Here's Why Vatican Saved St. Joseph Parish In Downtown Joliet

On Wednesday, Joliet Patch broke the news that downtown Joliet's St. Joseph Parish defeated the Diocese of Joliet and Bishop Ronald Hicks and overturned the bishop's highly unpopular January decision to turn their thriving parish into a secondary worship site. The bishop wanted to fold the parish into St. Mary Magdalene's, perhaps to gain access to the parish's landholdings, including St. Joe's Park along Raynor Avenue and Theodore Street.

(The following press release is from St. Joseph parishioner Margie Cepon.)

JOLIET ? Catholics who attended St. Joseph Parish in Joliet are overjoyed after receiving a decision from the Vatican on Tuesday. The decision, handed down by the ?Dicastery for the Clergy of the Holy See,? a department of the Vatican which hears appeals against decisions to eliminate parishes and permanently close Catholic churches, revoked the decree issued in January of this year by Diocese of Joliet Bishop Ronald A. Hicks which merged St. Joseph Parish with three other parishes on the east side of the city.

The decision means that St. Joseph Parish has again been restored as a standalone ?Slovenian personal parish,? a parish which exists to meet the needs of Slovenian Catholics. Regardless of this status, St. Joseph Parish continues to be open to all who wish to attend mass within St. Joseph Church and join in its numerous activities and ministries.

In reviewing the reasons provided by Bishop Hicks in the decree he issued to extinguish St. Joseph Parish and merge it with St. Mary Magdalene, St. Bernard and St. Anthony parishes, the Dicastery for the Clergy found that no sufficient canonically ?Just? cause existed to justify including St. Joseph Parish in the newly created parish. The Dicastery found that the Slovenian Catholic population of Joliet was not disappearing. They noted that St. Joseph Parish had at the time of its elimination 884 registered parishioners.

The dicastery further found that St. Joseph Parish at the time the decision to eliminate it was made, the parish was financially sound and noted that ?the Parish appears to more than sufficiently meet its financial obligations and possesses ample savings necessary to make any repairs.?

The Dicastery also found that the decree which brought the new parish into being, violated canon law with regard to how parish boundaries were drawn. Boundaries of territorial parishes must be drawn so that all churches within that parish lie within those boundary lines. St. Joseph Church did not lie within the boundary lines of the newly created parish, and as a result the Dicastery for the Clergy found this was impermissible.

Founded in 1891, St. Joseph Parish has since its inception provided a spiritual home for Catholics of Slovenian descent residing within the boundaries of the Diocese of Joliet. The parish has at its center a beautiful church, dedicated in 1904 which dominates the downtown skyline of the city of Joliet and stands as a monument to the Slovenian Catholics who sacrificed so much to bring this parish into being.

During much of its history, St. Joseph Parish supported a school which educated thousands of children over the course of its history. Parishioners also built a festival ground and bandstand, baseball fields, grotto, and developed a cemetery which serves as the eternal resting place of generations of past St. Joseph parishioners.

In working to save this parish, St. Joseph parishioners shared a united vision and intensity. Thus, they are thrilled and very grateful to have been restored as an independent Slovenian personal parish and look forward to working with the Diocese of Joliet to implement the Vatican?s decision.