Dear Parishioners,

Archbishop Carlson has indicated his intention to merge the parishes of St. Dominic Savio and St. George. Remember how the Catholic Church in St. Louis expanded exponentially after World War II when the population moved out of the city of St. Louis into those communities just beyond the city limits. Affton was one such community. Trudy Seise shared with me an old article from the St. Louis Review that she has kept close at hand for many years. It listed the parishes that were created out of Assumption Parish (1839) on Mattese Rd. They include: St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. George, St. Francis of Assisi, Seven Holy Founders, St. Martin of Tours, St. Bernadette, Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Catherine Laboure, Mary Queen of the Universe, St. Timothy’s, St. Simon, St. Matthias, Most Precious Blood, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Mary Mother of the Church, Queen of All Saints. I7 parishes were created during a time of explosive expansion and now we have entered a period of contraction.

The Holy Spirit is calling all of us to have 1) big generous hearts, 2) a willingness to forgive one another a lot and 3) to think outside the comfortable confines of our current customs and traditions. This is the only way we will come to that unity to which Jesus calls us. We share so much in common. Let’s not allow the cultural differences to divide us and scatter the flock. Rather, let us welcome one another and work together for the glory of God.

I look forward to working with you in building the parish into a vibrant community of faith that looks outwardly, rather than inwardly; a community of faith that loves Jesus, a community that loves one another and seeks to draw people into a relationship with Jesus. This has to become our mission now: Love God, Love one another and make disciples.

I am grateful that Fr. Lydon will continue to be with us during the coming year as well as our Deacons: John Beckmann, Len Sisul and Mike Brancato (June 2). We will be working on a new Liturgy Committee, a new Parish Council, a new Finance Committee, a new Altar Society and so forth in the coming weeks and months. With God, all things are possible.

Thank you for taking a few minutes before or after Mass to complete your pledge card for the Annual Catholic Appeal. You have been incredibly generous in the past and I am sure you will make our campaign a success this year too. Every gift makes a difference. None are too small. If you haven’t given to the Annual Catholic Appeal, I would ask that you seriously consider joining with us in serving our brothers and sisters in need.

I met a man recently who was in a bad way. He grew up Catholic and fell away from the practice of the faith after leaving Catholic school during his sixth grade for financial reasons. He admitted making some poor choices in his life and didn’t feel like he was worthy of returning to Christ, but then he added that he didn’t know if he wanted to return to the Faith “because of all the bad things the Church did during WWII.” Obviously, he had been watching some TV programs that cast the Church in a bad light. I told him some of those stories may be true, but that there were far more stories of Catholics doing heroic things then and now and that he would be better served by focusing on the tremendous good that the people of the Church have done throughout the last century than on the relatively few things we have done poorly. That is also true today and the ACA is a good example. Thousands of people are positively affected by your charitable contributions. When we combine our efforts under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are capable of doing great things.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pray for us,


Fr. Paul Rothschild