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ST. LOUIS COUNTY — The number of Masses celebrated in the Lemay area will be cut by nearly half starting in August after five Catholic parishes consolidate into one.

St. Bernadette, St. Martin of Tours, St. Matthias and St. Andrew parishes will close and merge into St. Mark parish under the “All Things New� downsizing plan announced last month by Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski. The release of a temporary Mass schedule gives a first look at how some of the 50 closed or merged parishes could continue to operate after the changes go into effect.

The schedule through 2023 shows every weekday Mass and five weekend Masses will be celebrated at St. Mark on Ripa Avenue. The other four churches will each host one weekend Mass starting Aug. 4. The new parish of about 3,200 households will be the sixth largest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis after the restructuring.

“Many of us are suffering from some negative feelings after the recent announcement from the Archbishop about the future of parish life in Lemay — some anxiety, a lot of uncertainty, a little dose of anger, a considerable amount of frustration, all mixed in with disappointment,� wrote the Rev. Robert Reiker of St. Bernadette in a bulletin this month. “The cure is a healthy dose of hope ... Be open to the Lord working with us to create a new and better way to be Church in Lemay!�

The current schedule includes 15 weekly Masses at St. Mark, nine at St. Martin, eight each at St. Bernadette and St. Matthias and two at St. Andrew for a total of 42. After the consolidation, there will be a total of 24 weekly Masses. The parishes, previously served by five pastors, will have one pastor, the Rev. Robert Burkemper, and two associate pastors.

The churches in closed parishes will also be available for baptisms, funerals and weddings, church leaders said.

“Fear not the nay-sayers; don’t be discouraged by those who say it will never work, or ‘I will not be a part of this new St. Mark’s Parish,’� Reiker wrote in the St. Bernadette bulletin. “Jesus would say to us to not be disheartened by pessimists, or those who want to hang on to the old structures for fear of something new.�

Plans are moving ahead even for parishes that appealed the archbishop’s decision, like St. Roch in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood of St. Louis that will be absorbed by Christ the King in University City along with All Saints in University City and St. Rita in Vinita Park.

The three closed parishes will no longer host Mass regularly but will continue “at least for the near future� to have their churches open for prayer, baptisms, funerals and weddings, Monsignor Mike Turek, pastor of Christ the King, wrote in a recent note to the parish.

The social justice committee at Christ the King is developing programs and events for the merged parishes as “an important and valuable step in creating the trust and sense of community that will be needed to create the kind of new parish community we’d all like to be part of,� Turek wrote.

Monsignor Mark Ullrich of Sacred Heart in Florissant said he feels like a lame duck official in his last months before transferring to St. Francis Assisi in Oakville. Pastors received a 15-page manual for all the necessary tasks before Aug. 1. Some of his books and mementos will be donated to the Shrine of St. Ferdinand in Florissant, Ullrich wrote in the bulletin for Sunday.

St. James the Greater and Epiphany parishes in south St. Louis, which will share a pastor, are hiring a family ministries coordinator and a director of engagement and adult faith formation, according to the .

Other parish employees said they are still unclear about their status after the mergers.

More than 80 members of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians met June 12 at St. Ambrose in south St. Louis in part to discuss the fall out from “All Things New.�

“A lot of people don’t know what their future employment is as musicians,� said John Powel Walsh, an organist who plays at several churches around the region. “It’s up to the new pastors to decide who stays on and who continues to work.�

Walsh’s job at St. Martin of Tours will end when the church drops its Saturday night Mass, and he doubts the plan to keep one weekly Mass at every Lemay church will last.

“I think it has to be temporary. You’re not going to heat and cool four separate churches forever and call it one parish,� Walsh said.

In other cities that have undergone similar reorganizations, Mass attendance has declined after parish mergers. Already across the St. Louis area, there are indications that weekly offerings have dropped, particularly in parishes that will be closed.

Revenue at St. Barnabas in O’Fallon, Missouri, has fallen sharply according to the Rev. Linus Dolce. The closing parish will host its final traditional Latin Mass on July 30.

The Rev. John Nickolai at St. Rose Philippine Duchesne in Florissant said he has heard of “some sentiment among parish groups and organizations that we might as well spend every penny we have while it is still ‘ours,’ before we are forced to hand it over to ‘them.’�

“We continue to have staff to pay for their hard work, and we continue to need to pay for utilities and the upkeep of our property,� Nickolai wrote to the parish, which will be absorbed by Sacred Heart in Florissant.

He encouraged them to continue to support the newly merged parish, which “is going to need at least as much collaboration between the clergy and laity as before, and probably much more.�