2 Homewood-Flossmoor Churches Now Main Site Of Congregated Parish

HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOOR, IL — The Chicago Archdiocese announced Monday plans to merge six south suburban churches into two parish groups. Two Homewood-Flossmoor churches are set to become the main sites for the unified parishes, which has been a plan in the works since 2015.

Starting July 1, St. Anne in Hazel Crest will join St. Emeric of Country Club Hills in being relocated to St. Joseph in Homewood. The former three churches will share a new name, one pastor and one administrative team. While church officials said they will still retain ownership of St. Anne and St. Emeric buildings, mass will be conducted from the St. Joseph location.

In addition, St. Irenaeus of Park Forest and St. Lawrence O'Toole in Matteson will join Flossmoor's Infant Jesus of Prague Parish under a new name and new administrative set up.

The new structure is part of the Renew My Church operation, which found clustering faith communities together made for stronger parishes and membership, a representative from the archdiocese said.

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Over the next several months, the archdiocese and current parish pastors, together with Renew My Church, will work with local leaders to ensure united faith communities and staff are supported during the transition.

"All parishes will embark on the next phase of renewal to become stronger, more sustainable and capable of reaching more people in their work of making disciples of Jesus Christ, building communities and inspiring witness," the archdiocese said.

According to a spokesperson for the Renew My Church initiative, the decision to merge churches in Homewood and Flossmoor was due to the size of both congregations and the condition of the buildings.

For more information on the process, go to renewmychurch.org.