Catholic parishes in Prospect Heights, Mount Prospect to consolidate July 1
St. Alphonsus Liguori in Prospect Heights and St. Thomas Becket in Mount Prospect will unite as one parish with two worship sites, one pastor and one pastoral team, effective July 1, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced over the weekend.
St. Alphonsus Liguori School, which nearly closed in 2016 amid dwindling enrollment and financial issues, will continue in its current structure, but its future will be revisited if the school is unable to maintain financial independence, the archdiocese said.
The announcement is part of the ongoing Renew My Church initiative, which has led to parish consolidations across the archdiocese. It comes just days after the archdiocese said it would consolidate St. Cecilia Church in Mount Prospect and St. Colette Church in Rolling Meadows into one parish with one pastor, but two worship sites.
The archdiocese also announced it would take more time to review the needs of its Spanish and Polish ministries in parishes included in the Hanover Township grouping before making any potential changes. Those parishes include St. Ansgar in Hanover Park, St. John the Evangelist in Streamwood and St. Peter Damian in Bartlett, as well as St. John the Evangelist School.
No changes are planned for the five parishes and three schools in the Arlington Heights-Buffalo Grove-Wheeling grouping, archdiocese officials said. They are: Our Lady of the Wayside Parish and school in Arlington Heights; St. Edna Parish in Arlington Heights; St. James Parish and school in Arlington Heights; St. Mary Parish and school in Buffalo Grove; and St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Wheeling.
According to the archdiocese, discernment teams, made up of representatives from the parishes, met over the past several months to review their future church structures.
They submitted feedback to the Archdiocesan Standards and Recommendations Commission, which also reviewed demographic data, financial summaries and parish and grouping trends before making recommendations to Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archdiocese's auxiliary bishops and the Presbyteral Council.