The Archdiocese of St. Louis has made sweeping organizational changes that will affect the Catholic churches in both Arnold and Imperial.
The two Arnold parishes – Immaculate Conception and St. David – will merge to form one parish, which will be named later.
While the two parishes based in the Imperial area – St. Joseph and St. John – will not see significant structural changes, the two will soon be sharing a pastor.
On May 27, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski announced how parishes throughout the Archdiocese will be affected by the “All Things New” initiative that began about two years ago.
The Archdiocese, which covers the city of St. Louis and 10 counties – Jefferson, Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, Franklin, Lincoln, Perry, St. Charles, St. Louis, Warren and Washington – includes 483,911 Catholics among a general population of 2,259,000.
The plan, which starts to take effect Aug. 1, calls for 178 parishes to be reshaped into 134 with 35 parishes closing and 15 parishes merging to create five new parishes.
In Arnold, not only will Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and St. David Catholic Church combine to form a single parish, but also the pastors from those two parishes have been reassigned to other parishes, which means a new pastor and senior associate pastor will serve the new Arnold parish.
The Rev. Gerald Blessing, the pastor at St. Paul Catholic Church in St. Paul, Mo., will be the pastor of the merged Immaculate Conception and St. David parish, and the Rev. John Brennell, who has been the pastor at Seven Holy Founders in Affton, will be the senior associate pastor.
The Rev. Jeffrey Knight at Immaculate Conception has been reassigned to Seven Holy Founders, and the Rev. Charles Ferrara will leave St. David to become the pastor of St. Michael the Archangel in Shrewsbury.
The structures of St. Joseph and St. John the Beloved Disciple in Imperial remain intact, although the Rev. Daniel Shaughnessy, the pastor at St. Joseph, and the Rev. Jonathan Ruzicka, the associate pastor at St. Joseph will begin pastoring the St. John church as well.
Ruzicka also will continue as a part-time priest-chaplain for St. Pius X High School in Crystal City.
The Rev. Richard Coerver, the current pastor at St. John, has been appointed senior associate pastor at the St. Clement of Rome Parish in Des Peres.
In addition, the Rev. Gregory Mikesch also has been granted retirement with residence at St. Joseph.
Any parishioner who claims to have been aggrieved by the Archbishop’s decision has the right to appeal the decision. Per Canon law, the request must be made in writing, postmarked no later than June 12 and addressed to the Archbishop at 20 Archbishop May Drive, St. Louis, 63119. The Archdiocese said it cannot accept emails or phone call requests for appeal.
Arnold
Blessing, 59, will take over the leadership of the combined Immaculate Conception and St. David parish after serving as pastor at St. Paul for the past 10 years.
According to the Archdiocese, the two parishes had a combined membership of 5,469 as of 2022.
“I have loved (the St. Paul) community,” said Blessing, who will turn 60 in August. “I have never not loved a community that I have been a part of. I am looking forward to falling in love with this one combined parish as well.
“I am excited about working with Father John Brennell. I am excited about our team, and I am looking forward to it.”
Ferrara, who is leaving St. David after 10 years, said it made sense for the merged parish to have new leadership. Knight has been the pastor at Immaculate Conception for the past three years.
“Like his namesake, (Blessing) will be a blessing for the community,” said Ferrara, 66. “He is sharp, intelligent and has a lot of gifts to share with the community. (Brennell) was the pastor at St. Joseph in Imperial for years. He has a lot of experience and is very competent. They are two wonderful, gifted men.”
The Archdiocese said the “All Things New” plan will take about three years to fully implement.
According to the announcement about the changes, the merged Arnold parish is expected to get a new name, and either Immaculate Conception or St. David will be chosen as the parish’s worship site. Mass times also are likely to be adjusted at the churches.
Blessing said he and Brennell will begin working with parishioners about how the new parish will be structured when they arrive on Aug. 1.
“I am looking forward to getting input from the parish and figuring that out,” Blessing said. “I am looking forward to being there (in Arnold), getting to know (the community) and ministering to them. I think I can say the same thing for Father Brennell. I think we are both excited to work for them together. We will allow the Holy Spirit to guide us as we move forward with a positive attitude.”
Arnold’s Catholic community also is waiting to hear about the future of Holy Child Catholic School, housed on the Immaculate Conception campus at 2316 Church Road. The Archdiocese is expected to announce how schools are affected by the “All Things New” plan in the fall.
Holy Child was created in 1988 when the former Immaculate Conception Catholic School and the St. David Catholic School merged, and in 2007, St. John Catholic School in Imperial also merged with Holy Child.
The Archdiocese reported that Holy Child had 259 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade for the 2022-2023 school year.
“While we haven’t been told anything official, I am confident that Holy Child will be in operation for a number of years to come,” said Knight, 63. “Enrollment has been strong in recent years. For next year, we are coming in with similar numbers to what we ended with this school year. I don’t see signs that it will be adversely affected.”
Imperial
Shaughnessy and Ruzicka said they are grateful to continue leading St. Joseph and look forward to also serving at St. John. Shaughnessy has been at St. Joseph for more than eight years, and Ruzicka, who was a seminarian intern at the church from 2018 to 2019, has been assigned to the parish for the past two years.
According to the Archdiocese, St. Joseph has 6,130 members, and St. John has 1,080.
“The pairing makes a lot of sense,” said Shaughnessy, 52. “This area of central Jefferson County is strong. We are excited and poised for continued growth in the sacraments and our Lord as we try to spread the good news to all of our brothers and sisters, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. We want this to be a community of disciples making disciples.”
Ruzicka, 29, said he believes parishioners at St. John and St. Joseph are happy with the impact “All Things New” has on their parishes.
“It makes sense that it will not become a mega parish,” he said. “The people in this area really love and support their priests. Father Rich Coerver has a lot of support where he is. There was a lot of gratitude. There was gratitude on our part to continue our ministry here.”
Shaughnessy said he and Ruzicka are working with leaders at the two parishes to develop a new mass schedule, and he expects both he and Ruzicka will be at both parish sites often as they serve the two churches that are about 10 minutes apart.
“The goal is to acknowledge the strength of both communities and be present at both sites,” Shaughnessy said.
Shaughnessy said he doesn’t expect a lot of changes to St. Joseph Catholic School when the Archdiocese announces plans for schools.
The Archdiocese reported there were 406 pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students enrolled at St. Joseph for the 2022-2023 school year. Shaughnessy said he expects the enrollment number to increase for the 2023-2024 school year.
“We are just a really blessed community,” he said. “The school is really strong. We are expanding our pre-school over the summer. The pre-school expansion is to accommodate growth pre-k through primary grades. We are seeing sustained growth each year. At the same time, I don’t know what is going to happen.”