The Holy Family Catholic Parish has started its capital campaign to raise money to build a new church in Arnold.
The parish held a kickoff event Feb. 1 in its Parish Center on the Church Road campus, 2300 Church Road, which was home to the old Immaculate Conception Church, which was demolished in October. It’s also home to Holy Family’s school and cemetery.
Holy Family was formed when the Immaculate Conception and St. David parishes merged in August 2023 as part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ “All Things New” initiative.
Approximately 200 people attended the capital campaign kickoff event, which included a prayer service and rally. The capital campaign is called “One faith, one community, one future.”
“It is amazing,” the Rev. Gerald Blessing, Holy Family’s pastor, said of the people who came to the event. “It shows how much this community is behind this new church. It gives you a lot of hope that we can accomplish the goal.”
During the rally, an artist’s rendering and floor layout of the new church and an update on how much money was available and either already paid or pledged to the capital campaign were shared with the audience.
Holy Family has $4,200,526 to build the new church, according to parish officials. It will have $2.5 million, which includes proceeds from the sale of the Tenbrook Road campus, in parish resources to help fund construction, and as of Feb. 1, it had either collected or received pledges of $1,700,526 for the capital campaign.
Blessing has said the parish anticipates needing about $7.5 million to build the new church, which will be constructed where the Immaculate Conception Church was located near Church Road.
“This is phenomenal,” said capital campaign manager Joann Gray of the Steier Group, which Holy Family hired to oversee the campaign. “It is very positive. We have almost 50 percent of the campaign total needed to reach the goal. I know the poster says $1.7 million, but we have gotten more. There is closer to $2 million at this point.”
Gray said parish members will be updated on how much money has been collected or pledged every week.
“I was surprised,” said Stacy Smith, who has been a parish member for 14 years, of how much money has been raised so far. “This was the first time I had seen how much had been raised. I was delighted to see what we have, and I think it is an answer to everyone’s prayers.”
Holy Family has also hired Musick Construction Co. of St. Louis to build the church, and preliminary plans call for the project to be completed by the end of 2027. Holy Family hired Chiodini Architects of St. Louis to design the new church.
Colin Doggett, who is the co-chair of the capital campaign committee with Jason Hardin, said he was encouraged by the turnout at the kickoff event and how much money has been raised so far for the new church.
“It kind of blew me away to see how many people came on a Sunday afternoon,” Doggett said. “It gives me hope that we will quickly hit our goal and execute groundbreaking on the new church.”
Hardin said the parish will send packets with pledge cards and a message from Blessing to secure more donations for the church. Gray said the packets were put in the mail Jan. 30, and parish members will receive them soon.
Hardin said as the parish continues to share information about the construction plans and how the capital campaign works, he believes more people will offer financial support and the funds to build the church will be available.
Blessing has said the parish would like to have the new church built by the end of 2027.
“We will continue to educate and communicate with the congregation, so everyone understands where we are and where we need to be,” Hardin said. “I think we will have people engaged the whole time. There are generations of families within this joint parish who are unbelievably excited about the new church. That itself, I think, will keep the momentum going.”
From left, Bobbie Schicker, Steve Schicker, Russ Werkmeister and Henrietta Werkmeister were among the nearly 200 people to attend the capital campaign kickoff.
During the rally, the Rev. Michael Lydon, the vicar for the Archdiocese Southern Vicariate, said priests who had served at either Immaculate Conception or St David have pledged a combined $150,000 for the new church.
Lydon said he was happy not only with the number of people at the rally, but that numerous generations of church members were at the event.
“It is a positive sign for the future,” he said. “I am happily surprised that so many came out and how much money has been raised already. People make different signs of support, applause, showing up and money is another part of that. I am really happy with their presence, joy and the actual cash that has come in and will come in.”
The Immaculate Conception Parish was established in 1840, and the St. David Catholic Parish was established in 1960, with the cornerstone at St. David Church blessed in 1964.
The Immaculate Conception Church was built in 1895 and was torn down because of structural issues. The parish stopped holding Masses in the church on April 6 due to storm damage the building sustained in March when a tornado ripped through Arnold, and the church was demolished in October.
Holy Family stopped using the St. David Church on the Tenbrook Road campus, 2334 Tenbrook Road, in 2024 after its HVAC stopped working.
The new church is expected to have a similar bell tower to the Immaculate Conception Church, a driveway across its entrance facing Church Road and it will seat about 400 people.
Henrietta Werkmeister said she is a fifth-generation member of the parish, and she married her husband, Russ Werkmeister, in the Immaculate Conception Church 67 years ago. She said their children and four of their grandchildren were married in the Immaculate Conception Church.
Werkmeister said she is happy that some of the aspects of the Immaculate Conception Church, such as the bell tower, will be present.
“It is very important,” she said. “It is history. It is part of our church. I am excited about this. We have to build a beautiful church. We are willing to sacrifice as my great-great-grandparents did.”
The new church also will have indoor bathrooms, the Immaculate Conception Church has bathroom added behind the building. The new church also is expected to have a meeting hall for people to gather in before and after Mass and for other parish events.
Blessing said the new church will blend architecture from both the Immaculate Conception and St. David churches, and he also believes the bell tower is important to have as part of the new church.
“It will embrace everything that Immaculate Conception was but also what St. David was,” he said. “At the same time, that bell tower spoke to the community of Arnold. It was a landmark for this community. Anyone driving on the highway would see that. It would be nice to keep that as a landmark for the community.”
Cathy Whitlock, who is a member of the prayer committee, said she has been a parish member for 46 years. She was initially a member of St. David, and she also said she is happy that another church is expected to take over that property.
Rockport Baptist Church Pastor Scott Lee said 98 percent of the church’s members voted on Jan. 18 to sell the property to the Rock Community Fire Protection District and buy the Holy Family property.
According to Rockport’s Jan. 18 bulletin, the congregation was asked to affirm a motion to sell the church’s current location for $2 million and purchase Holy Family’s Tenbrook Road campus for $1.75 million.
Rock Fire Chief Kevin Wingbermuehle said the district plans to turn the Rockport property, 3761 Telegraph Road, into a training and community center. The Rockport property is next to Rock Fire’s House 5, 3749 Telegraph Road, in Arnold.
Rock Fire is expected to complete the sale of $12 million in bonds on Wednesday, after the Leader’s deadline, with some of those funds being used to purchase the Rockport property.
“The fact another congregation is buying St. David is really heartwarming,” Whitlock said. “That to me is miraculous. All of this has come together that Rock Community Fire needed space and Rockport needed space. That to me is a God thing.”