St. Alphonsus, St. Patrick Parishes To Combine

LEMONT, IL — Several parishes in Lemont have been combined after a reconfiguration announcement from the Archdiocese of Chicago. Both St. Alphonsus/St. Patrick and SS. Cyril and Methodius schools will remain open; St. Alphonsus and St. Patrick parishes will unite to form a new parish, and St. James will become a mission of SS. Cyril and Methodius parish.

St. Alphonsus/St. Patrick School shared on Facebook that both SS. Cyril and Methodius and St. Patrick/St. Alphonsus School will remain open. The school said the two schools will not be combined or closed.

St. Alphonsus parish and St. Patrick parish will also be combined as part of the parish reconfiguration. According to the St. Alphonsus website, the new parish will be effective July 1, 2020. Fr. Brian Ardagh will be pastor of the new parish and Fr. Kurt Boras will receive a new assignment.

The Archdiocese said St. Alphonsus will be the parish church, where the business office and records are kept. St. Patrick Church will be the church of the new parish.

At SS. Cyril and Methodius, Fr. Waldemar Stawiarski will remain pastor of the parish, the Archdiocese said. Fr. Thomas Koys will become associate pastor. They will both serve SS. Cyril and Methodius and St. James Mission.

In an informational meeting in July, Tim Weiske, Renew My Church director of strategic planning and implementation, cited a lack of newly-ordained priests, an aging population and a 27 percent decrease in Mass attendance over the last 20 years as reasons for restructuring across Chicagoland. He also acknowledged the church's reputation with sexual abuse of minors, calling it "a real issue that people confront when people look at the institutional church."

This is the third wave of groupings and parishes the Archdiocese will reconfigure. According to the Renew My Church website, this wave involves 12 groupings, 40 parishes and 17 schools.

According to Renew My Church, once a decision has been made, the Cardinal will then issue a formal decree of the changes to parish configurations.