Overall, in 2021, the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Louis dipped below 500,000 for the first time since the 1960s. The number of parishes would have likely exceeded the number of priests by 2026 without action, according to archdiocesan projections.
Rozanski’s final plans for the mergers and closures, announced in May, saw roughly 25% of the archdiocese’s parishes close or merge.
Some Catholics in the archdiocese were critical throughout the All Things New process, in part because of the shakeup of parishes. More than 3,000 Catholics in the archdiocese signed a petition that asked the archbishop to halt the plan last spring, but Rozanski ultimately declined to revoke any of the decrees he made regarding the final plans, leaving the parishes with recourse only to the Vatican.
As a result, at least eight parishes this summer announced plans to send appeals to the Vatican, putting aspects of the mergers planned for the parishes on hold until the Dicastery for the Clergy issues a ruling, which could take several months.
Before making the changes, the archdiocese held 350 listening sessions, with at least one in each of the parishes as they were at the time. It considered feedback from 70,000 Catholics in the archdiocese who participated in a survey. Feedback was also solicited from 18,000 school parents, staff, teachers, donors, and community partners. In addition, the archdiocese held focus groups and talked with civil and business leaders.
Rozanski said the feedback helped structure the final plan, which was approved by the All Things New Planning Committee. The committee included priests, deacons, parish life coordinators, lay leaders, and religious within the archdiocese. In addition to considering the feedback, they also looked into financial data and other information.
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