Two north St. Louis Catholic Churches open for more than a century are closing, per the Post-Dispatch.

This includes St. Matthew the Apostle in the Ville neighborhood (2715 N. Sarah):

...and St. Augustine in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood (5901 Minerva):

As noted in this Hoodline article, both churches suffered from deferred maintenance/damage:

As the St. Louis Review explains it, St. Augustine "is no longer used for worship given the unsafe conditions in the nave and narthex due to roof leaks and falling plaster."

The notice for St. Matthew adds that the property "has been increasingly subject to vandalism and theft" since regular parish services moved to the consolidated north-side community. 

The "consolidated community" referenced in the quote above is the St. Peter Claver Parish located in the Penrose neighborhood (4330 Shreve).

Both churches are clearly now preservation challenges/future demolition threats.

I am not a religious individual, but I completely appreciate the architecture, and these serving as a home for many.  This is sad to see.

STLCityMike wrote: ↑

7:37 PM - 21 days ago

I am not a religious individual, but I completely appreciate the architecture, and these serving as a home for many.  This is sad to see.

Same here. That said, I did go to Catholic schools while growing up in South City.  My old parish (St. John the Baptist in Bevo) has since closed both the grade school and the high school. I recognize what these parishes did to hold communities together and seeing their quiet dissolution makes me sad for that reason (completely divorced from any religious aspect).

It also makes me angry that one of the world's most hyper-traditional institutions cannot find a way to subsidize its most historic churches and parishes and instead goes with the suburban/exurban flow of people and money.

stldotage wrote:

STLCityMike wrote: ↑

7:37 PM - 21 days ago

I am not a religious individual, but I completely appreciate the architecture, and these serving as a home for many.  This is sad to see.

Same here. That said, I did go to Catholic schools while growing up in South City.  My old parish (St. John the Baptist in Bevo) has since closed both the grade school and the high school. I recognize what these parishes did to hold communities together and seeing their quiet dissolution makes me sad for that reason (completely divorced from any religious aspect).

It also makes me angry that one of the world's most hyper-traditional institutions cannot find a way to subsidize its most historic churches and parishes and instead goes with the suburban/exurban flow of people and money.

Parishes in the city are largely subsidized as is. The church follows where the congregation goes at the end of the day, a large % of the revenue from each parish comes from direct donations from mass attendees. No attendees = no revenue = more subsidy needed. And subsidy has been increasingly hard to come by as the years go on.

A traditionalist Catholic group has been "finding a way" to fix up St. Francis de Sales, but it's in large part because most traditionalists in the STL region have limited options and it's the main church for them. So a lot of money can be essentially funnelled.

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Maybe one of them could be turned into a skateboard center.

From the Landmarks Association newsletter

• New Emergency Watch Group formed: The day after the closure of two northside Catholic churches had been announced scrappers moved in, removing cameras and HVAC equipment. In response a community emergency watch group has formed to prevent this from happening in the future.