From the very beginning of All Things New, we have been asking the question, “Which communities does it make most sense to have come together in light of demographic shifts, evangelization and social outreach efforts, resources, and priest availability?”

Over the past year, the Archdiocese of St. Louis has received feedback from 70,000 parishioners across the Archdiocese through the Disciple Maker Index (DMI) Survey, hosted nearly 350 Listening Sessions at 178 parishes, surveyed 18,000 parish school parents, administrators, teachers, staff, donors, community partners, and volunteers, compiled sacramental, financial and demographic statistics for every parish and school, met with community, civic and business organizations, held focus groups, and had conversations at the deanery and parish levels, both in groups and one on one.

The Archdiocese has continued to ask you, our parishioners, what our parishes, ministries, and institutions need to look like in order to effectively share the faith in a way that is suitable and sustainable for our children, grandchildren, and generations to come.

Using that information, the All Things New planning committee, which consists of clergy and laity, has refined the first set of draft models shared in the Fall. The second draft models reflect the input received across the Archdiocese from the priests, deacons, religious, key parish leaders, and the lay faithful. The models show the Archdiocese being reshaped from 178 individual parish pastorates into 88 pastorates in order to best serve the lay faithful. A pastorate is a community that is under the pastoral care of one pastor and pastoral team.

In some cases, an individual parish may remain as its own pastorate but may have to adapt some of its ministries and Mass times due to priest availability. In other cases, it may be that two or more parishes remain financially independent of each other but will become a new pastorate sharing one pastor and pastoral team. Finally, in some cases, it may be that parishes merge their resources together and become a new pastorate under one pastor and pastoral team. Only after we have discerned which communities ought to come together as a new pastorate can we begin the case-by-case examination of which structure is most prudent for each existing parish.  No matter the chosen structure, some worship sites may no longer be used in the future.

The planning committee has analyzed each pastorate to ensure each one has the resources to sustain a new territory and model.

Click here to see the second draft models and to learn more about the All Things New process.

We are asking you to provide any feedback you may have on the second draft models to your pastor or Key Parish Leaders by Wednesday, February 15.  There is a survey form below.

This will be the last set of draft models, and the final portion of feedback gathered in order to enable the Archbishop to make a well-informed, discerned decision for the spiritual well-being of the Archdiocese, looking at the extensive feedback of the people and the needs of the Archdiocese. This decision will be announced on May 28, 2023, by Archbishop Rozanski.

In this draft model, St. Ann is together with:

• St. Rita,
• Our Lady of the Presentation
• All Souls
• St. Jude

This proposed pastorate will have 1,717 registered families and a weekly Mass attendance based on measurements this October of 1,612

Where did this come from?

You can read the feedback from the parishes here:

For Region 1 (North County)

For Region 7 (Our new region) 

None of the original 42 proposed models were left unchanged. There was an extensive period of listening.

From the Parish Workbook.

• Our Lady of the Presentation parish was opened in 1915. But as with all the “collar” communities surrounding the City of St. Louis, the housing stock became too small for many families and the parish began to decline. The Overland area has become a destination for Hispanics because of the affordable housing. The Presentation territory has one of the highest concentrations of Hispanics in the diocese. The parish school closed in 2009 with 91 students.
• When neighboring Holy Trinity parish closed in 2020, its territory was attached to All Souls parish. However, Our Lady of the Presentation gained about 40 households from Holy Trinity.
• The parish has about 420 households. The parish church was completed in 1948 and seats 450.
• An increasing diverse area with growing number of Hispanics, however Hispanic ministry is at All Souls or Our Lady of Guadalupe.
• Parish membership has been declining, with declining baptisms and children in religious formation. Mass attendance has rebounded to pre-COVID levels.
• Offertory has been increasing and cash flow has been improving in recent years.
• Population in the area has been slowly declining over the past few decades.
• Parish area is becoming increasing diverse.
• Percent white population has decreased from 92% in 1990 to 52% in 2020.
• Hispanic population has grown to 11%, one of the highest in the diocese.
• 42% of households are renters.
• Median household income is $50,800 which is lower than the archdiocesan average of $60,700.
• 9% of the resident population is Catholic which is well below the archdiocesan average of 18%.

From the Parish Workbook.

• St. Rita parish was established in 1916 in a growing community just north of University City. St. Rita was never a large parish, never having more than 600 households. As demographics in and around St. Rita territory began to change beginning in the 1970s, parishes all around St. Rita closed: St. Thomas More in 1999; St. Patrick and St. Catherine of Siena in 2001.
• Small parish territory with declining population and few Catholics
• Few baptisms and children in Catholic formation.
• Parish has continued to deplete its reserves during the past decade.
• The parish school closed in 1989. The parish has 80 households
• The parish church was opened in 1953 and seats 700.
• Population in the area has been declining for decades. The area is fairly stable racially with 23% of the population white and 65% of the population black.
• Median household income is $38,000 which is well below the archdiocesan average of $60,700.
• 5% of the resident population is Catholic which is well under the archdiocesan average of 18%

From the Parish Workbook.

• St. Ann was founded in 1856 and is the mother parish for large areas of Northwest St. Louis City and much of North County.
• The parish has an elementary school with 168 students, and the pastor of the parish is the director of the Newman Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
• This is a parish of nearly 350 households. The parish church was dedicated in 1952 and seats 600.
• The primarily African-American parish area neighborhood includes some middle-class and racially diverse neighborhoods where many of St. Ann parishioners live.
• Mass attendance has declined along with the decline in parishioners. The parish is aging as baptisms and children in Catholic schools are declining and few, if any, children are in PSR.
• Parish investment in the school is higher than the recommended range, but parish is able to control expenses and grow reserves.
• The parish territory encompasses 16 civil jurisdiction (and parts of two others) and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) and its student population.
• Population has declined over 30% in the last three decades, and yet the racial diversity has remained relatively stable.
• Somewhat of a transitional neighborhood as the percent households that rent is 50% and the percent single persons living alone is 43%, many of whom are UMSL students
• The median household income is $36,700, which is well below the archdiocesan average of $60,700. This masks the fact that there are several small, more racially diverse middle-class neighborhoods within the parish boundaries
• Only 5% of the resident population is Catholic which is well below the archdiocesan average of 18%.