Emmetsburg, Estherville and Graettinger parishes work toward merger

By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

As pastoral planning continues to move forward in the Diocese of Sioux City, more parish groupings are working toward a canonical merger of parishes.

Among the groups presently undertaking that step is the one led by pastor Father Paul Kelly. The parish grouping consists of Holy Family Parish in Emmetsburg with church building Ruthven Sacred Heart, St. Patrick Parish in Estherville with church building Armstrong St. 
Mary and Immaculate Conception Parish in Graettinger.

The pastor pointed out that in November they held a pastoral planning meeting led by Deacon Mark Prosser, diocesan director of pastoral planning who is also the chief of staff for Bishop Walker Nickless and chancellor of the diocese.

Deacon John Rudd has been working closely with the pastor and other parish leaders since that time, readying the three parishes for an official merger this summer.

While change can be difficult, the deacon said most parishioners understand why changes must happen.

Mark Walsh, a parishioner in Emmetsburg and former member of the finance council, pointed out that he works for a rural electric company and back in the mid-1980s they went through a merger of combining smaller cooperatives to make a big company and he sees parallels with church mergers.

“We had a crisis going on and we were losing farmers and losing customers on the farms. We had a crisis going on similar to what the church is going through – a crisis of shortage of members attending Mass and shortage of priests,” he explained.

Going through the merger as a company was scary, Walsh noted, but it was needed just to survive.

“We have to do something to keep our parishes afloat. It does have to happen and I have a clear understanding as to why it is happening,” he stressed, confident that they will come out stronger by unifying.

Mary Dotson, also a member of Holy Family and former DRE for the parish, said she also understands the situation and the need for the merger.

“We don’t have any other options. I am going into it with a lot of hope,” she said, noting that 2025 is the Year of Hope. At this time, all of the parishioners appear to be hearing the same information and Dotson hopes that continues “so that we all feel we are one community.”

Laying groundwork
Knowing the merger will take place on July 1, Father Kelly said, “We are currently working on the logistics. We are trying to plan ahead, keeping in mind if this is going to be the reality then we have to decide how we will have a merged bulletin, merging parish memberships into one and looking at programs to assign ministries.”

Working out the details include tasks both big and small. Part of this process will include looking at programs currently being used in the three parishes and determining if some could be implemented in the merged parish. The new parish will serve all of Emmet County and the majority of Palo Alto County, with the exception of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in West Bend that is a secondary church of Divine Mercy Parish of Algona.

Holy Family Church, Emmetsburg“This is a process and we are taking certain deliberate steps,” said Father Kelly, who acknowledged there are many questions from parishioners so they are working to find answers and keep everyone informed. “It takes time to get people comfortable with the direction we are headed.”

Armstrong moves to church building status
Deacon Rudd pointed out that as part of the pastoral planning process, on Jan. 12 the Armstrong St. Mary Church held its final regular weekend Mass. At the November pastoral planning meeting it had been announced that Armstrong would move to church building status with no weekend liturgy.

The deacon mentioned about 18 months ago St. Mary’s, which previously held secondary church status, began to offer Mass every other week in English, opposite Spanish Mass.

“We observed with that process, a lot of Armstrong people were going to Emmetsburg, Graettinger or Estherville based on their schedule,” said Deacon Rudd, who noted that the three other communities are about 12 miles from most St. Mary members. “That was a good process to ease into it.”

Father Kelly pointed out that in having the three other locations – Emmetsburg, Estherville and Graettinger – covering nearly two entire counties it would have not been possible to continue to offer regular weekend Mass in Armstrong.

“I am assessing Mass counts and how that will be redistributed with the elimination of Sunday Masses in Armstrong,” said Father Kelly. “Those people will be redistributed in other places I am hoping. That will all go into the decision to determine how many Masses will be needed to serve the needs of these two counties.”

Given Armstrong was Deacon Rudd’s regular place of worship for many years, moving toDeacon John Rudd, Father Paul Kelly and 
Father John Thomas church building status has been difficult on him not only as a clergy member but as a parishioner for many years. With his strong connection to the church, the deacon was homilist for the final regular weekend liturgy held last month.During his sermon he spoke about it being a hard day for those who called St. Mary’s their spiritual home but assured the congregation that their work of spreading the faith would continue amongst the Catholic community in Armstrong and elsewhere.

Deacon Rudd reminded them to not be afraid because the Lord was with them.

“For many of you, because of the change of St. Mary’s status, you have some big decisions to make as Jesus asked his disciples – where should you go?,” the deacon asked. 
“Wherever you go and what decision you make on your faith journey, may God bless and your families.  I know from experience the hardest thing you do in life is to say goodbye. I have said goodbye to many people over the years.  But remember, I had to say goodbye to some other place, to get to know you all at St. Mary’s.   As I was told by a priest friend, sometimes our great difficulties become our greatest blessing.”  

Reactions
Father Kelly acknowledged that when a church no longer offers weekend Mass there is a strong sense of loss in the community, especially in smaller communities that may have lost stores, schools and other things.

“I think people do have a sense that this is life and reality in the world we live in today,” he said. “This is how rural Iowa is going; we are losing population and it’s not just the churches that are merging. It has happened with schools and farms. There is a quiet resignation that this is what has to happen.”

Because the parish grouping covers such a big area, Deacon Rudd mentioned some may opt to join other bordering communities. But while some may join other parishes, he believes most will stay.

Focusing on the positives, she mentioned prayers of the community can now be extended to more groups and inclusive of more issues because their parish community is now bigger.

“I would hope that we can share resources because we will probably combine some things,” said Dotson, who continues to do some clerical work for Holy Family. “We can share our ideas, resources and be there for each other.”

Given that many other parish groupings in the diocese have gone through mergers of thisSt Patrick Church, Estherville nature through the years, Walsh said it makes this process easier in his parish community. He called the earlier mergers pioneers of the process and that can be scarier.
“If there are doubtful people, I think they just have to believe and try to understand why it has to happen,” said Walsh, adding that they now have experiences of other parishes that have gone through this process to guide them.

Working on new name
The pastor pointed out that they have decided it would be best to come up with a new name for the merged parish. The churches in Emmetsburg, Estherville and Graettinger will serve as secondary churches, maintaining their names and holding weekend liturgies. The church buildings in Armstrong and Ruthven will also maintain their names as will Emmetsburg Catholic School.

The clergy said all five locations maintain parish religious education programs and will be used for special events such as stations of the cross or a fundraising dinner.

“We will soon be meeting to discuss possible names to submit for the new parish name,” said Father Kelly, noting that they hope to submit potential names to the bishop by Easter. “We are also working with the current finance boards to get representation from each of the current boards to make one new board that will include people from every community.”

In addition, they are discerning the best way to put together a team – especially exploring options for pastoral ministry – to best serve the needs of the parish and its parishioners.
Ministering to such a large area can be a challenge, but Deacon Rudd added they have many faithful volunteers that can assist in their efforts.

As the clergy and other parish leaders continue to work out the logistics of the merger, at this point they believe the main parish business office will be in Emmetsburg and a satellite office will be in Estherville.

“I am planning on using the current staff we have, possibly using them in different ways. We value our current employees and we will do what we can to maintain our current people,” said Father Kelly. “The idea is look among our current employees to try to reshape job descriptions or create new positions.”