photo by: Linda Harris/File

Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of the Catholic Diocese of Steubenville speaks during an October press conference.

STEUBENVILLE — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops won’t be considering a proposed merger between the Steubenville and Columbus dioceses after all.

Bishop Jeffrey Monforton said Monday he’s asked the Conference of Bishops to remove the controversial merger from the agenda when it meets in Baltimore next Monday through Nov. 17.

In a letter to parishioners, Monforton acknowledged the response has been less than positive.

“Since the Oct. 10 announcement of a proposed merger between the Diocese of Steubenville and the Diocese of Columbus, many have voiced their counsel, including disappointment and even fear,” Monforton wrote. “The results from the recent survey provide further evidence of a division in the future vision for the church’s service in the Ohio Valley.”

Monforton had told priests, nuns and staff members at the Oct. 10 meeting that he’d been exploring the possibility of merging the 13 counties of the Diocese of Steubenville with the Columbus diocese, citing declining numbers in parishioners, Mass attendance and active priests as well as population, eliciting immediate pushback.

Nearly a hundred people, including several priests and nuns, gathered in front of the chancery two weeks ago to pray for the diocese and its future, and 18 deacons and priests, some if them retired, signed their names to a letter urging the Conference of Bishops to nix the proposed merger. In that letter, the deacons and priests pointed out, “Merging the Diocese of Steubenville with the Diocese of Columbus would not solve any problems we face.”

“We are small, we are poor, we are the lowest paid clergy in the state,” they’d written. “But we are here. This presence of the church in one of the poorest, most unevangelized areas of the United States is of critical importance and tremendous beauty and value.

“… In discussing the future of Holy Name Cathedral, Bishop Monforton often said he could never ask the Holy Father to move the cathedral out of the poorest part of town and abandon the people living there. How much more tragic and egregious it would be to close an actual particular Church and abandon the people living here.”

In Monday’s letter to parishioners, Monforton said he’d asked the Conference of Bishops to cancel their vote and said “further discussion regarding the Diocese of Steubenville’s future will be conducted at the diocesan level.”

A spokesman declined further comment, saying the bishop’s letter “says it all.”