Bad news.

CLEVELAND -- By July 2010 there will be 52 fewer parishes in the Cleveland diocese, according to Catholic News Service. Under a plan announced in March, 29 parishes will close and 41 others will merge to form 18 new parishes.

All of the closings and mergers affect parishes in the diocese's urban cores and inner-ring suburbs. Bishop Richard Lennon called the closure plan "a very difficult but necessary step," citing population migration from urban to suburban and rural areas, the declining number of priests, and faltering parish finances as the chief reasons for the realignment.