

The bishop said that two important questions remained to be answered. The first is whether the status quo or a merger is the best way of ensuring the Catholic faith flourishes in southeastern Ohio. The second, he wrote, was whether it would be better to merge the diocese while it was still viable or “when it was no longer viable.”

At a March 11 press conference, Lohse stressed that he had written the report in conjunction with the diocesan college of consultors, a body of priests. He said he had wanted to be able to publish the report earlier and apologized for the delay.

Asked about discrepancies between his assessment and the more positive assessments offered by Bradley about the diocese’s future, Lohse said that he and Bradley are “on the same page.” That remark drew criticisms from some Steubenville priests, who told The Pillar Tuesday that Bradley had been clear that he believed no merger was necessary.

For his part, Lohse also explained that he wasn't aware of any timeline for what would happen next, but said the report would be discussed by the bishops of Ohio and later by the U.S. bishops more widely.