ST. LOUIS — A group called "Save Rome of the West" has formed in response to the expectation of a historic restructuring of the regional network of Roman Catholic churches. Though small, it signals the kinds of difficult discussions that lie ahead.
"Our goal is to keep sacred spaces from being turned profane," said Jason Bolte, 50, leader of the group. "We will be doing what we can, canonically speaking, to block the sale of any church that comes down the pike."
St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski recently announced the planning stage for what will lay out the "most sweeping" changes in the archdiocese's history. Each of the 178 parishes in the archdiocese are supposed to be affected by the "All Things New" initiative.
Rozanski has said there isn't a preconceived plan in place and that he seeks feedback, but some members of the flock expect dozens of churches to merge or close, as seen in other parts of the country that have also experienced declines in the number of priests and active Catholics.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis used to be called the "Rome of the West" because it served a large part of the country. Today, it covers 10 Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis.
Bolte, of Wentzville, said there are about six people actively involved with creating "Save Rome of the West" so far, but he expected the group to grow. He is also involved with the Church Militant Resistance Group, which seeks to keep the Catholic faith orthodox. He attends St. Barnabus the Apostle, a church in O'Fallon, Missouri, that has an Traditional Latin Mass worship style that has fallen out of popularity with Roman Catholic leadership.
A recent pastor at St. Barnabus retired early after demonstrating "a pattern of failing to comply with archdiocesan administrative policies and directives" from the archbishop, according to an official letter about the situation. That included "decisions regarding changes to the infrastructure" to the parish — "some of which were made without seeking proper approvals, and some of which were made in direct contrast to direction given" by Rozanski and his predecessor, Archbishop Robert Carlson.
Bolte said he recognizes that some churches in the archdiocese are poorly attended and less popular than others.
"That doesn't mean that you go and bulldoze it because you don't have people showing up for church," he said. "You could turn it into a chapel. There are plenty of other things that you can do with a sacred space."
Apart from chapels, he said, churches could be maintained as oratories and shrines.
While "Save Rome of the West" faces a new challenge in the scope of the pending restructure, the archdiocese lists numerous churches that have already closed, merged or been demolished over the years, as the center of the shrinking flock migrated west, to St. Charles County.
There are examples of old churches being saved, though. St. Francis de Sales closed as a South City parish in 2005 and was reopened as an oratory run by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The archdiocese closed Immaculate Conception in tiny St. Mary, Missouri, 70 miles south of St. Louis. It soon reopened in 2018 as a chapel or "holy landmark" run by the St. Mary Immaculate Conception Preservation Society.
"We are keeping our head above water," said Kathy Blum, secretary of the board, who, as one of 12 children in her family, grew up in the church. "On Christmas Eve, we had standing room only."
The archdiocese still owns the property. The lay group of volunteers pays for all upkeep and for a retired Belleville priest to celebrate Mass a few times a month. They have weddings, funerals and other events.
Blum said the archdiocese, under Carlson's authority when the arrangement was formalized, was supportive of the effort to preserve the historic church building as a chapel.
"They wished us well," she said.
Asked Wednesday if Archbishop Rozanski supported these kinds of grassroots efforts to salvage church buildings, the Rev. Chris Martin, who is helping lead the development of a restructuring plan, said in a prepared statement: "The proposed timeline of All Things New includes about two years of prayer, discernment and planning, including collecting data and feedback on all aspects within the archdiocese through surveys, focus groups and personal interviews."
Martin encouraged Catholics in the archdiocese to fill out a survey that will be available throughout Lent.
