The Archdiocese of St. Louis has announced that it will hold off on
plans to merge some parishes, to await the results of parishioners’
appeals to Rome.
An archdiocesan reorganization plan, in which mergers would reduce the
number of parishes from 178 to 134, went into effect on August 1.
But
the archdiocese suspended the implementation of the plans for parishes
that had appealed to the Vatican.
While Archbishop Michael Rozanski had denied the pleas to keep these
parishes operating, when they appealed to Rome he suspended the mergers
out of “respect for each parishioner’s right to this recourse,” the
archdiocese said.