Former parish church to become additional worship site for St. Mary, St. Elmo

ST. ELMO — Effective Jan. 1, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki canonically suppressed St. Bonaventure Parish in St. Elmo, in accord with Canon 515, assigning St. Bonaventure Church in accord with Canon 1214 as a "sacred building destined for divine worship attached to St. Mary Parish in St. Elmo."

St. Mary Parish now has two churches — St. Mary and St. Bonaventure — with Father Joseph Simburger continuing as parochial administrator of St. Mary Parish.

According to a written history titled St. Bonaventure Parish, the current church next to the cemetery outside of town was dedicated in 1881. After a Catholic church was built in St. Elmo proper in 1904, St. Bonaventure continued to be open for one year, and was then closed. It was reopened in 1913 and was called St. Bonaventure Morgue Chapel, and Mass has been celebrated there periodically through the years.

Currently Mass is regularly scheduled and celebrated at St. Bonaventure on three days during the calendar year: Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

Canon 515 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law defines a parish as a "definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular church," Bishop Paprocki pointed out in his decree. Therefore it is clear, he wrote, that there is "no definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis at St. Bonaventure Church."

Bishop Paprocki consulted with the parochial administrator of St. Bonaventure Parish and St. Mary Parish in St. Elmo and also heard from the Presbyteral Council, which voted unanimously on Nov. 25 to recommend canonical suppression of St. Bonaventure Parish.

Any boundaries previously assigned to St. Bonaventure Parish are hereby assigned to St. Mary Parish in St. Elmo, Bishop Paprocki decreed.