Two Tamaqua houses of worship with a combined 284 years of service merged July 1 into a new church known as St. John XXIII Parish.

Parishioners learned in late June that SS. Peter and Paul Church, Pine Street, and the Church of St. Jerome, West Broad Street, would be consolidated under one clergyman.Coincidental with the merger, the Rev. William Linkchorst, pastor of SS. Peter and Paul's, retired after 30 years of service in Tamaqua.The new parish continue to utilize both the St. Jerome and SS. Peter and Paul Church buildings for divine worship.The Allentown Diocese noted that the new parish is one of the first in the country dedicated to St. John XXIII."The plan announced this weekend is a continuation of the restructuring of parishes called for by the Second Synod of Allentown in 2006. Plans in 16 regions of the diocese, including a region that consisted of Tamaqua, Brockton and Tuscarora went into effect in July 2008," stated the diocese.That plan called for consolidating parishes in Brockton and Tuscarora into St. Jerome Parish. It also recommended a restructuring of St. Jerome and SS. Peter and Paul parishes sometime in the future, but did not specify a time frame for its implementation.The new plan was developed after consulting with the pastors in Tamaqua, the Rev. John Frink and Linkchorst, after they had conferred with a renewed regional committee about the pastoral and temporal state of the parishes. The Council of Priests and the Diocesan Pastoral Council also recommended the merger.The two churches have been the only Catholic houses of worship within borough limits since the town's 1799 founding.At this point, neither church has actually closed its doors. Both buildings remain open and in use.The Diocese of Allentown continues to examine its consolidation plans.School closesBecause of enrollment and financial challenges, SS. Peter and Paul School in Lehighton closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year. Enrollment at SS. Peter and Paul had been below 100 for 10 straight years. The school has been in deficit spending for several years.