Four venerable East St. Louis churches will merge next year, leaving one Catholic parish in the city, according to officials in the Belleville diocese.
Members of St. Joseph, which opened its doors in 1902, St. Patrick (1862), St. Philip (1841) and St. John Francis Regis (1901) will recommend to Bishop Wilton D. Gregory their suggestions for the future of their parish, including which church they will use and who their pastor will be.
According to the diocese, East St. Louis has 869 Catholics, 599 of whom are classified as "practicing." But only about 300 combined attend Sunday Mass regularly at all four parishes. "The membership at the new parish won't be over 300," said [Rev. James A.] Voelker.
The article includes a paragraph regarding the St. Louis Archdiocese and its consolidation of South St. Louis and North St. Louis County parishes.
Beginning next month, a diocesan task force and outside consultant will visit the areas to make recommendations for restructuring with parishioners. The goal is for the recommendations to be presented to Archbishop Raymond Burke by Dec. 1, according to archdiocese spokesman Jim Orso. No mergers will "occur until 2005 and 2006," said Orso. "But the task force has been upfront enough to say that at the end of this, there will be some mergers."
Post Dispatch article here.
No comments:
Post a Comment