The Holy Family Catholic Parish has announced plans to begin preparations to demolish the Immaculate Conception Church in Arnold.
On Monday, the stained-glass windows were removed from the church on the parish’s Church Road campus, 2300 Church Road. In an announcement sent to parishioners on July 14, the Rev. Gerald Blessing, Holy Family’s pastor, said the windows would be placed in storage for possible use in the new church.
Blessing also said in the announcement that the remaining preparation for demolition of the church building will begin on Aug. 18, adding that the preparations would take a few days and then the church’s spire would be removed. Sometime after that, demolition would begin.
“We are preserving the bells and hope to save the cross as well,” he said in the announcement. “We will do our best to give a few days’ notice before the spire is removed.”
The Immaculate Conception Church parish was established in 1840 and the church was built in 1895.
In his message to parishioners, Blessing said when the demolition is completed, the parish will make bricks from the church available for those who want one as a keepsake.
He also said the flooring from the church will be repurposed for use in the renovated food pantry and restroom, and the remaining sections will be stored for possible future use.
Blessing said the parish has hired the Steier Group to lead a capital campaign study and a full campaign to raise money to build a new church for the parish.
Blessing said the parish will need to raise $5 million to build a 400-seat, 9,000 square-foot church on the site where the Immaculate Conception Church is located.
During a town hall meeting on May 18, Louis Chiodini, president of Chiodini Architects of St. Louis, said a new church could be completed by June 2027.
“Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we move forward together in faith,” Blessing said in the July 14 statement.
Holy Family was created when Immaculate Conception and St. David Catholic parishes merged in August 2023 as part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ “All Things New” initiative.
The Immaculate Conception Church is at the parish’s Church Road campus, which also is home to the Holy Family Catholic School, Parish Center and Immaculate Conception Cemetery. The St. David Catholic Church is at the parish’s Tenbrook Road campus, 2334 Tenbrook Road, in Arnold, and the parish stopped holding Mass in that church last year just before that church’s HVAC system stopped working.
Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski issued a decree in June to close the two churches.
The parish has been holding Masses in the Parish Center on the Church Road campus since April 6 due to damage Immaculate Conception Church, which has long had some structural problems, sustained during the March 14 storm. Even before that, Blessing said the parish is still working to determine what to do with the Tenbrook Road campus and St. David Church, adding that the parish cannot afford to maintain two properties.
The St. David Catholic Parish was established in 1963 with its church’s cornerstone blessed in 1964.