Four DuPage Catholic parishes to close as part of restructuring plan

Catholic churches in Carol Stream, Villa Park, Wheaton and Oakbrook Terrace are being closed as part of a restructuring plan announced Thursday by the Joliet Diocese.

By July 1, St. Mark in Wheaton will amalgamate into St. Michael parish, also in Wheaton.

St. John the Apostle in Villa Park will amalgamate into St. Alexander in Villa Park.

St. Luke in Carol Stream will amalgamate into Corpus Christi in Carol Stream.

Ascension of Our Lord in Oakbrook Terrace will merge with Christ the King in Lombard to form a new parish with a new, yet-to-be-chosen name.

Under Catholic church law, an amalgamation is when one parish is eliminated and joins another parish. A merger is when two parishes are eliminated to form a new parish.

Worship will still happen at St. Mark’s and Ascension of Our Lord. But the buildings at St. Luke and St. John the Apostle will be closed, according to Bishop Ronald Hicks’ announcement.

All the DuPage parishes being merged or amalgamated were founded during the post-World War II population spurt in DuPage County. St. Mark parish was started in 1962, growing out of St. Michael’s, according to newspaper articles at the time. St. John the Apostle began in 1959. St. Luke was formed in 1963, and Ascension of Our Lord in 1967.

The diocese governs Roman Catholic parishes and missions in DuPage, Will, Grundy Kankakee, Grundy, Ford, Iroquois and Kendall counties. Its headquarters is in Joliet.

The diocese began what it calls a targeted restructuring process in June 2022. All parishes and schools were evaluated. Thursday’s announcement signaled the end of the process.

In 2022, the diocese closed the elementary school at St. Irene parish in Warrenville.

In 2023, the diocese closed St. Charles Borromeo parish in Bensenville and Sacred Heart Catholic School in Lombard.

Last year, it was going to close 11 parishes, including at least four in Joliet, that were due to merge. However, one of the Joliet parishes appealed the decision to church officials in Rome, who overturned the diocese’s decision and allowed the parish to remain independent.

According to the diocese’s annual report, there are about 520,000 Catholics in its boundaries. It has 117 parishes and seven missions.