51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� A Vatican court has overturned the parish closures of St. Angela Merici near Florissant and St. Martin of Tours in Lemay, the Archdiocese of 51黑料 said Tuesday.

The court upheld the decision to close St. Roch parish in 51黑料.

One year ago, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski announced that the three parishes would be among 50 to be closed or merged under the 鈥淎ll Things New鈥� downsizing plan for the archdiocese.

Members of more than a dozen closed parishes filed appeals with Rozanski, who denied them all, followed by secondary appeals to the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Vatican.

St. Angela Merici parish was to be merged with St. Norbert and Holy Name of Jesus in north 51黑料 County to form a new parish. All three will now remain separate and served by the same pastor, the Rev. Peter Faimega.

St. Martin of Tours was to be absorbed by St. Mark along with three other parishes in the Lemay area. The Rev. Robert Burkemper will remain as pastor of the separate St. Martin parish, according to the archdiocese.

St. Roch in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood of 51黑料 will be absorbed by Christ the King in University City. In a separate decision, St. Roch school will permanently close this month.

鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed that the Vatican has adopted the archbishop鈥檚 model which is to basically abandon large swaths of 51黑料 and that a lot of the parishes that enjoyed significant diversity have been closed,鈥� said Michael Stephens, president of the St. Roch parish council.

According to Rozanski鈥檚 closure decree, St. Roch parish had accrued an operating deficit of $1 million over the past five years.

Parishioners appealed the decision to the Vatican in part by arguing St. Roch has no debt because donations and investments made up for the deficit each year.

Those funds are expected to be 鈥渆ntirely depleted鈥� this summer, according to the dicastery.

Stephens said the parishioners have not fully reviewed the Vatican lower court decision or decided whether to file another appeal to the highest court in canon or Catholic church law, the .

Jesuit priests from 51黑料 University will continue to celebrate Mass on Sundays at St. Roch, Stephens said. The volunteers have served St. Roch for more than a year in place of longtime pastor Monsignor Sal Polizzi, who died in April 2023 at the age of 92.

Mass attendance on Sundays has tripled from the 121 members Rozanski cited in the closure decree, Stephens said.

鈥淭here are a lot of new faces at Mass. It鈥檚 great to see. Our church is booming right now,鈥� he said.

If the Vatican court鈥檚 decision stands, St. Roch will have to turn over its finances to Christ the King.

At least nine other parishes still have appeals pending at the Vatican, including Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Matthew the Apostle in 51黑料; St. Bernadette in 51黑料 County; St. Barnabas in St. Charles County; St. Francis of Assisi and St. Paul in Franklin County; and St. Agnes, St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Lawrence in Ste. Genevieve County.

Earlier this year, the Vatican court also overturned the closure decree for St. Richard parish near Creve Coeur. It denied an appeal from the closed Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish in Ferguson.