Two more Southland churches are merging after the Chicago Archdiocese’s busy week of Renew My Church decisions, with several affecting south and southwest suburban Catholic communities.
The archdiocese announced Midlothian’s St. Christopher and Posen’s St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr will unite as one parish, with one pastor and one pastoral team, July 1. St. Christopher is to remain as the parish church and sole location for the united parish following the transition. Masses are to be provided in both English and Spanish, according to the archdiocese.
The Rev. Robinson Ortiz, pastor of St. Stanislaus, will pastor the united parish. St. Christopher School is to continue as the united parish’s school. The community is being asked to present possible new permanent names for the united parish.
St. Damian Parish and School in Oak Forest, also part of the grouping, are to remain in their current structure.
“St. Damian surpasses the structural bench marks established for the discernment process,” said Bishop Joseph Perry. “So remaining in its current structure is the most fruitful path forward into the next stage of renewal.”
Perry, speaking during a virtual announcement Friday, said the uniting of the other two parishes is designed to create a “stable foundation” for serving English and Spanish speaking communities. St. Christopher has a larger campus to grow the ministry and school program, he said.
The Rev. Krzysztof Paluch, pastor of St. Christopher, will be reassigned. Bishop Andrew Peter Wypych said both he and Cardinal Blase Cupich are grateful for Paluch’s “tremendous ministry and leadership.”
“I cannot say enough how grateful I am to Father Kris,” Wypych said. “He indeed put back that parish in a forceful way for the community.”
Paluch offered to help Ortiz in any way he can during the transition and said he hopes the people of the united parish take care of him. Paluch said he didn’t know where Midlothian was when he was assigned to St. Christopher nine years ago, but it turned out to be one of the best experiences of his life.
“We don’t know what God has in store for us,” Paluch said. “Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.”
Ortiz said it is sad the community will no longer be able to pray in the St. Stanislaus building. Ortiz also thanked Paluch for his leadership.
“Those are shoes very difficult to put on, but I’m very happy that the archdiocese and the Renew My Church team and the placement board are entrusting me with this new community of faith,” Ortiz said. “I’m very excited about the great opportunities that are coming.”
The Rev. Jason Malave, the cardinal’s liaison for Renew My Church, took more than 40 questions and comments during the virtual meeting. Asked why the pastors from both of the uniting parishes could not stay, Malave said there aren’t enough priests.
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“I wish and pray that were possible,” Malave said. “There are parishes right now in the archdiocese that don’t have pastors.”
Someone inquired if St. Christopher would take on St. Stanislaus’ debt. While Malave acknowledged the latter church has had financial struggles, when the united parish decides what to do with that campus, those resources will pay the debt and support the united parish.
One commenter called the uniting decision one made solely based on money.
“Money is a factor, but it’s not the only one,” Malave said. “There’s parishes that have closed with money in the bank such that communities can come together to be more vital.”
The Rev. Joe Noonan, pastor for St. Damian, said he feels blessed to be in a grouping full of vibrant, holy people. The Renew My Church process allowed him to get to know his neighbors better, and he looks forward to working with the united parish.
“We have a very hope-filled future, even in the midst of sadness,” Noonan said. “Certainly acknowledge any grief that’s in your heart, but stay open to the hope that really is present and before us.”
Week of change
On Monday, the Chicago Archdiocese said it will reduce six parishes to two in the Homewood-Flossmoor area this summer. St. Joseph Parish in Homewood will remain standing after merging with Hazel Crest’s St. Anne and St. Emeric of Country Club Hills.
The Rev. Ron Kondziolka, who serves as administrator of St. Joseph, said he knows the church’s existing parishioners will be welcoming to the faith communities joining them.
“It’s spiritual tragedy for the churches that are closed,” Kondziolka said. “Those people feel bad. That’s where they got married, baptized. That’s where they went to church. That’s where their statues are. It’s a tragedy that those churches are closing, but we don’t have the Catholic population that we used to.”
Flossmoor’s Infant Jesus of Prague Parish will remain the sole church in uniting with St. Irenaeus in Park Forest and Matteson’s St. Lawrence O’Toole. The news stung for Britany Block, who was born and raised in Park Forest and started attending Masses at St. Irenaeus when she was 14.
“St. Irenaeus has been a rock to me over the years,” Block said.
Though Block, 34, now lives in Dallas, she regularly comes back for the holidays. She said the community there has always been accepting, supportive and tight-knit. Block’s morning church group was there for her when her grandmother died. They prayed over Block and her kitten before she moved to Texas. And she has fond memories of food festivals at St. Irenaeus, where everyone made cultural dishes to share.
“Even if you weren’t Catholic, they’d pray with you,” she said.
She is hoping to make it to one more Mass at St. Irenaeus before the building closes.
Dave Denham grew up in the St. Lawrence O’Toole parish after his family moved to Park Forest in 1963. Though he now lives in Normal, he reacted with “shock and sadness” when he heard the news.
“It’s becoming inevitable, because the parishioners seem to be declining everywhere,” Denham said. “I’m sure just financially at some point they don’t have any choice but to … consolidate and close doors, and tragically a lot of people are affected by that and saddened by that.”
Denham said he made some lifelong friends at the parish and school. He will forever remember when a priest came in to deliver the news that President John F. Kennedy had been killed, as well as the blizzard of 1967 that shut down school for a week.
“I just have some really profound memories of that place,” Denham said. “It was a real strong sense of family.”
On Tuesday, the archdiocese announced Queen of Martyrs and St. Bernadette parishes, both in Evergreen Park, will unite as one parish July 1, with only the Queen of Martyrs church building to remain after two years.
Allen Stahl, of Evergreen Park, has been a St. Bernadette parishioner for 15 years and formerly served the parish council. He expected the unification, but thought there were other options. Stahl also does not like the process by which the decision was made, in which parishes offer feedback and suggestions through discernment teams but do not have a direct hand in the final decision.
“I think the cardinal is wrong in this,” Stahl said. “It’s typical archdiocesan stuff that you have input but you don’t. As a Catholic, that upsets me that we don’t have that much input into saying we can try to support this parish on our own.”
But Stahl also thinks the Rev. Benedykt Pazdan, who has served St. Bernadette and was named pastor of the unified church, was the best choice.
“I think he’s going to be great and the people are going to love him there,” Stahl said.
Stahl said he will likely find another parish or just continue watching Mass on television post-pandemic.
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“It sours me a little bit, like many Catholics, to see a parish that you’ve been going to and helped support for so long and worked actively with over many years — it just seems like the rug’s been pulled out,” Stahl said.
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.