WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Catholic Universe Bulletin, which has delivered news and information about Ohio’s Cleveland Diocese to parishioners for more than 140 years, will close its doors in July.

The July 3 edition will be the last, said Robert Tayek, diocesan communications director.

Word of the closing was delivered to the six members of the newspaper staff June 3 by Bishop Richard G. Lennon. Marianne Babnik, representative of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild at the paper, said the news was confirmed in a letter received later in the day from Joseph Polito, CEO of the Catholic Universe Bulletin Publishing Co.

Tayek attributed the closing to “the slide in subscriptions and readership” that many print publications have experienced in recent years as people seek “new means of communication and getting their news and information by other means, particularly electronically.”

The paper’s paid circulation had declined to about 10,000 this year, he said. At its peak in 1963, the circulation topped 122,000.