After Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski announced his decisions on the “All Things New” plan on May 27, much attention has been focused on the mergers and closures that will cut the number of Catholic parishes across the St. Louis Archdiocese from 178 to 135.
But the plan also includes a significant shakeup of priest assignments. With dozens of pastors and senior associate pastors retiring, the archdiocese says the number of active diocesan priests will drop from 190 to 165 after Aug. 1. More than 50 of the remaining priests are over age 65 and could retire in the next 10 years.
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As a result, the reorganization plan calls for 27 priests to pastor more than one parish, a 50% jump from the current number: 18.
Rozanski, who was ordained in 1984, served as pastor of two Baltimore parishes at the same time in the 1990s.
Explore the map below to see networks of multiple parishes pastored by the same priest.
A Post-Dispatch analysis shows the majority of these pastor-sharing arrangements — 19 — are in rural parishes in western and southern portions of the archdiocese.
In one of those, the Rev. Joseph Geders will continue to care for a roughly 84-square-mile area around Perryville where he pastors four parishes and two missions.
In St. Louis city, three priests are pastoring multiple parishes:
• The Rev. Thomas Molini (St. Gabriel the Archangel and St. Raphael the Archangel)
• The Rev. Thomas Pastorius (Epiphany of Our Lord and St. James the Greater)
• The Rev. Richard Wehrmeyer (St. Pius V and St. Vincent de Paul)
Four are doing so in St. Louis County:
• The Rev. Msgr. Timothy Cronin (St. Mary Magdalen and Little Flower)
• The Rev. Michael Esswein (Annunciation and Our Lady of Providence)
• The Rev. Msgr. John Shamleffer (Annunziata and Ste. Genevieve du Bois)
• The Rev. Msgr. Michael Turek (St. Joseph and Christ the King)
And two in St. Charles County:
• The Rev. Joseph Post (St. Joseph and St. Paul)
• The Rev. James Theby (St. Charles Borromeo and St. Peter)
More coverage of “All Things New”: