Last weekend, at all of our Masses, I read the letter from Archbishop Rozanski outlining his plans for our parish at the culmination of the “All Things New” strategic initiative.

As announced, our parish will be subsuming the parishes of St. John the Baptist and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Most of us are not familiar with the word “subsume” and what it means for our parishes. I consulted with Immaculate Heart of Mary pastor Fr. Aaron Nord. Not only is Fr. Aaron a canon lawyer but he also will become the new pastor of St. Stephen Protomartyr on August 1.

In the words of Fr. Aaron to his IHM parishioners: "For those of you who are confused, let me explain a little more what the Archbishop told us in his letter. Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish (and the same is true of St. John the Baptist Parish) will be merged into St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish. St. Stephen Protomartyr will be the name of the new, merged parish; that’s what is meant by the word ‘subsumed.’ All three parish church buildings — Immaculate Heart of Mary Church here on Blow, St. John the Baptist Church on Delor, and St. Stephen Protomartyr Church on Wilmington — will remain open. St. Stephen Protomartyr Church — I mean that church building — will be the parish church for the new merged parish, but the parish community will be one community worshipping out of three church buildings. I would imagine that each church building will have one Mass every weekend. How will that work? What will be the Mass times? All of that will be decided here at the local level. We and our neighbors — well, soon they will be our fellow parishioners — have a lot to figure out."

St. Stephen Protomartyr will be in good hands with Fr. Aaron and Msgr. Bommarito, who will lead you all into a bright future. I am grateful for the many years I have spent here and ask for your prayers over the next two months as I prepare to make my new home at Queen of All Saints Parish as senior associate pastor.

You can learn more and read the decrees for all parishes of the Archdiocese at allthingsnew.archstl.org.

Peace,
Fr. Ron