For members of Dyer’s St. Joseph Catholic Church, they’re committed to their fight to save the embattled church and prepared to take it all the way to the Vatican
“Blue-collar German steel mill workers 160 years ago worked, sweated and bled to build St. Joseph Church,” said parish member Joe Cascone. “And for 160 years, the same blue collar, hardworking people of Dyer have not only built the church of St. Joseph and renovated it a few times, but also raised money to build St. Maria Goretti and had been paying the bills, paying the salaries and growing the faith to literally over 100,000 people, when you consider 160 years. So that bell tower is a visible and audible beacon to people coming down Route 30 of Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith. So it’s not just the consecrated holy building that has housed Jesus Christ in the tabernacle and in holding mass, but it is also all the hardworking people who have established Christ in Northwest Indiana.”
Cascone was one of about 50 members of St. Joseph Catholic Church in downtown Dyer who gathered March 25 at Dyer Town Hall to discuss the future of the church and form a plan of action.
During the weekend of February 28 and March 1, the Rev. Leonardo J. Gajardo, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church, announced Diocese of Gary Bishop Robert J McClory’s decision that “St. Joseph in Dyer will merge with St. Maria Goretti to become one parish.”
“The bishop’s proposed timeline said that ‘at an appropriate time, and after the required canonical processes, St. Joseph campus will conclude its time as a worship site and the community will be relocated to the other campus for spiritual, sacramental and pastoral care’,” Gajardo said.
The news comes as the Diocese of Gary undergoes pastoral planning, a process that includes reducing the number of parishes and churches, which spans across Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke counties.
St. Joseph Church is at 440 Joliet St. in downtown Dyer, while St. Maria Goretti Church is at 500 Northgate Drive in a mainly residential area of Dyer near Sheffield Avenue.
“As pastor of both St. Joseph and St. Maria Goretti in Dyer, I completely appreciate that the announcement of the bishop’s decisions has caused a lot of questions, thoughts, and feelings for parishioners at both churches, but especially at St. Joseph,” Gajardo said. “Since becoming pastor of St. Joseph in January of 2025, I have been so impressed by the faithfulness, dedication, and generosity of so many people in the parish. Some parishioners have been members all of their lives, while others have joined the parish more recently. Either way, they have encountered and been nourished by the Lord at St. Joseph.”
However, a number of parish members criticized the decision, raising questions about transparency. Parishioner Art Beckmann of Dyer said he and many others were in shock when they heard that St. Joseph parish was chosen to be absorbed into St. Maria Goretti.
“It’s a sacred space, it’s been consecrated for 160 years, you don’t just throw that away,” Beckmann said. “If there wasn’t a viable congregation, I wouldn’t be talking about this. But people want to be at St Joseph. Every mass, there’s 40 to 60 people in the pews, very unusual compared to other Catholic Churches, which many have less. We have people coming from Illinois, Crown Point, Schererville, everywhere, to come to St Joseph’s. My impression was that people thought it would not close because of the programs, the history, the enthusiasm of people being there. It was not something that was dying, it was something that was growing. Why would you end something that is growing? It doesn’t make any sense.”
‘Save Rome of the West’
In order to turn the tide, Cascone reached out to the Wentzville, Missouri-based organization, Save Rome of the West, which gives free consulting services to aid in the preservation and maintenance of Catholic churches and parishes.
Co-founder Brody Hale said the organization has worked with parishes across the United States and the globe, including Ireland, Canada and most recently, Australia. Of the 22 cases the organization is currently involved with worldwide, four of them are parishes that belong to the Diocese of Gary, Hale said.
“At this moment in time, this is where the largest number of our cases are,” Hale said.
St. Patrick Church and Holy Trinity Croatian Church, both in East Chicago, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Whiting are the other local churches that are receiving assistance.
Like St. Joseph Church, members of St. Patrick Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church are in the early planning stages of organizing, as no decree has been made. Holy Trinity Croatian Church currently has an appeal pending in Rome, Hale said.
At this time, Hale said members of St. Joseph Church are in the beginning stages of gathering the information they need such as the parish territory, data on church activities, financial information and more.
“I do believe, based on the announcement that the Diocese came down with, that there’s a real chance, unfortunately, that the parishioners may be being disenfranchised from the ability to continue to keep their church Catholic,” Hale said. “Because to my understanding, the Gary Diocese has announced that its plan is to both eliminate St. Joseph Parish and permanently close St. Joseph Church, and there’s no evidence that I have that there’s been any sort of consideration given to alternatives that would make the permanent closure of the church unnecessary. And that’s a problem, in my professional opinion, in terms of what is canonically appropriate in this case.”
Ready to appeal
Cascone and other members of the parish plan to file an appeal, which is a formal letter to the bishop asking the Diocese to change their decision. Before they can make their appeal, an official decree must be made, which is an announcement of a decision made by the Diocese.
“This whole idea of it is that the love of Christ compels us,” Cascone said. “So love is the key word here. Love and Christ. We want this to be a labor of love. We’re not trying to be adversarial. As a matter of fact, we have said to Father Leo and to Father (Christopher) Stanish, this does not need to be adversarial. We’re just siblings that are trying to come to the solution that God wants for this community. And we’re basically assuring ourselves a place to the table. Thanks to God that the Catholic Church has that remedy, that the Catholic Church itself has provided this remedy for us to assure ourselves that we have a place at the table.”
A formal decree has not been made yet, said Colleen McGinty-Rabine, director of communications for the Diocese of Gary. McGinty-Rabine explained that the pastoral process for Dyer is still in the early stages, but if a decree is made, the Diocese will ensure it’s well-communicated among the parishioners.
According to canon law, once the bishop gives a decree there is a 10-day window to file an appeal — with stipulations. The person who files the appeal must live within the geographical territory lines of the parish in question, or the appeal is void, Hale said.
Cascone and fellow parish member Wayne Gallenberger, of Dyer, said St. Joseph Church and Diocese of Gary leaders have been asked to provide the geographical parish territory information, but no such information has yet been given.
“This is supposed to be public information,” Hale said. “I don’t know if this is some sort of attempt to prevent a potential appeal under canon law from being filed later, and if it is, it won’t work. The appeal will not be thwarted if we can’t find the boundary lines. But right now, I have advised Joe Cascone to do whatever he possibly can to find the boundary lines. I may engage with the Diocese myself on this and sort of, explicitly ask why they are unwilling to provide information, which is supposed to be publicly available. … Establishing who has standing to file these actions under canon law is super important.”
Cascone said he feels the process has lacked transparency and input.
“We’ve not been given the time or opportunity by church leaders to be creative regarding solutions about what priests can lead St. Joseph,” Cascone said. “Where is the money coming from to make repairs that are necessary? These solutions are very possible when you gather hundreds and hundreds of family members together. … We’re making our payments. We’re showing up on Sundays, and we are participating in various ministries, abundantly. If you go to St. Joseph, you’re going to see a packed church on Saturday evening and on Sunday night. You’re going to see weekly collections that are healthy for a parish of this size.
Cascone said St. Joseph was not only receiving funds from parish members but also had the benefactor interest of the wider Dyer community.
“The Town of Dyer presented Father Leo (Gajardo) with the fact that grant money was going to be made available to the parish to beautify the cemetery’s wrought iron fence,” Cascone said. “And without consulting with benefactors and stakeholders, such as those of us in the pews, Father Leo (Gajardo) declined all money. That was a sign. I just learned that recently from Dyer’s (Historic) Preservation Committee.”
Questions about transparency
Church leadership maintains that the pastoral process has been transparent and collaborative among all parishes involved. Church-owned properties with longstanding maintenance needs, shifting populations and a limited number of priests are among factors that led to a plan to unify area parishes, the Rev. Jeff Burton, Dean of the North Lake Deanery and pastor previously said.
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Copies of McClory’s written plans for parishes in South Lake County, dated Feb. 28, were made available after masses, Gajardo said. In the letter, McClory asked 41 parishes throughout the diocese, including St. Joseph Church in Dyer, to participate in pastoral planning in 2025.
Gajardo said the bishop’s letter outlined reasons for undertaking pastoral planning and “how parishioners could participate in informational sessions and ask questions to diocesan leadership.” In addition, he said a survey was sent to parish members.
“It is sad that some feel leadership has not been transparent,” Gajardo said. “… We have been very open with parishioners about the process. As the planning process progresses, information will continue to be shared, especially as we start having conversations about renewal throughout the diocese.”
St. Joseph Church and 12 other parishes were a part of the pastoral planning process for South Lake County, with three chosen parish leaders from each church meeting over time to review demographic data, trends and human and financial resources relating to their local Catholic communities, according to the Diocese of Gary. Gajardo said names and contact information for parish leaders were listed in the Sept. 7, 2025 bulletin and a letter listing the reasons for pastoral planning was mailed to registered households on Sept. 16, 2025. Parishioners were invited to participate in a public meeting for South Lake County on October 28, 2025.
During the public meeting in October 2025, Cascone said they were shown a series of 40 PowerPoint slides about pastoral planning by Diocese leaders.
“At the end, we were asked if we understood the plan and what the slides were saying but we were not asked how we felt about parish closings,” Cascone said. “Father Stanish mentioned that we could go back to our pastor and ask to have town hall meetings in our parish. So when I did, Father Leo refused to allow town hall meetings at St. Joseph in Dyer, saying that the pastoral plan was a Diocesan endeavor, not a parish endeavor. Although knowing full well that its decisions were going to profoundly affect the people in parishes.”
Gajardo said there will be opportunities for parishioners to pray together about the future of the church.
“As I have already done with several parishioners, I hope to continue having one-on-one conversations with parishioners, to minister to them as they process their thoughts and feelings about these developments,” Gajardo said. “… Finally, I would say that I am very much aware that St. Joseph parishioners are processing this information during Lent and Holy Week, which is a time when Christians remember and celebrate our belief that loss, and even death, always leads to new life. I have been heartened and humbled by the graciousness with which so many St. Joseph parishioners have expressed to me their willingness and desire to continue to follow the Lord as members of the new parish.”
Gallenburger has been a parish member for 40 years at St. Joseph Church, where he and his wife are board members and involved in multiple ministries.
“The church hasn’t given any explanation, just that we’re closing — no question and answer session, no discussion,” Gallenberger said. “It is my understanding that a meeting is planned but unknown specifics. It hasn’t been transparent, each parish had three people selected to represent them in this process, and our understanding was they were supposed to survey us or talk to us, but no one asked for input.”
Gallenberger was a part of the group that helped create St. Maria Goretti in 1977.
“There’s a lot of people in town who are not Catholic and they don’t want St. Joseph’s to go away, they want it to be there,” Gallenberger said. “St. Joseph’s was a major part of the history of this town, a lot of the parishioners built this town.”
The road to Rome
A church refers to a physical sacred building where divine worship takes place, whereas a parish refers to the stable community of the faithful who worship there, according to the Diocese of Gary.
“You need ‘just’ cause to close a parish,” Hale explained. “You need ‘grave’ cause to close a church. They have to issue separate decrees to close the parish and church.”
There is still a long road ahead for the flock of St. Joseph Church, Hale said. Once a decree is issued and parishioners file an appeal, the bishop has up to 30 days to respond. When the bishop responds or the 30 days come to an end — whichever happens first — parishioners then have 15 days to file an appeal with the Dicastery for the Clergy, which oversees matters relating to priests and deacons of the Diocesan clergy.
“And at that point, if you want to have any shot at winning, you have to take it to the next level, which is to Rome,” Hale said.
The appeal made to the Dicastery of the Clergy will be sent to the Vatican in Rome through the Apostolic Nuncio, a top-level Vatican diplomat in Washington D.C.
“Then they review everything associated with the case,” Hale said. “They can take pretty much as long as they want to make a decision. It could be six months; it could be two years. They were getting inundated with so much work over there right now. I’m finding this taking an extremely long time for them to get anything resolved, unfortunately. They not only hear church closure appeals, they also hear cases involving priest misconduct and all sorts of other stuff, so they deal with a lot of different issues that come across their desks over there.”
Once the Dicastery of the Clergy in the Vatican makes a decision, whoever loses that ruling can make a final appeal to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which is the Supreme Court of the Holy See, Hale said. Their decision could take another 6 months to a year, and it is final.
During the appeal process, Hale said the Diocese would be unable to sell a church property or use a parish’s assets. Another important step is for parishioners to form a preservation nonprofit for the church building and property, experts said.
Cascone said members of the parish plan to go door to door to speak with neighbors around St. Joseph Church, asking if they’d like to join the preservation efforts. There are also rosary rallies and meetings being planned for the coming month, and the group will seek out grants to keep the church open.
What’s happening in Northwest Indiana is reflective of a larger global trend, Hale said.
“This is happening in many, many dioceses right now,” he said. “I think there are a variety of reasons. … So there may truly be some places that are experiencing a shortage of priests right now, or an area where people are moving out, or where there may be financial difficulties. But to simply argue that, ‘Well, that’s happening, so we need to close parishes is way too simplistic. I think sometimes parishes that are well endowed financially get needlessly closed simply because a bishop has decided, ‘Well, we have too many places to regularly say mass in one community, ignoring the fact that, if a parish is reasonably strong, it’s not supposed to simply be eliminated.”
Anna Ortiz is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.