LEMAY, Mo. — There are only hours left for Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Louis to send an appeal to Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski if they disagree with the final plans laid out in 'All Things New'.
Parishioners must submit their appeal to the archdiocese by Monday. After this deadline passes, there is really no other option for parishes to fight the decision.
One of the organizations that has been helping parishioners, Save Rome of the West, has filed at least five appeals ahead of Monday’s deadline.
It’s unclear how many in total have been filed so far, but the good news is there’s still time.
Rich Eichhorst has been going to St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Lemay for more than half of his life.
“I've been in the parish 62 years,” Eichhorst said.
The parish itself has been around for 75 years and is part of the historic fabric of Lemay.
“Congress passed a law that educational and religious institutions could purchase the property for $1 after Jefferson Barracks closed. But they had to keep the land for 20 years and that's how St. Bernadette got started,” Eichhorst said.
Eichhorst wants to save it from possible closure.
“They, the archdiocese, cite some number that we have more funerals than baptisms and our attendance is down. But we're still very solid. We got a lot of people that love this place and we want to try to save it,” Eichhorst said.
In the final All Things New decision, St. Bernadette parishioners were told they’d have to go to St. Marks.
“We think that was one of the worst decisions they made. St. Marks, there’s no problem with St. Marks, but they're not culturally connected with the old part of Lemay,” Eichhorst said.
It’s also a 15-minute drive, when Eichhorst lives just feet from St. Bernadette.
Many parishioners walk to church, which Save Rome of the West’s Jason Bolte said only adds to the reasons to appeal and save the parish
“In some cases, it's 30, sometimes it's 45 minutes. And there's a lot of elderly population in every single parish that doesn't necessarily have the ability to make that trek,” Bolte said.
Bolte said once the appeal is submitted, the archdiocese has 30 days to consider the appeal and either send a response or not reply.
After that 30-day window, parishioners have 15 days to file a further appeal with the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Vatican in Rome and until Rome makes a decision, the parish remains as it is.
“If there's an open case on any parish, their hands are tied as far as what they can do. And that's part of the goal. So that does give us a little bit more time to help this community get more organized and well prepared for the day that if they do make that decision to close, that they're in a much better position and all of their pieces are in place,” Bolte said.
Any appeals to the final All Things New decision have to be postmarked to the Archdiocese by close of business Monday.
Save Rome of the West said they can try to help anyone who wants to appeal.
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