WESTBROOK – Southern Maine is being hit by the state’s growing shortage of Roman Catholic priests.

The Diocese of Portland said the number of priests in Westbrook will drop from three to two or perhaps one by July.

“This consolidation has been going on since the ’70s,” said Sue Bernard, a spokeswoman for the diocese. “Everybody is going to feel it and certainly every area in the state has been feeling this for decades.”

Areas in northern Maine have routinely shared priests, she said, and the need to redistribute the priests is growing as more priests approach retirement than are entering seminary.

Church officials in Maine have been studying the decline in the number of priests since the late 1980s.

They want to keep as many parishes open as possible, according to the Rev. John Skehan, director of parish planning for the diocese.

Skehan has been working with the Westbrook parishes of St. Hyacinth, St. Mary and St. Edmund as they look at reducing the number of priests.

They have been looking at their demographics, ministries and programs, employees and capital needs as part of that plan.

The need for involvement by the laity continues to increase as the number of priests shrinks, he said.

Many parishioners are optimistic that a priest-sharing arrangement could work for them. Some said they expected that a city with a population of 16,000 wouldn’t be able to hold on to three priests.

One parishioner at St. Mary, Carol Gilman, said she would be grateful to have one priest in town. The parish has about 1,700 members.

“Some communities have a priest that lives in another town and comes in for Sunday Mass,” Gilman said.

Elizabeth “Toni” O’Donnell, a parishioner at St. Edmund, said the churches have shared Confirmation proceedings and regularly cooperate on interfaith activities with other churches during Lent.

“Everybody has approached it in a very positive way in the sense that we can make this work,” she said.