Almost 3,000 Sundays after her first Mass at St. Philip Neri, the church she helped establish in 1953 in North Miami-Dade's Bunche Park neighborhood, Esterlene Colebrook came to say goodbye.

Donning her best suit -- a solid-tone dress, jacket, brimmed hat with a flower, earrings and open-toe shoes, all bright red -- she arrived early and sat quietly in a middle pew. Images flashed in her head: communion in the small living room just blocks west, where the church started, ladies' luncheons in the shopping center to the east where the church later relocated to a storefront, and the colorful millinery that used to crowd the current sanctuary before it went out of style.

For three hours Sunday morning, 200 members of St. Philip Neri sang, prayed, wept and smiled -- and for most of that time, Colebrook, 84, sat silently. Her church is one of 13 Catholic churches in Miami-Dade and Broward that will permanently close this week as the Archdiocese of Miami cuts costs.

Just before noon, as members of the church's younger generations lamented into a microphone about what they would miss -- choir practice, Bible study, baptisms, first communions and the sense of belonging that comes with a church that has seen four generations of black Catholics -- Colebrook arose and attempted to shout.

``I hate to be leaving all of you. I can't believe this is happening,'' she said. ``I don't know where we're going. We're all on life rafts here.''

The sentiment echoed throughout the closing churches, most of which held their final Masses on Sunday and must shut their doors by Wednesday to be put up for lease and sale by the archdiocese. Parishioners, who fought the closures, have been asked to attend other Catholic churches nearby, and were told that statues, relics, musical instruments and, in some cases, priests will relocate to the churches into which their congregations will merge.

``I was there for the first day and now for the last,'' said Gay Solomon, who attended the last Mass at the 45-year-old St. George in Fort Lauderdale. Solomon now plans to attend church closer to home -- at St. Gregory in Plantation.

``It was different. Some people were sad. Some were noncommittal. I'm not angry. Catholic is Catholic wherever you may be,'' said Solomon, 77.

Yet, for many South Florida Catholics, the next step is unclear.

``I haven't lost faith in God, but the following Sunday I probably won't be in church,'' said Jim Silvernale, 48, who has attended Church of the Resurrection in Dania Beach his entire life. ``I'm bitter right now. It's taking me some time.''

The churches, many which are in low-income neighborhoods or serve primarily minorities or the elderly, are closing because they have been subsidized at a cost of millions of dollars that the archdiocese can no longer afford, said spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta.

The closings are the latest cuts by the financially struggling archdiocese, which this year also shut seven Catholic schools, closed its youth ministry office and cut funding to its pregnancy care centers. It is exploring further cost-cutting measures.

``It's a sad ending. You go to a church because your heart is in it. It's just not going to be the same,'' said Fatima Dominguez, 44, who has attended St. Cecilia in Hialeah since age 9. The 1,991-member congregation has been asked to transfer to St. John the Apostle in Hialeah.

Most Catholics at the closing churches will join other parishes, but a few are considering other denominations.

``It's up for grabs now,'' said Yvette A. McLeod, 48, who has attended St. Vincent de Paul in North Miami for 21 years and said she may join the Episcopal Church. ``I love the Catholic church, don't get me wrong, but I want to be somewhere where I have more say in what happens to my church.''

At St. Philip Neri, Windi Donald said her family plans to join the Protestant Church of God of Prophecy in Bunche Park, which her grandmother once attended.

``We want another place where we can identify with the culture and be welcomed as family,'' said Donald, 35, of Hollywood.

On her last day at St. Philip after 25 years, she left with a small plaque engraved with the name of her grandfather, an early member of the church, and holding her 15-month-old daughter, who was baptized earlier in the day.

``This church has been a part of my family and spiritual upbringing for a very long time, and that it will remain,'' Donald said.