As he stood in the dining room of the Sts. Peter and Paul church hall on Aug. 7, preparations for the evening meal service underway, Father Bruce Forman recalled that morning’s Gospel. Jesus took the two loaves of bread and five fish offered by a young boy and multiplied them into enough food to feed 5,000 people.
Cindy Hembrough and Brian Cook prepared salad for the meals program at Sts. Peter and Paul on Aug. 7 at the church hall in St. Louis. Cook was volunteering with a group from Next Jeneration Logistics.Photo Credits: Jacob Wiegand“God will not be outdone in generosity. If you give what you have, God will take care of the rest,” Father Forman said.
The meals program at Sts. Peter and Paul has been serving hot meals to those in need in the Soulard neighborhood since 1982. Dinner is served on weeknights and lunch on weekends from the second through the 21st of every month, and nearby St. Vincent de Paul Parish coordinates a meals program covering the 22nd through the first of each month. Saint Louis University medical students and volunteers from Deaconness Nurse Ministry and the Lions Club are on hand a few nights a month to provide foot washings, basic medical care, screenings and referrals for further care. A store room holds shoes, clothing, toiletries and other supplies to be distributed to anyone who needs them.
“We have a small parish of about 100 families, but when we went ahead and started the meals program, God opened up doors — now 21 groups come to prepare the meals and serve them every month,” said Father Forman, assigned at Sts. Peter and Paul since 1986. “…It’s a basic of our Christian faith to be serving Jesus in the poor, recognizing the face of Christ in the poor. We have that ongoing, and we have for decades.”
Sts. Peter and Paul personal parish was suppressed as part of All Things New, effective Aug. 1. But Sts. Peter and Paul Church “remains a sacred edifice to which the faithful have right of entry,” and the church “retains its temporal goods, patrimonial rights, and obligations, which are to be administered by its senior priest in residence,” the May 27 decree from Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski stated.
The decree directed that baptisms and marriages celebrated at Sts. Peter and Paul Church be recorded at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, the territorial parish in which Sts. Peter and Paul is located. Father Bruce Forman is senior priest in residence at the church, rather than pastor of the parish.
Besides that, not much has changed for the Sts. Peter and Paul community: Mass and confession times remain the same. Groups and ministries continue to meet. The meals program chugs on, and Sts. Peter and Paul Community Services’ emergency shelter still operates out of the church basement.
John Schaefer and a group of coworkers from Next Jeneration Logistics dished up fried chicken, salad, baked potatoes and baked beans on Aug. 7. Schaefer grew up seeing his parents, parishioners at St. Mary Magdalen in south St. Louis, regularly volunteer at Sts. Peter and Paul.
“I think this is so critical to the community,” Schaefer said. “The meals program here at Sts. Peter and Paul has been here for so long, and the people who need a warm meal can trust that it’s going to be here for them.”
St. Cronan Parish in the Grove neighborhood of south St. Louis received a similar decree at Pentecost. St. Cronan personal parish was suppressed, but the church remains open with no changes to the Mass schedule or church activities. Msgr. Jack Schuler, pastor since 2017, is now assigned to the church as the senior priest in residence. Baptisms and marriages at the church will be recorded at the territorial
Krishny Karunanandaa, a medical student at Saint Louis University, washed the feet of Teba Cage of St. Louis during the meals program at Sts. Peter and Paul on Aug. 7. Jymie Dapog, center, another medical student at Saint Louis University, also washed feet.Photo Credits: Jacob Wiegandparish, St. Margaret of Scotland.
“This is the first weekend where I’m not pastor of St. Cronan, but I don’t feel any different,” Msgr. Schuler said with a chuckle to those gathered for Mass at the church Aug. 6.
St. Cronan was previously designated as a personal parish — a non-territorial parish established for some personal reason like language — dedicated to the apostolate of social justice.
The community’s commitment to social justice will continue, Msgr. Schuler said, through ministries including the parish food pantry; a “moving ministry” that helps supply furniture to those in need; an “extremely active” St. Vincent de Paul Society; advocacy for immigrants and racial equity; and outreach to the LGBTQ+ community. St. Cronan is also part of the collaborative Immigrant and Refugee Ministry supported by parishes in the south city area.
“The welcoming spirit of St. Cronan is really predominant,” Msgr. Schuler said. “We’re happy to continue to be a worshipping community and a community of outreach.”
For a summary of the parish changes and decrees that went into effect Aug. 1, see allthingsnew.archstl.org