The Holy Family Catholic Parish in Arnold will soon have no church building.
Holy Family Pastor Gerald Blessing recently announced that the Archdiocese of St. Louis has agreed to sell St. David Catholic Church and the parish’s Tenbrook Road campus, 2334 Tenbrook Road, in Arnold. In October, the parish demolished its other church building – Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on its Church Road campus, 2300 Church Road, in Arnold.
Holy Family has already announced plans to build a new church on the Church Road campus, which also is home to the Holy Family Catholic School, Parish Center and Immaculate Conception Cemetery.
Proceeds from the sale of the St. David campus would be used to help pay for the new church on the Church Road campus, Blessing said in an email to church members on Monday.
Blessing previously said he believes the parish will need to raise $6 million to build the new church, with $5 million for construction and the other $1 million to cover other project costs.
“We know this news (about selling St. David) will touch people in different ways, especially those who have poured their hearts into St. David over the years,” Blessing said Nov. 3 in an announcement to parish members. “It is a moment to honor the faith, generosity and hard work of all who built and sustained the parish. The ministry grace and love shared there have touched countless lives and will always be remembered as part of Holy Family’s story.”
Blessing said a few entities have contacted the parish about buying the St. David property, including an Arnold Baptist church.
In recent bulletins from the Rockport Baptist Church, 3761 Telegraph Road, the church invited members to visit the Tenbrook Road campus on Oct. 26. The announcement said a list of known issues and needed improvements would be provided, and members were encouraged to add their observations to the list.
The church members were taken on a tour of the church, gym, education facility, rectory, ballfields and playground area.
In October, Scott Lee, Rockport Baptist pastor, wrote about the possibility of moving to a larger facility in the “Pastor’s Word” on the church’s website, rockportbaptist.org.
“What makes our church what it is, is our character and our commitments, not our building,” he said in the message to church members. He also said the church’s five core values will not change if Rockport Baptist relocates.
“Other things will change, and sometimes need to,” he wrote. “But these things (the core values) cannot be allowed to change. (And as long as Kyle (Davis), Warren (Kesselring) and I are pastors, we have no intention of letting them change.) What will change are things like our location, our building, our opportunities to welcome others into our fellowship, our ability to train leaders and to develop new ministries to reach the lost around us.”
Phone calls to Rockport Baptist Church asking to talk to Lee were not returned, and Lee did not respond to emails from the Leader.
The Rock Community Fire Protection District has entered an agreement with Rockport Baptist to purchase the church’s property, Chief Kevin Wingbermuehle recently announced. The church is next to Rock Fire’s House 5 at 3749 Telegraph Road.
Wingbermuehle said the agreement is contingent on Rockport Baptist purchasing property to relocate to. He also said Rock Fire would use the church property for a planned community education and safety training center.
The fire district plans to use funds from a $20 million bond issue voters approved in April to build the training center, Wingbermuehle previously said.
Holy Family church
The Holy Family Parish was created when the 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 Parish was established in 1804, and the St. David Catholic Parish was established in 1963.
Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski issued a decree in June to close both those churches.
Holy Family is conducting a capital campaign, called “One faith. One Community. One future. A campaign from Holy Family Parish,” to build a new church on the Church Road campus.
In an Oct. 14 email, Blessing announced that a study of church members shows “strong support and enthusiasm within Holy Family Parish to move forward with a capital campaign for our new church.” In the email, he said the parish will spend 10 weeks preparing a capital campaign, which is expected to start early next year.
On Nov. 2, Blessing provided a capital campaign update on Holy Family’s website, holyfamilyarnold.org. He said the parish hired the Steier Group to oversee the campaign to raise funds to build a new church.
“The Steier Group provides professional support in communications, design and grant research to strengthen our outreach,” Blessing wrote. “Our campaign manager, Joanna (Collins) Gray, brings extensive experience in Catholic education and parish development. A St. Louis native, Joanna served for more than 20 years as a teacher and principal in the Archdiocese of St. Louis before joining the Steier Group seven years ago.”
The parish 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.
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.
Holy Family has been holding Masses in the Parish Center since then.
The parish stopped holding weekly Mass in the St. David Church last year just before that church’s HVAC system stopped working.