By Bob Bong
St. Pius X Parish in Stickney will merge with St. Leonard Parish in Berwyn this summer, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, announced last month.
The merger is part of the archdiocese’s ongoing Renew My Church initiative and will take effect on July 1.
The new parish will have one pastor and one pastoral team, but each church will continue to be a worship site and each will host regular masses.
Rev. Bobby Krueger will serve as pastor of the new parish. He will determine the mass schedules for both churches.
St. Leonard will serve as the parish church and sacramental records will be kept there. St. Leonard School will be the parish school.
At some point, community members will determine a new permanent name for the new parish, but each church will retain its name.
Cicero, Evergreen parishes to merge
The decision also effects Our Lady of Charity Parish and School and St. Mary of Czestochowa Parish in Cicero, as well as Queen of Martyrs Parish and School and St. Bernadette Parish in Evergreen Park.
Those parishes will unite effective on July 1.
Rev. Waldemar Latkowski will serve as pastor of the new parish in Cicero.
Rev. Benedykt Pazdan will be the pastor of the unified parish in Evergreen Park.
Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Evergreen Park is part of the Evergreen Renew My Church Grouping, but is unaffected by the merger. It will continue to operate as its own parish and with its own school.
The Renew My Church process has already combined parishes across the archdiocese and seen the closure of some parish schools.
To learn more about Renew My Church, visit renewmychurch.org.
The Archdiocese of Chicago, the third largest in the United States, serves more than 2.2 million Catholics in 246 parishes in Cook County and Lake County, a geographic area of 1,411 square miles.
The archdiocese’s 157 elementary and secondary schools comprise the largest U.S. private school system.