WENTZVILLE — Applause broke out twice during Sunday Mass at St. Gianna Catholic Church, first when the Rev. Timothy Elliott said the parish would remain unchanged and again with the news that he is staying on as pastor.
The “All Things New†downsizing of the Archdiocese of ºüÀêÊÓƵ — which will cut the number of parishes from 178 to 135 — came as a relief for many Catholics after prior proposals would have seen more than half of the parishes close. Others expressed sorrow and even confusion over what archdiocesan terms like “subsumed†mean for the future of their churches.
Elliott said he was “joyously shocked†to read the letter from Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski outlining the future of St. Gianna, the youngest parish in the archdiocese. A draft released last month showed the parish merging with Immaculate Heart of Mary in New Melle, a plan formally opposed by Elliott and many of his parishioners in communications with Rozanski.
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Not all of the surprises for parishes were positive. Christ the King in University City will absorb the former territories of All Saints Parish in University City, St. Rita Parish in Vinita Park and St. Roch just north of Forest Park in ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
“My only question is if the building would necessarily go away or be sold because it’s such a treasure,†said Bill Hannegan, 65, of St. Roch. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful building. My grandmother was an original member from the day the church was built. This is going to take St. Roch’s people by surprise because they thought there was a deal worked out.â€
Much of the confusion on Sunday circled around the future of the church buildings in closed or merged parishes. Those decisions will be made over time by the new pastors and parishioners, according to the archdiocese. The decrees outlining the changes to parishes say the churches will remain “a sacred edifice to which the faithful have the right of entry.â€
None of the parish closures are in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ city, which historically has seen the most consolidation in the archdiocese. But extensive mergers left a lot of questions about what would remain, particularly for Black Catholics.
One yet-to-be-named new parish will include Our Lady of the Holy Cross in the Baden neighborhood; St. Augustine in Hamilton Heights; St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist in Penrose; and St. Matthew the Apostle in the Ville.
“What is going to the happen with the buildings, and are we all going to be able to keep our food pantry open?†said Rita Kemna, 75, after Mass let out Sunday at Our Lady of the Holy Cross. “Most everybody is concerned about outreach programs.â€
“I just hope they can keep this church here,†said Christine Misuraca, 60, who’s been attending the Baden church since she was 2 and wants her funeral held there. “I can’t picture it being closed.â€
Even though they weren’t officially closed like 35 other parishes, Richard Burgdorf, 78, president of the Holy Cross parish council, was disheartened by the “All Things New†process.
“My God has not let me down,†said Burgdorf. “My archdiocese has let me down. I have lost respect for the leadership of the archdiocese because they are still not telling us everything.â€
“It’s not going to be four churches,†Burgdorf, whose great-great-grandfather helped establish Holy Cross, added of the merger.
New gifts to share
Another new north city parish will include Most Holy Trinity in Hyde Park; St. Nicholas in Downtown West; and Sts. Teresa and Bridget in Jeff-Vander-Lou.
On Sunday morning at Sts. Teresa and Bridget, the Rev. Scott Jones revisited the same message he gave at the start of “All Things New.†In the early church, he said, the faithful congregated in homes and other places on the go. Now that there are church buildings, many are insular.
“In fact, some of our most beautiful church buildings have very few people worshiping in them,†he said from the pulpit. “A healthy church isn’t the building, it’s the people.â€
He said there will be new gifts to share and people to meet as the merger takes shape this summer.
Outside after Mass, Edna Hester, 75, an optimist, took things in stride.
“We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,†she said of merging. “It happened before, it’ll probably happen again before it’s over. You call yourself a Christian, you need to get along with everybody and make it work. If you have a bad attitude, you are going to feel bad all the time. I don’t have time for that.â€
Pastors at Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. John the Baptist in south ºüÀêÊÓƵ told their parishioners on Sunday that weekend Mass would continue at each church even after Aug. 1, when the parishes will close and be absorbed by St. Stephen Protomartyr.
The Rev. Aaron Nord, 45, of Immaculate Heart of Mary will become the pastor of St. Stephen.
“The parish community will be one community worshiping in three church buildings,†Nord said. “Every change, even necessary change, involves loss, and loss is sad. So if you feel sad today, there’s no shame in that.â€
Debbie Gartner, 66, an Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioner since 1980, said the consolidation of parishes is “helping us grow in our ministries … we’ve seen organizations disband because of lack of numbers. There’s not enough people to go around.â€
Kelly Cato, 46, teared up as she talked about her grandparents’ names on a plaque in the vestibule as charter members of the parish: “There’s a lot of memories. I still don’t know why St. Stephen was picked, but we’re not the ones making the decisions.â€
Still planning an appeal
Confusion about the archdiocese’s plan extended to rural Ste. Genevieve County, one of the most Catholic parts of the archdiocese.
As of Aug. 1, Sts. Philip and James parish in tiny River aux Vases will no longer exist — at least on paper. It will be absorbed by Ste. Genevieve Parish in Ste. Genevieve, the county seat.
Yet a priest told the Sts. Philip and James congregation Sunday morning that Masses would continue to be held at the River aux Vases location at 8 a.m. on Sundays to keep the historic church open.
“He said we are not closing, we are just merging with Ste. Genevieve,†said Lois Naeger, 64. “Everybody was glad to hear that.â€
Not far away, St. Agnes parish in Bloomsdale will absorb the former territory of St. Lawrence in Lawrenceton. A priest has been traveling from Bloomsdale to keep St. Lawrence open since the 1960s. That arrangement will end in August, said Pershing Carron.
“We are going to get the axe,†said Carron, 90, whose family helped establish St. Lawrence. “Simple as that. We are still going to try to appeal this.â€
A resilient community
At St. Francis of Assisi in Portage Des Sioux, about 70 weekly churchgoers gathered in the parking lot after Mass trying to figure out what Rozanski meant in his letter when he said the parish would be “subsumed†by St. Charles Borromeo, about a 20-minute drive away.
The rural St. Charles County parish is one of the oldest in the region, founded in 1813 on the banks of the Mississippi River and surviving at least two major floods in its history.
The Rev. Edward Voltz, one of several rotating priests who cover weekly Mass because St. Francis has no full-time clergy, told the attendees he had few answers about what will become of the church building built in 1879. A glossary posted Saturday on the archdiocese website says “subsumed†means “when one parish is united to another parish in such a way that the first parish no longer exists and the second parish remains.â€
Lifelong parishioner Kelly Smith said she hopes there will still be some Catholic presence in Portage Des Sioux. Her children are fifth-generation St. Francis members and she’s poured hours into volunteering and supporting the church that her great-great-grandparents also attended.
“What’s going to happen to the people who rely on the church in this community?†Smith asked, noting that the parish runs the area’s St. Vincent DePaul charity. For holidays, it hosts a large, free Thanksgiving dinner and sponsors dozens of local families at Christmas. Hundreds attend the annual summer picnic, famous for its tractor pull and fried chicken dinners.
St. Francis has been resilient, said Jerry Schulte, a member of the parish for 70 years. He recalled coming to the property after the Great Flood of 1993 devastated the area. He helped save church pews that had been under about 3 feet of Mississippi River floodwater.
After the flood, the parish’s grade school closed and the area’s population plummeted.
“All Things New†started in ºüÀêÊÓƵ in January 2022, when Rozanski announced the 18-month process that would bring “the most sweeping changes†in the 200-year history of the Catholic church in ºüÀêÊÓƵ amid declining numbers of Catholics attending Mass and priests to serve them.
The Catholic population in the region has fallen below 500,000 in 2021 for the first time in half a century. Pews have been only one-quarter full on Sundays this year.
More details on the changes are expected in early June, including new Mass times and worship sites for merged parishes. Decisions on Catholic parish school closures or consolidations are expected this fall. At least three of the closed parishes, St. Roch, Blessed Teresa in Ferguson and St. Rose in Florissant have grade schools.
Parishioners have until June 12 to appeal the changes to Rozanski through canon or church law.
Lifelong St. Francis parishioner Denna Boschert, 59, said she already wrote a letter asking to keep at least some services at the church.
“The reason we’ve kept this parish alive is the same reason we stay in Portage Des Sioux after the floods,†Boschert said. â€We’re faithful.â€
Erin Heffernan, Josh Renaud and Colleen Schrappen of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.