Save Rome News Today

The St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese downsizing generated strife and objections, but it has also inspired new partnerships and communities.

The ruling marks the first successful appeal of the St. Louis archdiocese restructuring, which closed 35 parishes and merged 15 others.

The Catholic Church is consolidating parishes in major U.S. cities amid priest shortages and financial pressure from sex-abuse settlements.

Mergers will be suspended for several parishes until the Dicastery for the Clergy makes a decision, which the Archdiocese said will likely take months.

The "All Things New" restructuring plan went into effect on August 1. It will reshape 178 Catholic parishes into 134.

Mergers will be suspended for several parishes until the Dicastery for the Clergy makes a decision, which the Archdiocese said will likely take months.

Archbishop's plan highlights inequities, secrecy and distrust in the church since the 2002 sexual abuse scandal, parishioners say

Parishioners must submit their appeal to the archdiocese by Monday. After this deadline passes, there is really no other option for parishes to fight the decision.

Attorney Brody Hale, consulting with Save Rome of the West, said this process could be very hard for parishes and even traumatic for parishioners.

Some St. Louis Catholics are dismayed by an Archdiocese of St. Louis plan to fundamentally reorganize its parishes. The plan would consolidate 178 parishes into 88 groups that church leaders are calling pastorates.