CHARLESTON, S.C. (CNS) – The Catholic dioceses of the Carolinas and Georgia are experiencing record growth, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta said during a meeting of the U.S. Catholic Church’s Atlanta province.

“We realized that all five of the dioceses represented here have recently opened new chancery offices,” Archbishop Gregory told The Catholic Miscellany, newspaper of the statewide Diocese of Charleston.

“We are all in a growth mode. That’s a good thing,” he said during the province’s meeting in Charleston. “We are spending part of our time here talking about the need to establish new parishes, expand pastoral outreach, and respond to growing numbers both from immigration and those moving here from other parts of the country. We all are sharing in this growth.”

Archbishop Gregory said the leaders realized the scope of growth in their Southern province while touring Charleston’s new pastoral center.

That growth is the opposite of what is happening in some Northern U.S. dioceses, where the number of people in the pews is declining in many areas, and parishes and schools are being closed or forced to consolidate.