Pastor's Bulletin Articles

On Pentecost Sunday, May 28, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski will announce the final plans of All Things New.  While many parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Louis are being reconfigured in response to declining church attendance and school population, St. Peter Church has been blessed with continued vibrancy.  We are experiencing a steady rise in parish registrations and baptisms, a strong enrollment in our fulltime school, and increasing activities among our many ministries and organizations.  Our challenge is not about needing to merge with another parish but to accommodate our prosperity and to address the limitations of our facilities.

Late last fall I initiated a serious discussion of how the physical plant of St. Peter Church and School might be improved to better suit our present and future needs.  With Kevin Stillman, our Director of Finance and Operations, and some members of our Property and Buildings Committee, we began to meet regularly with Lorry Bannes, a parishioner and esteemed engineer with a long history of construction in St. Louis.  They are each very familiar with our existing complex and the alterations that have been made to it over the years.  

At the same time, I gathered input from parish and school staff as well as ministry leaders about how their daily work is sometimes challenged by the shortcomings of our facilities and what changes or additions could be made to meet the needs of our developing parish.  The consensus brought us to four goals: the construction of a new parish hall capable of facilitating large crowds for major events along with a commercial kitchen; expansion of the school to accommodate the student population as well as capital improvements to the existing school buildings; the reorganizing and consolidation of parish offices into one location and creation of more meeting and storage spaces; and the construction of a new rectory to serve as a residence only for the priests.

This is not the first time in recent memory that St. Peter addressed the needs of our physical plant and contemplated new construction.  In 2008 Msgr. Jack Costello engaged the services of an architectural firm to do conceptual renderings of a parish center situated on the east side of Ursuline Hall.  The drawings also worked off a plan in which Jefferson Avenue would be closed to traffic, and the church and school campuses would be contiguous, allowing for an expansion on the school building’s south side.  But St. Peter’s participation in an Archdiocesan-wide capital campaign and a challenging economy obliged Fr. Jack to shelve these plans.

It has now come time to take the necessary steps to learn what is possible for developing an expansion plan for St. Peter that will carry us into the future.  Since all parish property belongs to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, I had first to secure the permission of Archbishop Rozanski to move forward.  This has been granted, and we have entered an agreement of understanding with BSI Constructors to assist us with navigating the initial planning process.  The Office of Building and Real Estate has put out a call for architectural firms approved by the Archdiocese.  In mid-June those architects who express interest in our goals will be interviewed to find a good match to work with St. Peter leadership and BSI.  Over the summer we hope to develop some conceptual drawings and get a better handle on the prospective costs of the various projects.  We do not foresee acquiring additional real estate but plan to work within the existing footprint of our church and school campus.
After this, we will share with the whole parish the possibilities that have been developed and utilize a feasibility study to assess the interest level of St. Peter parishioners as well as the capacity of parishioners to support the projects.

This is a steady and conservative start to a process that could become a major enterprise in the life of St. Peter Church.  For myself, I find the work of master planning to be exciting, and I know it has the potential to motivate people in a faith community like ours to rally toward a common goal.  Nevertheless, it must have the support of most parishioners and, more importantly, be driven by the favor of the Holy Spirit.  I am certain this announcement generates more questions than it can answer here.  I will continue to keep you informed of the developments and the opportunities ahead to become more engaged with this process of discernment for the future of St. Peter’s campus.

Lord, may everything we do begin with your inspiration, continue with your saving help, and reach perfection under your guidance.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.  Amen!