in late 2003, archbishop o'malley requested that parish leaders meet in their clusters, or regional parish groupings, to discuss whether one or two parishes should close if he decided that region had too many for the local catholic population to support. o'malley cited reasons including urban decline, priest shortages, declining mass attendance, and a decline in archdiocesan revenue as result of the sex-abuse scandals. the process consisted of each parish choosing another parish (or itself) from its cluster to recumbent for closure. some participants and dubious observers have compared the method to the television series "survivor", in which contestants form cliques and use strength to win challenges and vote other members off the island. the process was semi-successful. in some clusters, a consensus was reached about which parish should close. in others, suspicions about hierarchal influences and inflated church attendance statistics arose. when the cluster meetings ended, around 100 parishes for the archbishop to evaluate for closure. the presbyteral council, a group of priests chosen to assist the archbishop with running the archdiocese, came up with an additional 24 parishes that had refused to make a recommendation, and 13 more after reviewing individual circumstances, making a total of roughly 137 parishes up for closure by may 2004. on may 15, 65 closure announcements were sent out, and more followed a few days later. st. albert's received a closure announcement.