The Catholic parish in Arnold has a new name – Holy Family.
In August 2023, the Immaculate Conception and St. David Catholic parishes were merged to form a single parish as part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis’s “All Things New” initiative, and a new name has been in the works since then. In the interim, the parish was referred to as the Immaculate Conception St. David Catholic Parish.
The Rev. Gerald Blessing, the parish’s pastor, announced the new Holy Family name during services on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28.
“I actually think it is the perfect name,” Blessing said. “These two parishes have always been related and connected from their inception. They branched off at an appropriate time back in the day, but it is such an appropriate time for them to come back together as one. I just think it is a perfect time, and it is a great name.”
Parishioners celebrated the new name and the unified parishes with a gathering at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Parish Center. About 200 parishioners attended the event.
“I really like the name,” said Loretta Kladiva, who has been an Immaculate Conception Church member for the last 45 years. “I think it is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to become one family. More people means new gifts.”
Parish members signed a banner commemorating the name change during the celebration, and they shared a lunch of sandwiches, chips and cake.
“I think Holy Family is the right name for two parishes coming together” said Jason Wallen, who with his wife, Stephanie, have been St. David Church members for more than 20 years.
“It is bittersweet and exciting,” Stephanie said.
Blessing and The Rev. Michael Lydon, the vicar for the Archdiocese Southern Vicariate, talked briefly to the crowd about what the name meant and how it unifies the city’s parish.
“It is very descriptive of what is happening,” Lydon said. “Two parish families are coming together into one. It certainly mirrors the school’s identity of Holy Child, though it will be called Holy Family now. It is in that relationship of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. I am really happy.”
Judi Seed, who has been an Immaculate Conception member for 45 years, said she loves the new name.
“It is two families coming together,” she said.
The process
When the merger was announced last year, the Archdiocese said Immaculate Conception and St. David had a combined membership of 5,469 people.
Blessing assembled a transition team of people from both parishes following the mergers, and one of the group’s tasks was to help select a new parish name. The team included Blessing; Lydon; the Rev. John Brennell, the parish’s senior associate pastor; deacons Gene Zimmermann and Bob Eichelberger; and parishioners Mimi Siebert, Julia Geiler, Amanda Macke, David Whitlock, Jason Hardin, Colin Doggett, Beth Diveley and Donna Holz.
“I was lucky; I was a parishioner at Immaculate Conception for 42 years, and then I moved to the other side of Arnold and joined St. David (where he was ordained a deacon and has been a member for the past 14 years),” Zimmermann said. “I got to know both sides. It was challenging not to be emotionally attached. I have ties to both sides. My mom and dad are buried in the (Immaculate Conception) cemetery. They got married and buried (at Immaculate Conception). I got married (at Immaculate Conception). I have a lot of ties to Immaculate Conception, and being ordained at St. David, I have a lot of ties there.”
The naming process began in November with parishioners submitting potential names to the team.
Macke said the parish received 54 unique names from 216 submissions.
“There were a lot of duplicates,” she said.
The team narrowed the submissions down to six potential names, and parishioners ranked their top three preferred names in December. The committee submitted the three names in ranking order to Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski just before Christmas, and he selected the new name for the parish.
“It is such a positive name,” Blessing said. “I think everyone identifies with it. It is a name that resonated with people even before I got here. I heard people saying I really would like Holy Family. I think over time the Holy Spirit led us to that. The spirit moved a lot of people to that name. It is a name that resonated with them and certainly the archbishop. He was very open to that name.”
Macke, a member of Immaculate Conception for 12 years, said she is excited about the new name.
“The energy at St. David and passion they had for their parish and the passion that people at IC had for their parish is now together and will move us in a whole different direction,” she said.
Name’s effect
Blessing said the two churches will retain their old names – Immaculate Conception, which is at 2300 Church Road, and St. David, at 2334 Tenbrook Road.
However, Blessing said the campuses and other buildings will be referred to by the road they are on.
As an example, he said the parish centers, which are also gyms, will be called the Holy Family Parish Center on the Tenbrook Road campus and the Holy Family Parish Center on the Church Road campus.
Blessing said Holy Child Catholic School also will be renamed Holy Family Catholic School.
Bridget Brennell, the school’s principal, said the building will start using the new name in the 2024-2025 school year. She said there won’t be many other changes. For example, students will wear the same school uniforms.
Holy Child was created in 1988 when the former Immaculate Conception Catholic School and the St. David Catholic School merged. In 2007, St. John Catholic School in Imperial also merged with Holy Child.
“I think it can only affect the school in a positive way,” she said of the parish and school having the same name. “It was often confusing when you had a parish named something and a school named something else. This will bring unity. We are excited about the new name.”
Blessing said Mass times and locations will not change. Mass is held at St. David at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. on Sundays and at Immaculate Conception at 5 p.m. on Saturdays and at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Sundays. A Spanish-language Mass is held at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays at Immaculate Conception.
The parish currently is working toward building a new church on the Church Road campus, and a feasibility study is underway.
When the new church is completed it will be called Holy Family, and the parish will stop using Immaculate Conception and St. David for weekly masses.
“The current goal is to get a new church built and for the parish to celebrate in one church,” Blessing said.