The widespread reassignment of 158 archdiocesan priests, which was announced along with the various mergers, will proceed as planned, the archdiocese said. But because of the appeals process, incoming pastors for parishes that have announced their intention to seek hierarchical recourse “will be directed to do nothing which would prejudice the rights of the parish goods,” meaning financial accounts and finance councils should not yet be merged, among other things.
“In the meantime, the Archdiocese of St. Louis will be making provision for the pastoral care of each parish that is impacted. The suspension of the effects of these decrees will be lifted once recourse before the Apostolic See has concluded,” the archdiocese concluded.
“A pastor should respect the fact that all the faithful can legitimately vindicate and defend their rights in the Church in the competent ecclesiastical forum according to the norm of the law.”
According to the archdiocese, the number of parishes in St. Louis will be reduced by 43, from 178 to 135. This is due to 32 parishes being subsumed by others, two parishes being closed entirely (suppressed), 15 parishes being merged into five new parishes, and one new Spanish-language parish being created.
Before making the changes, the archdiocese held 350 listening sessions, with at least one in each of the 178 current parishes. It also considered feedback from 70,000 Catholics in the archdiocese who participated in a survey. Feedback was also solicited from 18,000 school parents, staff, teachers, donors, and community partners. The archdiocese also held focus groups and talked with civil and business leaders.
Rozanski, who announced his final plans for the archdiocesan-wide mergers in late May, said the feedback helped structure the final plan, which was approved by the All Things New Planning Committee. The committee included priests, deacons, parish life coordinators, lay leaders, and religious within the archdiocese. In addition to considering the feedback, they also looked into financial data and other information.