St. Louis Archdiocese Floats Bigger-Than-Expected Church Cuts. Some Catholics Plan to Fight Back​.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 10/31/22 | Blythe Bernhard

[marshmallow]

MARYLAND HEIGHTS — The plan to downsize the Archdiocese of St. Louis will cut more deeply than first reported, with at least half of the parishes slated to close.

The latest figures from the archdiocese, outlined at a series of parish listening sessions currently underway, show the number of parishes could drop from 178 to between 71 and 90.

In response to the reorganization plan — called “All Things New” by the archdiocese — a group of parishioners is planning to fight back.

More than 400 Catholics from Perryville, Mo., to Warrenton gathered recently at a hotel conference room at Westport Plaza to plot a response to the upcoming changes.

When the archdiocese announces the reorganization plan in May, these parishioners say they will be ready to appeal all the way to the Vatican under canon, or church, law.

“Folks are waking up to learn more about their faith including canon law,” said Ken Battis, who helped found stlcatholics.org in response to All Things New. “We ought to be asking the question of why we have to make the most fundamental, sweeping changes in our history.”

St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski intends to follow the requirements of canon law as promised when he took the Oath of Fidelity, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said Friday.

Maps of potential mergers have been presented at listening sessions that started in mid-October at every parish, where attendees say many of their questions have gone unanswered. Feedback from the listening sessions and a follow-up survey of parishioners will be reviewed by archdiocesan leaders between January and April before final decisions are made, according to the spokeswoman.

Archdiocesan leaders have said the downsizing is necessary as both the number of Catholic faithful and the priests to serve them have dwindled in recent decades.......