Western Catholic Community considering choices

By: 
Patrick Fisher, The New Prague Times
Father Kevin Clinton addresses 116 people from the Western Catholic Community at the Knights of Columbus Hall in New Prague about options for the community’s future. (Patrick Fisher Photo)

For the 285 households that make up the Western Catholic Community (WCC), which includes St. John the Evangelist Church of Union Hill and St. Scholastica Church of Heidelberg, the weeks leading up to Tuesday, Sept. 4, will be filled with looking at options, prayer and a decision about the WCC’s future and its churches.

On Wednesday, Aug. 8, 116 people from the WCC met at the Knights of Columbus Hall in New Prague. Father Kevin Clinton and members of an advisory council presented information about the physical status of each church and options for the WCC. Those present were given packets with the information and a response form that Fr. Clinton and the advisory council must receive by September 4. While 78 of the 285 households were represented at the meeting, the other 207 households were to receive the packets in the mail, which were sent out on Thursday, Aug. 9.

In 2011, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recommended a merger of the churches of St. John’s, St. Scholastica, St. Benedict and St. Joseph in Lexington. While St. Benedict and St. Joseph churches were closed the two remaining churches eventually formed the WCC, which merged with St. Wenceslaus Church, creating the New Prague Area Catholic Community. The three area churches offer six weekend masses.

At the August 8 meeting, people were informed that in June a neutral local contractor and insurance building inspector toured each of the seven buildings that make up the WCC. The buildings include both churches, each more than 100 years old, a convent, Koenig Hall at St. John’s, a rectory at St. Scholastica and storage garages at each site. The estimated cost to repair structures at both sites is.......

To see more on this story pick up the August 16, 2018 print edition of The New Prague Times. 

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