Update on Status of Holy Rosary Church

November 13, 2024

My dear parishioners,

I, my staff, and our parish consultative leadership groups have completed our due diligence once again on Holy Rosary church by reviewing all current information, reviewing new proposals, and looking at our options while being open to hearing the Holy Spirit’s wisdom. This challenging and Spirit-inspired work has allowed us to reach a recommendation on the Holy Rosary church and property.

As many of you recall, we did a similar process in 2023 when we met with archdiocesan staff to review all the information regarding the Holy Rosary church building. Specifically we reviewed the condition and costs to make necessary repairs, assessed the vitality and vibrancy of the parish families at Holy Rosary prior to being closed and merged into Pope St. John XXIII, accounted for the time and energy of myself and staff for its day-to-day operations, and the costs needed to cover ongoing expenses. We had multiple discussions around the mission of Pope St. John XXIII and how that remains the focus of our efforts. Given the lack of people to care for the property, insufficient funds to fix and maintain it, and the reality that this building is not needed to carry out our mission, we gave a recommendation to Archbishop Etienne. After hearing from the Presbyteral Council, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne issued his decree of relegation on June 2, 2023.  Relegation “to profane but not sordid use means it would no longer be a Catholic church."  

Interested parties were  allowed to file a recourse against the decree sent to Rome, which occurred later in June of 2023. In April 2024, Rome accepted the recourse against the decree due to an administrative procedural error arising from virtual attendance at an advisory session instead of in-person attendance. While it would have been easy to simply replicate that meeting, we instead decided to revisit the potential future of Holy Rosary.

In August 2024, I issued an open invitation to parishioners and the public to submit proposals for Holy Rosary’s possible future. The leadership team and I received four general recommendations and one specific written proposal. We considered the general recommendations and met with the people who submitted the written proposal to learn more.

We then held multiple discussions with parish advisory committees and other expert consultants, along with prayerful discernment of the direction in which we felt led by the Holy Spirit. All of this was shared with the members of the Finance and Pastoral Councils at tonight’s special meeting. After hearing and considering this information, the council members discerned once again, that I write to Archbishop Etienne and ask him to seek approval from Rome to relegate Our Lady of the Holy Rosary to profane but not sordid use. Relegation to profane but not sordid use is a necessary step in the process that will permit us to sell or otherwise  part with the property.  I agree with their recommendation and will be writing Archbishop Etienne.

I want to take a moment to again recognize all the people who have been part of this discernment process. Thank you to each of you for sharing your gifts with me and with this community. Together we are renewing parish life so that we can each continue the mission of sharing the love of Christ with others.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
 

Fr. Tuan Nguyen, D. Min

Pastor of Pope Saint John XXIII Parish Family