The Holy Family Catholic Parish has stopped holding Masses in the 130-year-old Immaculate Conception Church in Arnold because of recent storm damage to the building.
The Rev. Gerald Blessing, Holy Family’s pastor, announced last week that Masses will now be held in the Parish Center behind the church, which is at 2300 Church Road.
In a message to parishioners, Blessing said the March 14 storm damaged the church’s bell tower, and a structural engineer examined the tower and said there was no immediate danger. However, the engineer indicated there was some cracking that needed to be repaired.
“More importantly, due to the severity of the wind during the storm, (the engineer) expressed concern that it is now increasingly difficult to determine exactly what level of wind and storm the tower can safely withstand,” Blessing said before the 9 a.m. Mass on March 6.
He said the structural engineer recommended the bell tower be reinforced with steel and estimated the cost would be more than $100,000.
Blessing said other repairs have long been needed at the church, including tuckpointing and plaster work, which would cost an estimated $30,000.
“Unfortunately, we knew there might come a time when the cost of maintaining the church for safe use would outweigh the benefit,” Blessing said in the message. “In consulting parish leaders, we all agreed that it would be imprudent to spend such a large sum of money on an ailing structure; surely the insurance money could be put to better use.”
Holy Family was created when Immaculate Conception and St. David Catholic parishes merged in August 2023 as part of the St. Louis Archdiocese “All Things New” initiative. The parish’s new name was established in January 2024.
In November 2023, Rich Kwiatkowski, a structural engineer with SSC Engineering of Chesterfield, told parishioners during a meeting that he has been inspecting the Immaculate Conception church since 2015, when the parish first started to raise money to build a new church.
He said the church, which was built in 1895, is generally in good condition, but it would not make economic sense to attempt to restore the building.
Kwiatkowski’s assessment was similar to one Art Siebert, a parishioner and member of the church’s building committee, delivered in August 2015 when Immaculate Conception first started making plans to build a new church.
Siebert said the church had structural problems and needed to be replaced, adding that at that time, the church was safe to gather and hold services in, but that would not be the case indefinitely.
Blessing has said the parish’s goal is to raise enough money to either build a new church on the Immaculate Conception property or to convert the Parish Center, which also houses the school’s gym, into a church.
He said if the Parish Center becomes the church, a new gym would be constructed for the school. The new gym also would be used as the school’s cafeteria and the Parish Center.
The Rev. Michael Lydon, the vicar for the Archdiocese Southern Vicariate that the Holy Family Parish is part of, previously said the parish would need to raise 50 percent of the cost for the new church before the Archdiocese would approve construction.
He also said the Archdiocese would provide a loan for the work, if the parish could show it would have the funds to cover the other half of the cost in the future.
Holy Family stopped holding weekly Mass in the St. David Church on the parish’s Tenbrook campus at 2334 Tenbrook Road.
“The decision to celebrate all Masses in the Parish Center (instead of St. David) came through the following insights,” Blessing said before Mass on March 6. “Since coming together at this campus, there have been positive signs of unity here. We do not want to disrupt the unity we now experience.
“We chose to move all Masses to this campus last fall. We believe it is in the best interest of the parish to continue worshiping here. This campus is the home of our school. It is the center of nearly all parish life. Shifting Masses back to another campus could cause confusion and send mixed signals about the direction of our parish, the parish’s future and our ability to fiscally maintain two campuses.”
Blessing has said the reason the parish wants to build a new church is because of the age and condition of the Immaculate Conception Church and the St. David campus, adding that it is not economically feasible to renovate either one.
Blessing also previously said the decision to build the parish’s new church on the Immaculate Conception grounds was based on its location in central Arnold and the fact there is room for expansion on the site and plenty of parking. It also is home to the school and cemetery.
“We ask for your patience as we navigate this complicated and unfortunately expensive problem,” Blessing said in his message to parishioners last week.
Holy Family holds Mass at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Mondays through Fridays; at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturdays; and at 7 a.m., 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. The parish also celebrates a Spanish-language Mass at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Blessing said the weekday Masses will be held in a chapel set up on the lower floor of the Parish Center, and the weekend Masses will be on the main floor in the gym.
“We are going to get through this,” Blessing said March 6. “With every conflict, every chapter in our lives, God works through things, and he will work through this. There is a spirit in this community that is going to work through it. I am confident in that.”