In accord with the prescriptions of the Code of Canon Law and having consulted the Council of Priests (canons 50 and 1222 §2), I hereby officially relegate to profane but not sordid use Saints Mary and Joseph Church in Carondelet, located at 6304 Minnesota Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63111, in Saint Stephen Protomartyr Parish in Saint Louis, Missouri. Accordingly, I direct that the altar of Saints Mary and Joseph Church be removed (canon 1239 §1).
A sacred edifice which has been given over perpetually for divine worship should retain that sacred character if at all possible. We find there is a grave cause which requires that Saints Mary and Joseph Church be relegated to profane but not sordid use, which is the financial impossibility of Saint Stephen Protomartyr Parish to maintain Saints Mary and Joseph Church as a place of worship. The spiritual needs of the faithful continue to be provided for by Saint Stephen Protomartyr Parish.
This decree takes effect March 7, 2022. The publication of this decree in the official Archdiocesan newspaper, The St. Louis Review, will be presumed as the official notification of this action.
Anything to the contrary notwithstanding. Given at the Archdiocesan Curia, this third day of March, in the year of Our Lord, 2022.
Most Reverend Mitchell T. Rozanski
Archbishop of Saint Louis
Reverend Msgr. Jerome D. Billing, J.C.L., S.T.L.
Chancellor for canonical affairs
